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A goodly amount of time had passed since the events, tragedies, and new beginnings brought on by the mess that had been in between- and, for the first time since fleeing from the Wand Shoppe, mind wondering and confused and hands full of new responsibility, Kiv had begun to feel at ease with her place in this world. Physicality at all had been a shocking and near-forgotten sensation to embrace- and even then, hands and fingers were a good deal different from the paws and claws of her past life! She couldn't say yet that she was pleased with her form. Near-human, only tiny traces of wolfen sharpness remained in her appearance; a bit of elongation to her face, a tiny bit of dangerous point in her teeth, a tinge of gold to otherwise dull brown eyes, a few wisps of fur on the delicate tips of her ears. It was shameful, but after so long spent without any form at all, she was willing to accept it as a blessing.

The fern pup, too, had adapted. Young as she might be, Vana had found a bit of strength throughout the ordeal. Through time and the rough love of her new Guardian, the Lesidhe child had been brought to find a new appreciation of the world around her, a greater determination and willingness to explore the unknown that had once put her off so.

That, more than anything, was what had prompted this midday visit to the city. Draped in dark brown cloth and wearing a strange, feral mask over her human face, Kiv walked the concrete streets of Barton tenderly, cringing away instinctually from any person that looked bigger than she. In her arms, the small and leafy form of the forest baby peered with open eyes to the well-remembered sights of the city, occasionally pointing at something and chirping question to her oblivious Guardian.

A glimmer of bared teeth could be seen beneath the long end of her mask as the feral woman, hunched down protectively over the babe, sneered toward the stranger that had earned her ire. In a life left behind, such an affront would have been poorly received- taken as a challenge for dominance, or else sheer ineptitude that deserved retribution. As things were, Kiv was somewhat less confident in what the correct sort of reprisal would be for a moment of clumsiness from a human, nor what her place was to act upon it. She did know a few things, though-

The woman had apologized, and was avoiding eye contact. Kiv was therefore the alpha of the two, and ought to act like it if she didn't want to lose status.

Seating the fern pup onto the ground (Vana was quite capable of staying in one place, after all, she thought), the woman paced brusquely forward, drawing into Nessalyn's personal space. "Clearly so," she growled quietly, her voice scratchy and deep. Aggressive though she might be, the woman did not see fit to raise her voice; her powerful figure was intimidation enough. "You are quite fortunate that you did not frighten my pup, or I would not be so forgiving."

The pup, meanwhile, rustled her tail in interest. The conflict didn't seem to bother her all that much, but her eyes were quite fixated on that wand in the stranger's hands; she knew what that was, as well as what it meant. Leaning to one side to get a better look at it around the form of her posing guardian, the girl cheeped a question to the wand, fully seeming to expect it to respond.

Unhappy with the view behind her guardian's legs, the leafy girl took to her hands and knees, crawling her way as far forward as she was permitted before a gentle nudge from Kiv's bare foot held her back.

"Yes, pup. My pup," Kiv added, fierce possession in her voice. Bringing her face low and close for one final glare, she dismissed the woman as a threat at last.

Suddenly afflicted with apparent boredom, the woman began running a hand through her hair, fussing over a mat that was in the process of developing through its thick mane. Watching her guardian, the little babe sitting on the sidewalk chirped and tried to mimic her, running clumsy fingers over the various vines curled around her limbs. Disapproving of the girl's unskilled attempts, Kiv lifted her up from the ground again at last, smoothing out her hair and brushing some dirt off of her hands. As she did so, she responded dryly- "Them. What do you mean, them?" Not so much question, as demand; having asserted herself as dominant, she felt no need to be polite when seeking information from this other woman.

Turning her face to her conversation partner, a look of exquisite pleasure crossed Kiv's face beneath her mask, expressed mostly through a small quirk of her mouth and a softening of her shoulders. "You..." she licked her lips, uncertain if she should proceed. She was desperate to affirm it, though, she she continued on- "You think I look canine?" Flattered beyond words (at least for the moment), she ran another hand through her hair. Whether she meant it or not, Nessalyn had played perfectly to the shaman's injured vanity. Suddenly, Kiv found herself quite willing to revise her opinion of this woman.

So pleased was she with this compliment, in fact, she let the woman's obvious attitude slide- at least, for this one occasion. Drawing herself up proudly, she signaled her answer with a nod. "Yes, I am told she was born of a wand. And so that would be a pup of yours, then?" Her eyes settled on the sharp-edged wand in the woman's hands, a comfortable smile spreading over her lips.

Kiv became suddenly and intensely interested in a baby hand that was waggling near her chin. Tilting her head down and engaging the dark-skinned girl in a war of fingers and limbs, starkly silent as the little one giggled with abandon, she took her sweet time before answering. When she did, she still did not look to Nessalyn, but merely spoke with a reserved air-

"If that's really how you think, perhaps you do not deserve what you have been given."

Kiv only seemed to be half-listening to Nessalyn's spiel. There was very little of it that caught her interest; the part about being unable to go home to her family, the woman was willing to spare a sympathetic grunt for, but the rest of it? Simply vapid complaints, barely worth the breath it took to say them.

At the new touch on her shoulder, Vana abandoned the battle between her and her Guardian's hands, lolling her head over to get a look at the woman. Clacking her tongue excitedly as she wiggled her feet from side to side, she focus her efforts on this new target, reaching with barely coordinated hands to try and capture the offending finger.

Kiv was almost gleefully grim as she seized the opportunity to answer Nessalyn's question; "I was brought to care for her when her mother was killed in between."