He couldn’t explain it, but Amaris had half expected a very different response. Not one that bubbled and slipped in the after-effects of glee. Not many, he figured, would continue to remain in such high spirits, and yet, she had — she did.

He watched her with what could’ve only been described as a dumbfounded look as he blinked a golden stare in her direction. Watching as this mystery woman seemed to take in the world around her — confusion, excitement, uncertainty, they were all present, and Amaris causally soaked in all of it.

His lips came to gently press together as he moved to re-establish his footing, hauling his body off the ground and mirroring her previous shake of fur. No longer were those shadowed thoughts licking at his heels and wishing to pull him under. For now, his attention was focused on her—this woman—as her thoughtful gaze swallowed their surroundings.

He was no saint in the eyes of the Five, but still, he could not help but wonder if her presence was a gift in itself. There was no hole or ditch, nothing romantic in the way they met, but she sure was pretty.

The moonlit man’s head tilted, and he smiled gently. Not strange, he echoed back to her, perfectly reasonable explanation, actually. She had that same faraway look in her eyes that many who suddenly entered this world often wore.

Yet, unlike the rest, she still held that spark of…optimism, nonetheless.

Amaris would never truly understand what it was like to awake in a world you did not know. He was born from a bush — well, a tree — somewhere in the south. He knew nothing else beyond what lived in this world and thus had never faced the bafflement of being somewhere one minute and somewhere else in the next.

He reasoned it must’ve been confusing, maybe a little scary, but what did he know, really?

I’m Amaris, he quickly followed with a beat of a wagging tail while he sat mirroring her own position. It’s nice to meet you, he added, Welcome to a whole new world.

Did that sound creepy? Was he moving too fast?

He cleared his throat, eager to try again: Do you remember anything else?