The polecat lingered near Rexanna’s muzzle, reaching up with tiny paws and staring with bright beady eyes. His mask of white and black resembling much of Rexanna’s own pale face with black stripes, but it was his golden coloring that had her blue gaze captured. Tembovu’s words had retained in her mind, but she didn’t decide to respond. “You’ll be surprised at how resilient companions are.’ She wanted to argue with him in that instance. This creature was tiny! About the only thing he could probably do would be to run and hide in small spaces – though ironically, similar to how Rexanna wanted to deal with her issues. But instead, she began to turn her head away from the polecat. His little hands reaching for her once again as he stood shakily on back legs, his striped and spotted tail flickering behind him for balance. He looked over to the elephant as the two of them heard Mbwene’s trumpet. Rexanna felt the Elephant King’s presence as he approached her, standing beside her. Her gaze lifting to catch his. “He is.” She admitted, looking down briefly to the polecat that appeared to be reaching outstretched with his hands – tired of being on the ground in the cold for much longer.

She lowered her head to him, nearly against the ground, so the polecat could climb up onto her. Images flashed into her mind of the happiness that her companion had felt the moment he was lifted away from the icy earth beneath. The polecat began to make his way across her face, nestling himself between her ears, forelock, and horn – using Tembovu’s gift to her as a way to hold on in case she were to move too quickly. Rexanna, despite the warmth and comfort from her newly found companion, she couldn’t seem to express it. Instead, she listened quietly, a somber gleam in her eye as Tembovu spoke of what they called the pattern in his homeland. She nodded, slowly – careful to refrain from messing up the polecat’s nest. Parting her lips to speak, she stopped when Tembovu asked her about her previous whisper.

Her lips formed a frown, feeling as the polecat let go of her forelock and chains and began to move slightly further up her head to stop around her ears, reaching for the fluff that Frostfall had granted her, despite her loss in weight. He began to make small squeaking sounds in her ears, causing her to flick them back in frustration. What was so important that the creature demanded her attention in such a serious problem?  A name! Rexanna thought, and the polecat’s squeaks died down. She needed a name for him, but all she could think of was sadness, Cal, and this so very strange encounter with her past lover. She let her gaze try to find the sapphires of Tembovu’s, reaching for him with her muzzle briefly. “My companion needs a name…” She began, feeling strange at the mere mention of the word. “I – I want you to name him.” Her eyes fell from his masculine face to the grey tones of Mbwene’s softer one. She waited for a brief moment, deciding whether or not she should even tell him about her encounter with Cal, deciding that perhaps the anger the Elephant King would show would demolish any hope of a name coming from him for her companion. The companion that Tembovu had found.

Tightening her jaw, she looked away from him, waiting for his answer of a name or other things, before she figured she’d tell him. Her head swiveling out and away from him and the Mbwene, the tiny polecat watching with his masked face and tiny eyes as the world around him continued to shift. “It’s Cal, Temb.” She spoke to him, but aimed her words out over nothing. She didn’t want to look at him and see the anger that she knew would flush through his being. “He’s here, in Helovia. He found me. Just like he said he would.” She turned her gaze back to Tembovu, a line of sadness sparking in her eyes beginning to be nullified by the Polecat. “The scar you asked me about earlier? His scar. It’s in the shape of a C for a reason...”

"Talk."

And my love is yours, but your love’s not mine

so I’ll go—

—but we know I’ll see you down the line.