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[Naia POV]

The day was long gone, the words on my mouth that had once felt so oppressive in their need to be said. Long gone, in the warm presence of that fox. Of his scent that permeated the air.

I touched my face, my cheek, and everywhere else he had deigned to touch. My cheeks blazed red, unholy thoughts scrying their way into my mind.

But those thoughts, they were not completely bad. As all I ever wanted was to be able to silently stare at one. To rid myself of that oppressive need to talk, to express my feelings in a way one could understand.

But with the fox my body did not feel that urge. My tongue did not bite its way through my lips in order to deliver some sort of lonely speech.

It was as if every emotion I had was read. Every word that I could have said, thrown into the world.

Yet still, despite that all. Regardless of the understanding I felt between us. I still felt pressured to say those words.