It took Asta several squinting blinks for her eyes to adjust to the unusually bright autumn day, Molaki not forcing her to take another step until she had gained her bearings.
Lyko was beautiful. She couldn't get over it. The trees were peppered through the village, with the one and two story log cabins alongside them. The houses were clearly unnatural, but the way they were spread out felt like they had scattered through the landscape like seeds and then grown there. The paths to each house were mostly just worn from years of use, maybe a flat stone or round wood cutting placed here or there to make a more distinct directive.
She would see that once they got closer to the main square, where the Tri building was and everything else that was communal and close to the pack, things got more tightly put together, more sanitized and official, but from where she was standing at the steps of Molaki's - from HER, her home now, all she could really see was a woodland sanctuary.
It was so serene she could almost forgive the scents of predators assaulting her nose. Even in the outskirts of the village, there were wolf pups playing in the underbrush, some in their wolf, some not. A hovering young mother was trotting down the path to keep an eye on them, an ear flicking over as soon as she scented the doe.
Her hackles went up, eyeing Asta suspiciously, but Molaki merely raised a hand, palm out, growling. It was a noise Asta hadn't heard him make before, definitely a growl, but it was soft, as though he was trying to convince his fellow wolf that he was in control and she had nothing to fear. Indeed, it worked, her hair slowly lowering on the nape of her neck before she licked her lips and kept hovering over the pups, turning her back on the pair of mates.
As the two of them strolled slowly down the path, Molaki explained that it would probably not be that easy with everyone in the village, but it many would listen to his reassurance now that the Tri had made their verdict. It didn't matter that they hadn't made it happily; the rules were the rules, and they said Asta could stay. Everyone else could have their own opinions on it, but as Molaki was also an Alpha, and a Second, very few would have the guts to challenge them.
"Even if you're alone," he insisted, "They wouldn't touch you. The consequences would be swift and fatal."
Asta did not see a reason for her to be alone in Lyko, ever. She was fearful even walking outside with her mate, she didn't know if she would ever freely walk on her own in this lifetime, but she nodded as though what Molaki was saying was somehow comforting.
When they entered the main square, which was really a long strip of street, the atmosphere changed entirely. It was electric, wolves buzzing about with their own business. Most were in their human forms here, needing their hands to carry the bundles of goods they had bartered, or bring in the items they were bringing to offer. There were little wooden stands all along the sides of the street with every imaginable sort of good being peddled; herbs, medicines, piping hot soup and teas, dried meats. There were leatherworkers with cuffs and belts, jewelers with necklaces made of stone and bone. The stands that caught her eyes the fastest were the women with brightly dyed robes wafting in the low breeze. Asta could tell even from afar that they were woven, and they reminded her of home.
She was confused that she had missed all of this when they had entered the city the first time, but Molaki figured that she was still mostly in shock. She was scared, dehydrated, and surrounded by predators. There wasn't a way he could expect her to see how colorful and bright Lykos was leading up to the Tri building.
It was good that Asta couldn't scent emotions, because the crowd was a mixed bag. Nobody could help themselves with noticing her, but how they dealt with it was all different. The majority attempted to go about their business as usual, ignoring the couple as they passed, though a tipped ear and an eye rolled back to watch them from their side vision gave them away. Others did as the wolf mother had, pinning her ears, wishing to raise their hackles if they were in their beast. All of them were met with a stern warning glare from Molaki, and they would slink off or roll their eyes and huff. A few were truly fearful, though they merely scented of it, too proud to burst into their beasts and run off with their tail between their legs.
But more surprising to Asta, was the group of teen and early twenty year olds who suddenly came bounding up as the two of them started to walk alongside the Tri building to get around and behind it.
"LAKI!"
"SHE'S AWAKE!"
"LOOK AT HER!"
Her usual first reaction would have been to shrink back and bolt, but even Asta could tell that this group - probably at least fifteen people! - were so enthusiastic to see the them that they would have been wagging their tails if they had shifted.
Molaki pinned his ears like he was going to be menacing, but besides an arm in front of Asta to stop her from being grabbed into unwanted hugs from strangers, he was equally enthusiastic.
"Don't scare her by acting like freaks," he hissed, though he couldn't keep a straight face.
Asta leaned into Molaki for reassurance, but these were the friendliest faces she had seen besides Molaki's family, and even they took more time to warm up to her. As he introduced each one - so many names she would never remember the first time - Asta vaguely recognized one young male as having the same voice as the boy who had tried to defend her in the Tri meeting. She would remember his name, Ahran. He was tall, and thin, with a mop of nearly brown hair on his head that matched his ears perfectly. She would also remember the names of two of the women, mostly because they were blatantly unique. Saba and Lena were both clearly mountain lions, their rounded ears and sandy tawny hair giving them away instantly.
"These are who I was out with when my sister kicked me out," Molaki explained. "They've been so excited to meet you that I thought they might just climb through the window, if it wasn't for the fact that everyone is terrified of Prim."