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[WP] MESSING IT UP THIS TIME - KIVA. - 8/31/2026
The first breath of fresh air felt so good that Kiva nearly groaned. She didn’t, thankfully. There were probably some things an ambassador shouldn’t do at an imperial wedding, and making weird noises the second she escaped the crowd was probably one of them. Still. Gods.
For a minute, she stood just outside the worst of it, eyes closed as she let the air move through her fur. It wasn’t even particularly cold, but compared to the heat further on, it might as well have been winter.
She was hot. That almost never happened. Usually, Kiva was cold. She was the one stealing warm spots, curling into herself at night and quietly moving closer to whoever happened to be giving off the most body heat. Right now, she would have happily thrown herself into a snowbank. Maybe she’d been spoiled by the highlands’ weather. Or maybe putting this many wolves in one place was simply a terrible idea.
She cracked one eye open and looked back toward the celebration. Nope, not yet. She needed five minutes, maybe even ten.
There were too many voices in there. Too many bodies brushing against her, all the smells, so much movement every time she turned her head. None of it had bothered her at first; she’d actually been having fun. There was food, there were strangers to watch, and she had spent an embarrassing amount of time looking at all the things around the place that impressed her more than they should have. But eventually everything had started piling on top of everything else.
So she’d slipped away. Not away away. She wasn’t running off, she was still here. Just, somewhere she could breathe without another wolf’s tail touching her. She slowly lowered herself onto the ground with a sigh and stretched her front legs out in front of her, letting her stomach meet the cooler stone.
Ohhhh. Her eyes closed, as she let a deep breath escape. There we go. She just stayed like that for a while. The sounds of the wedding celebrations still reached her, but they were softer here, more manageable. She could hear herself think again. Which, unfortunately, meant she could think.
Her mind immediately wandered back to the emperor. And his wives. Her eyes opened. No. She put her chin between her paws. She was absolutely not spending her little break thinking about that. They seemed fine. They seemed happy.
She had no reason to wonder whether all of them actually wanted to be married to the same man (or any man at all). She definitely had no reason to wonder whether any of them had ever considered leaving. And she certainly did not need to start figuring out how difficult it would be to get someone out of the area without being noticed.
The girl groaned softly into her paws. Stop trying to rescue people who haven’t asked to be rescued. That seemed like a reasonable rule. Probably one she should’ve learned years ago.
Her ears twitched when she heard movement nearby. For half a second she stayed exactly where she was, hoping whoever it was would keep walking. Then, curiosity won. Because duh, of course it did.
She lifted her head toward the sound.
“If you’re looking for the wedding,” she offered, “it’s that way.” Kiva pointed vaguely back towards it with her nose before settling onto the stone again. “I’m hiding,” she joked.