The grey furred healer bounded jubilantly through the sunny green fields of his slumber, a vibrant grin stretched across his maw. He was a juvenile once more, enraptured with that happy, poignant time before everything had fallen apart. He envisioned the comely meadow of his youth, the beautiful, abundant clearing outside the den he shared with Raven, and he bent his head down to inhale the fresh scent of new growth, the sharp, unforgettable smell of tansy and marigold. His foreleg bore no scar, no indication of his malevolent, futile struggle against the persistent pull of nature, and he could just barely glimpse the greying, limp frame of his mentor ahead of him, scouring the ground for the most potent herbs. His grin broadened in abrupt excitement, though before he could bound forward to catch up with him, he heard a hearty call behind him, a chuckling, gentle voice that demanded his attention. Mae! He thought, though the sound that left his maw seemed more akin to another word: mother. Ama and Argo were playing elatedly about her, none of the tense enmity of their puphood displayed in their welcoming demeanors. He shut his eyes for a moment of placid content before letting his paws carry him towards them of their own volition, his heart and mind as naive as ever.

He was suddenly awoken from his peaceable dreaming when a pair of paws stumbled into his resting figure from behind, and a startled gasp left his maw as the two stumbled over each other, the newcomer ultimately coming to stand over him. He blinked for a moment in confounded surprise as he registered the cool air and the soft, heavy blanket of white that stretched on into the unforeseeable eternity, and he shifted his light brown gaze upward to glimpse a familiar pair of yellow irises. Tatsu. A friendly, warm grin lifted at his maw as he instantly recognized the tan and black fae, his tone light and congenial as he released an earnest chuckle. "My apologies Madame, seems I've gotten in your way." He laughed softly to himself, his disposition relaxed and casual. "I don't suppose it made much sense to fall asleep in a snow bank."

The healer smiled warmly in response to her astounded exclamation and whispered agreement, an airy kind of lightness filling his chest. Her voice is lovely. He thought as he momentarily shut his eyes, pondering somewhat over how he had not noticed the attribute before. Her vocal pattern had a sonorous, alluring quality to it, not unlike the periodic humming and twittering of peaceable song birds. I wonder what her howl would sound like... Beautiful, I'm sure. He was not alarmed by the drifting nature of his thoughts until she suddenly leaned gradually down towards him, a diminutive tremor buzzing through his body as their fur brushed. He was surprised by the somewhat abrupt feeling that gripped him then, the sheepish grasp the clasped his heart and churned through his stomach with a quiet nervousness.

His confounded disposition swiftly dissipated as he regained his usually easy, charismatic demeanor, and a soft laugh bubbled from his maw as he pushed himself back up onto his paws. His pelt remained in abnormally close proximity to hers, and his friendly expression possessed a gentleness the cautious pessimist was not all that accustomed to donning. "I've found that I quite like exploring outside our lands, as far as I can wander without intruding that is. I used to travel great distances in a matter of days when I lived alone; I suppose I must have fallen asleep while I was resting, as strange as it seems with this weather. Still, I guess it can't be helped; it's so peaceful out here." He commented congenially, his benevolent brown gaze drifting admiringly over the quiet valley. His naturally laid back behavior usually allowed him easy relaxation, and yet he was filled with an inexplicable energy in her presence, his paws tingling with an almost motive electricity.

He shifted his cordial attention back towards her then, the charming smile stretched across his maw resting not far from her own snout. "Not that I'm all that fond of being alone. I think I'm far happier nowadays, with something to do and wolves to look out for. Have you always belonged to a pack?" He wanted to know her better, to understand her in more intimate a sense than mere acquaintances. He noticed a stray tuft of Greg black fur sticking up near her right ear as he gazed at her, and he would have moved forward to lick it down had a sudden stab of instinctive etiquette not shot abruptly through his mind. It was too bold, and he had no way of knowing how she'd feel about the action. Mae had raised a gentlemen, and he didn't intend to do anything rash. And yet... He yearned somewhat for the opportunity, the chance to brush his cheek against hers, or perhaps indulge in the knowledge that something he did could bring another one of her gleaming smiles to her face.

Something twinged in his chest at her endearing words, not unpleasant nor unwelcome, merely a sensation so nostalgic and forgotten that he was somewhat confounded at his feeling it. When was the last time someone had so earnestly admitted such a thing to him? Raven had always been too proud and austere to utter such niceties, though he'd trained under the elderly male for so long, he knew what he meant by his grouchy demeanor and stern teachings. That male did not ever bother so diligently with something he did not care for. When had it been then? When he was searching the pained glaze of his agonized eyes for some hopeful enigma on the shores of that river after the fire? When he was listening to the struggled rasping of his breath as he heaved through singed out lungs, gradually shifting in and out of Death's grasp until he finally succumbed to it?

He blinked for a moment in pensive wonder before he was pulled heartily back into reality by her response, and a gracious smile tugged at his maw upon receiving her offer, his solemn conceptions easily chased off into the ether by the calm confidence of her voice and the lambent warmth of her grin. "Thank you, I'd appreciate that greatly." He replied benevolently, the sparks of warmth between their pelts sending odd jitters through his body. "Though, I must warn you, I'll likely be a fairly uninteresting combatant."

He padded peaceably after her as she tread on towards the burrow, though he was strangely disappointed she had had to break away. He felt an unprecedented longing to be near her in a physical sense, to stand close enough for him to press his muzzle into her fur and inhale all the different tantalizing scents. He paused and dipped his head in ever gallant chivalry upon reaching the den, the frigid pulse of the wind doing little to disturb his growing sense of charisma. "Ladies first." He murmured, minute tremors running up and down his spine at the notion of sharing such a comfortable space with a she-wolf as alluring as her. It crossed his mind momentarily that Mae would have cuffed him hard enough over the head to send him crashing to the ground at the growing intensity of his thoughts and feelings, but he only lingered on the concept long enough for it to bring the faintest of smiles to his snout.