Patience raised his head, his snout pointing to the sky. He began to howl at the stars, sounding like a beautiful tune. Shine was taken aback and stepped away, looking around to see if any of the other creatures in the forest would be frightened and flee. To her suprise, every animal, including the cautious mice, didn't seem to be too bothered by the howl and paid little attention to the two canines. She looked back at Patience once again as he lowered his head and continued to tred through the pine trees.

She silently groaned, tilting her head to her right shoulder and sighed. Patience looked back and eyed her with concern, coming to a halt.

"Are you okay, puppy?"

"Yes. I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Thank you."

Patience silently slid his tail over her back. He continued to eye her with concern until she finally met his gaze. She gave the wolf an unconvincing smile, hoping he would stop urging her to tell. The awkwardness of smiling at a strange canine was great, but being coddled by a canine she had never met before was much worse in her eyes.

"I'm fine."