Stressed Prince

After Leo left Flora's place behind with everyone else he was feeling extremely stressed. He was not sure how he was suppose to find a way to defeat Chynir if the only thing that could kill a god was a god himself. He could see the wolf walking by his side, but at the same time he felt annoyed to have even him by his side. It was like he wanted to dig a hole and just bury himself inside of it to get away from the world around him.

"Are you alright?" Vorbuk could sense the crown prince was having a mental break down.

The prince paused and stood there as he heaved a heavy sigh. Everyone around him glanced at him with looks that could easily show they wanted to know what was wrong, but at the same time nobody bothered to ask him. Turning away from him they all just continued to walk on without asking Leo what was bothering him. In some ways they all gathered that he was just furious the goddess, Flora, had refused to help him in the war.

"I'm going for a walk!" The crown prince shouted as he turned away from everyone and walked off into the distance to get away from everyone for a bit.

Leo was not blind enough to not realize the wolf followed behind him. A part of him wanted to be alone, but part of him just left the wolf alone and allowed it to follow him. He was not in the mood to argue with Vorbuk to stay away from him.

For the next few hours Leo found himself wandering around in silence. He did not feel like talking and the wolf did not press him for answers. As they left the town on foot the young prince sat down in a field of flowers. He just wanted time alone to think about things on his own. A great number of things was bothering him and many of them were things that even he could not understand himself.

"PUFF!"

Pollen floated heavily up into the air everywhere around them as the prince collapsed backwards onto his back. His eyes gazing up at the stars in the sky as the sun had fallen under the horizon. He could hear the steps of the wolf as Vorbuk slowly approached and lay his own body down in the flowers as well not far from where Leo was.

Even though the wolf was keeping silent and not pressing him for answers he felt like he could feel from the wolf's actions that he cared in his own way. That part about Vorbuk was enough for Leo. It did not matter to him that the wolf was silent because he did not really feel like talking anyways, but something about the wolf being there by his side in his time of stress was enough to relax him in it's own way. That sense of bond of knowing that he was not as alone in the world as he sometimes felt that he was.

"If we don't go back soon Daryl and the others are going to get worried." The wolf broke the silence after a while.

"They'll be fine for now." Leo sighed and closed his eyes as he continued to stay there.

The smell of flowers was in the air around them as he just quietly enjoyed the silence.

A sudden slight shuffling noise followed by a huff started to fill the air as Leo could feel the wolf edging it's way closer. He wanted to ask what the wolf was doing, but he did not bother with it. His eyes remained shut until he felt something nudging against his hand slightly.

Opening his eyes slowly he could see the wolf beside him with it's muzzle gently nudging against his hand. When the wolf realized the crown prince was staring at him with a puzzled look it made him feel awkward. He debated on turning to walk away from the prince, but debated over the thought a moment longer and sighed. Silence enveloped them again as neither of them moved for a moment.

Slowly the prince's hand raised up off the ground and landed on top of the wolf's head. Vorbuk grit his teeth in silence as he endured the crown prince's petting on his head like a pet dog. He hated it, but at the same time he accepted it in silence. If it would calm the prince down so they could get back to the group and move on from where they were now he was willing to accept being treated like a pet for the moment.

His animal instincts accepted it like he was a dog enjoying praise as he tail started to wag slightly in the grass and flowers causing the pollen to fly into the air again. His mind on the other hand was extremely embarrassed as he felt like he was acting like a house pet. As an animal it was something that he was bound to needing to get used to eventually, however.

Vorbuk had no way of knowing how happy his action had made the crown prince. Leo had been extremely stressed over the war among the kingdoms and many other things in his life at the time, but the wolf's simple action had caused him to feel a lot better in it's own way. The wolf had no way of knowing that the prince had taken it as a sign that the wolf was starting to accept him as a companion more then he had been before. To the prince it was a sign of their friendship building a foundation that had not been there before. They had fought together, traveled together, but the wolf had never shown any real sign of acceptance of him until that moment.

Enjoying the moment while still calming his stress down the two of them ended up staying in that place for an hour longer before finally accepting the fact that he needed to get back to the group. Leo stashed his stress away inside of him and they headed back to find the others.