"She Whispers of Winter's Whimsies was just here."
Broomsedge walked into her den to see one of her sons there, looking... off. She arched a delicate brow at him as she removed her veil and set it aside. "Oh? And what did she need?" The question lingered in the air for far longer than what was comfortable, but Broomsedge had enough patience to wait out her child's answer. She did not, after all, have to wait too long for Monkshood to find the words he wanted to speak. Her son was not always the most eloquent, but she also did not think any of her children were.
"...You?" he answered, his tone lifted enough at the end of his word to make it seem like a question. Broomsedge knew it was not.
"...And?" she prompted kindly.
Monkshood cleared his throat, as if that would help shake the awkwardness of the conversation he had to endure. "She wants to be your mate."
"I see," Broomsedge answered nonchalantly.
"You... see?"
"I do. Pardon me."
"Of course, mom." Monkshood was left alone in the den, confused and also convinced that he did not want to understand what was going on.
---
Broomsedge found who she was looking for with relative ease. After all, there were not many wolves in the pack who were as pale as She Whispers of Winter's Whimsies. While not pure white like some of her family, Whimsies certainly bore the mark of the spirits' favor. Such wolves were not common and it worked in Broomsedge's favor when it came to finding the female. The female was sitting alone on one of the small and numerous islands that existed in the swamp, bent over and fussing over her veil.
Sighing softly, Broomsedge dipped her toes into the chilled swamp waters and waded through them over to the island. Her approach had not been subtle, and she had the delight to watch Whimsies expression turn from shocked to flustered in the matter of seconds. "Oh, Broomsedge! Fancy seeing you here? Not that I don't want you to be here, or expect you to be here. Wait, I don't expect you to be here but I want you to be?" the words tumbled free from Whimsies' mouth unbidden and Broomsedge had to bite back an amused chuckle.
"You did not expect me?" Broomsedge led with a slight teasing tone. She rose out of the swamp and shook off the excess water before coming to sit by Whimsies side. "Really? When you told my son that you liked me?" she prompted, which seemed to be something she had to do often around those she cared about.
Beside her, Whimsies stiffened and felt the flush rise permanently to her cheeks. Her next words were small, spoken into her own chest with how low her head was bowed. "I didn't mean to let you find out like that..." Shame threatened to twist into fear - fear of failure, fear of rejection. However, it seemed like Broomsedge would not give her enough time to fret.
"Well, I am here, how did you want to tell me?" The words were soft, kind and encouraging.
"I thought, if I said it fast enough that I would not be afraid to say it. But I... I'd want to say that I think you're amazing, and intelligent, and spirits be really pretty too? You're perfect, and I like you like... a lot? A whole lot. I guess wanting to be mates was jumping ahead of myself a fair bit, but I'd like to um...
Would you date me?" Whimsies had managed to lift her head, her gaze cast shyly up towards Broomsedge. Even with Alpha blood in her veins, Whimsies remained on the small side for a dire.
"I would be your mate," Broomsedge answered, unable to keep the smile from her face.
"What!" The word stumbled out from Whimsies lips as she stared in absolute shock at the other female.
"I would be your mate." Broomsedge did not think she needed to clarify, so she just repeated what she said in the hope that it would sink into Whimsies skull.
It took a few minutes, but when the words finally seemed to hit their mark Whimsies giggled. The pale female leaned against the wolf beside her and drew in a small breath, "Okay, I'd like that."
