Diving Deep - Solo

[FennWenn]

Loreley gave a start and whirled about as a heavy presence shook the canopy of the forest before them. Snapping twigs and crunching leaves, something broad-pawed and powerful headed their way. Fenn squeaked as huge canid burst forth from the leaves and came to a stop but ten feet away from them. Its fur was as dark as the space between the stars, its teeth were stained pink from countless successful hunts, and its face was sunken. Skeletal, really. Skeletal in a way that defied the rest of its hale body. The creature fixed its one good eye, red as blood, on him.

Fenn beamed. “Hey Daugi,” he signed cheerfully at the direwolf with a few loose gestures. Seeing her here unharmed was an immense relief. She had been off romping around the loch woods for the few days her tiny friend had been relaxing in town. Small settlements didn’t typically react well to the company of Fenn’s fierce friend, so he gave her time to roam out in the wilds on her own when he visited them. He shuddered to realize that she had been galavanting around in the same place others seemed to vanish from.

“Auf,” the wolf barked back, eying the second blonde child standing paralyzed at his side, ears pricked up in an inquiring manner.

“Friend,” the boy explained in a single movement, glancing at Loreley. The wide-eyed girl hadn’t moved a muscle since the wolf’s arrival. “Very friend.”

Suddenly, the girl ascended from her statuesque state, clasping her hands over her mouth. “Oh. Oh Thaynes,” Loreley gasped, staring. Fenn held his breath, waiting for her to back away in worry. That moment never came. Instead, the girl took a breathless step toward the hulking wolf, a grin lighting up her face. “You have a puppy? Fenn, why didn’t you tell me?”

Puppy? Fenn wrinkled his nose at the term, emitting a new squeak of confusion. That was not the usual reaction to Daugi.

“Oh, let me say hello. Here, puppy puppy! Are you a sweet little doggy? Are you?” Loreley asked the hulking direwolf. She approached with open hands and a sweet tone, uttering a few quick kissy noises. Where before, the direwolf had been greeting the second blonde child with a passive one-eyed sense of suspicion, her ears now twitched excitedly. Fenn glanced between Loreley and Daugi with his own ears twitching. “Aw, that’s it!” the girl continued. “Come here! Who’s a good girl? Is it you? Is it yoooooou~?”

Daugi perked up, her tail thumping the ground. “Wuff?” she inquired right back, bowing down on her front paws.

“I think it is you! Come on, come to meeeee~!”

Uttering a short, excited bark, Daugi bounced up and seamlessly barreled across the woods towards them, tongue lolling out her mouth. Fenn could practically hear his mount’s thoughts as she trounced past him. ”Yesyesyes, I’m a good girl, I’m a good girl! It’s me!”

Loreley squealed in surprise as she was knocked to the root-tangled earth. Daugi, now stanchly stretched out ontop of the girl, licked the face of her new friend with unwarranted enthusiasm. “Your dog… really friendly! Also, really heavy,” Loreley groaned. “How do I ask her to move?”

Fenn’s shoulders bobbed up and down with wordless giggles and he shook his head in reply, watching with amusement as Loreley attempted (and failed) to nudge the big wolf off of herself. This whole display was enough to almost make him jealou- wait. Come to think of it, the last person Daugi had taken to so completely had been Amari. The very thought made Fenn flinch. Red hair and a sharp, unhappy grin danced in his mind before he swatted that thought away. But, this friend wasn't liable to stick a knife in him. Right? Fenn had pegged Loreley as the type more likely to accidentally hurt herself — as opposed to anyone else — if handed a pointy object.

He felt a bit disappointed in himself. Fenn was a brave adventurer, so what was he doing getting scared of his ally just because she shared a trait with... someone else?

As Daugi continued to smother Lore in sloppy kisses and nuzzles, Fenn stood by, holding his head in one hand as he tried not to think too hard about things he’d rather forget. Eventually, the direwolf relinquished her new friend. Gasping for air, Loreley grinned and rubbed her sore — well, everything. The little fae knew from experience how rough a direwolf’s affection could be. He flashed her a weak grin in return.

“You look a bit down,” she observed keenly, arms still draped over Daugi’s neck. “We not getting along with this adventure fast enough for you?”

Sure. That was as good a reason to look sad as any. Fenn nodded, summoning a bashful dip of his ears and a shy little smile to compliment the gesture, as if to confirm her assumption.

“Well, c’mon then! Let’s get going!”