For the first time since arriving in Mythris, Kiva made no effort to fill the silence.

It settled comfortably around them, broken only by the gentle rustle of leaves overhead and the distant chatter of unseen birds somewhere deeper within the forest. Until now, quiet had always been something she walked through on her way to the next conversation, the next destination, the next interesting thing. Now she found herself lingering inside it instead.

Her amber eyes wandered slowly across the woodland. Not searching for a particularly memorable tree or an oddly shaped boulder this time, but allowing herself to look the way Serrune seemed to. Their own pawprints crisscrossed the soft earth beneath them. One set sharp-edged and fresh, the other already beginning to soften where loose soil had started slipping back into place. A tuft of flattened grass bent away from the trail. Nearby, moss had been scraped from the base of an old oak, exposing darker bark beneath. Things she’d never once considered worth noticing.

The breeze stirred again, brushing through the canopy before weaving around her muzzle. She closed her eyes for a heartbeat and simply breathed. Damp earth, oak, wildflowers hidden somewhere beyond the underbrush. And then, something cooler drifted beneath it all. Faint enough that she almost dismissed it before remembering Serrune’s words. Water.

She couldn’t hear it, couldn’t see it, but she was almost certain it was there. A slow smile spread across her face.

“I think,” she murmured, more to herself than anyone else, “I’ve spent my whole life looking at forests instead of into them.”

The thought lingered just long enough for her ears to tilt sheepishly. “Which is honestly a little embarrassing, considering I spent years running messenger routes.” A quiet laugh escaped her as she lowered her muzzle again.

This time, the ground seemed impossibly busy. Tiny claw marks stitched across a patch of loose dirt where some small creature had darted toward the shelter of nearby roots. Several delicate hoofprints crossed one another before disappearing into taller grass, the edges still crisp enough that whatever had left them couldn’t have passed very long ago. A broken fern leaned awkwardly to one side, its stem bent but not yet wilted.

Without realizing it, Kiva found herself stepping around the tracks instead of through them.

“Oh.” Her voice came softer now, touched with genuine wonder. “They aren’t just footprints.”

She followed the trail with her eyes for several body lengths before it curved gently around a cluster of shrubs and vanished into thicker vegetation. “They slowed down here.” Her brow furrowed thoughtfully. “Maybe they were feeding… or listening for something.” She paused before giving an uncertain shrug. “Or maybe I’m completely wrong.”

The admission came easily, accompanied by an amused flick of her ear. She looked back toward Serrune, excitement shining plainly across her face. “Either way…” she said, gesturing toward the little trail of prints with one paw, “I don’t think I would’ve even noticed those five minutes ago.”

Another breeze slipped between the trees, carrying with it the gentle whisper of leaves rubbing together high overhead. This time Kiva’s ears followed the sound instinctively before her gaze lifted toward the canopy. She listened for several long heartbeats, smiling when the birds resumed their chatter after only a brief pause.

“I think I just read my first sentence.”

The grin that followed was impossible to hide—bright, proud, and carrying all the quiet excitement of someone who had just discovered there had been an entirely different language surrounding her all along.

( sorry for not bolding her speech, I’m in a rush )