Kiva had honestly been prepared to continue their ridiculous argument regarding stalker etiquette. “Excellent. I’m glad the council is taking my concerns seriously. An itinerary should be sufficient, although I’d appreciate advance notice regarding any spontaneous changes.” Her expression remained perfectly solemn. “I do have a reputation to maintain.”

What reputation that was, exactly, remained unclear. Lady of Shadows and Pawsteps, stalker, trespasser, wedding crasher, former ambassador. That last one sat a little differently than the others, but fortunately Raelan gave her something considerably safer to focus on when he began defending his sudden interest in her credentials. Kiva scoffed. “Oh, please. Asking questions about me? Learning things? Taking an interest in my mysterious past?” Her amber eyes narrowed suspiciously. “That’s starting to sound remarkably like stalking, Raelan.”

She was smiling when he ruined everything by saying something sincere. Yours I have deemed true. Kiva blinked, pausing. For a moment, there was no clever response. They had met twice. Twice. One of those meetings had involved both of them being pretty much assaulted by flowers, and this one had begun with Kiva cheerfully admitting to stalking him across half a continent. Raelan had very little evidence upon which to make judgments regarding her character.

Apparently that didn't stop the words from landing somewhere uncomfortably deep. Her gaze slipped forward. “That’s an alarming amount of confidence to place in someone whose primary qualifications appear to be trespassing and harassment,” she quipped. There, that was better. The humor returned, even if something softer remained beneath it.

“But I’ll try not to make you regret your excellent judgment immediately.” As for his restrictions? Kiva sighed heavily. “I’ll improvise.” Then Raelan gave her a title. Eastrenhold Envoy.

Her ears tipped forward, and for a moment, she almost whined deep in the back of her throat. That one didn't sound ridiculous. In fact, it sounded dangerously familiar. Once, introducing herself as a messenger or ambassador had been second nature. She'd carried Wind Haven's name across borders, memorized ranks and relationships, learned when humor was welcome and when she needed to behave like someone considerably more respectable than she actually was. Apparently those instincts hadn't disappeared simply because the title had. Kiva straightened slightly.

“Eastrenhold Envoy. Oh, I like that considerably better.” Her chin lifted with exaggerated dignity. “Very respectable. Nobody needs to know I was promoted approximately five minutes after being discovered loitering beside a cliff.” Then came the rest: Perhaps we could make you an official member as well.

Kiva's step faltered. Only slightly, but still, the word caught somewhere beneath her ribs. Official. Not merely pretending for an afternoon. Not a convenient explanation if someone questioned her presence. An actual place among them. She had spent so long moving through Mythris with nowhere she was expected to return to that the offer felt almost foreign.

Before Kiva could decide what to do with that, another realization arrived. Eastrenhold. Her brow furrowed. Wait. “Do you guys live in that castle? Cause if so, I’ve been there before!” she stated excitedly. ”But before you get excited, I wasn’t invited by anyone. I just was wandering around. Hopefully my trespassing won’t affect my membership. Plus, you don’t even know if I’m housebroken!” the joke arrived half a second too late.

But the humor couldn't entirely smother what Raelan had offered. An official member of Eastrenhold. That was worse now that she could picture it. Weren’t they in the castle? Stone corridors and empty rooms. An old fortress sitting silent beneath the sky when Kiva had wandered through it alone. Except apparently it wasn't empty anymore. There were wolves there now: Raelan, his Queen, others presumably. Voices where there had been silence, scents collecting along corridors, paws wearing familiar paths into stone and earth. A place becoming lived in. Kiva looked at her paws before the thought could settle any deeper. Absolutely not. She definitely was not getting attached to the idea, nope.

His offer remained, though. Kiva looked toward the growing treeline and the wolves gathering beyond it. “Maybe,” she finally said. It came quieter than most things she'd said that afternoon. Damn it, she immediately disliked that. “I could come back. Properly, this time.”

Something warm and comforting gathered beneath her ribs. Kiva promptly ignored it, her lip almost curling up into a snarl of irritation at herself. That was as close to an answer as she was prepared to give. Fortunately, Raelan moved on to considerably safer territory.

Tianlong, Emperor Shenlei, and a faith involving a dragon and a crane? Packs and dignitaries arriving from across Mythris, some seeking alliances while others apparently intended to enjoy themselves and concerning amounts of fermented berries.

The old ambassador in Kiva stirred awake almost immediately. Her attention sharpened without conscious effort, information arranging itself into neat categories the way it had hundreds of times before. “An emperor?” Her ears tipped backward and her gait paused.

That sounded considerably more serious than the random wedding she'd imagined crashing fifteen minutes ago. Kiva turned toward Raelan with sudden suspicion.

“Uhhhh, Raelan?” She allowed his name to sit there accusingly. “So. When you said wedding, I was picturing food and some unfortunate couple being stared at by their relatives.” Her eyes narrowed and a small huff came out as her tail did one single swish in the air. “You neglected to mention we're crashing an emperor's wedding.” Technically, he wasn't crashing anything. Kiva absolutely was - but with style.

She considered the distinction. Very seriously. Then something else he'd said registered: many packs, dignitaries, basically half the continent! Her expression slowly brightened.

Once, gatherings like this would have been work. Names to remember, relationships to observe, alliances to understand. Oh, and opportunities to learn which territories were friendly with one another and which smiles were purely diplomatic! She loved it.

Once, Kiva would have arrived carrying Wind Haven with her. But now? She was arriving as an Eastrenhold Envoy. A fake one, probably just for today. She refused to examine why for today suddenly felt disappointing.

“Oh, this is much worse than I thought.”

The grin spreading slowly across her face suggested this was somehow excellent news. Her pace quickened until she was properly beside Raelan again, attention shifting once more toward the growing collection of scents ahead. “Alright. Emperor Shenlei, Tianlong, dragons, cranes, important wolves, fermented fruit.”

She nodded once, committing the details to memory. “I can work with that.” Then she glanced sideways at him, a smirk curving her lips. “One more question, though. Exactly how respectable does an Eastrenhold Envoy need to look before someone starts asking questions?”