Asta woke quietly, blinking twice before realizing that the reason she couldn't see anything was because she was still nestled into Molaki's chest. The only reason that she didn't jolt in a panic was because she was surrounded by his comforting warmth and scent.
She stayed still for a moment, listening to his breathing, trying to sus out if he was awake or not. The wolf gave it away by giving her a quick, hesitant peck on the head.
"Good morning," Molaki rasped. He had slept incredibly lightly, afraid to move a muscle and wake her in any way. He also just didn't want to miss a moment of the doe seeming to be truly relaxed, the first still and perfect moment he had with her.
The girl propped herself up on her elbows to look at the wolf. "How long have you been awake?"
"...A while," he grinned. "I didn't want to wake you."
*And I wanted to watch you sleep,* he thought, but he didn't want her to take that thought and spin it.
Asta sighed, scrunching her nose, which Molaki was also smitten with. There wasn't a damn thing this girl did that he didn't want to fall over himself about, yet she still held herself rigid anytime she was lucid.
But he made note that today, and she eased herself upright in the bed, she was... less so. Just a hair. She was a little, tiny bit less stiff, like she had gotten used to the space she was in. Those spoon shaped ears didn't tip to each exit right away.
"What do you usually eat for breakfast?" Molaki flipped his side of the covers off of himself, rising from the bed to walk to the window wall that he had some of the foods he would pick at in the morning when he was alone and not planning on leaving the house.
Asta sat and considered the question for just a little too long before answering.
"We would... usually just go shift and eat whatever we wanted to forage in our beasts."
"Wait what? Really?" Molaki turned to study her, immediately regretting his question, seeing her looking down at the quilt and picking at one of the worn threads.
"I didn't mean anything by it, I promise," he stuttered, whishing he could take it back. The more he learned about the deer, the more it seemed like they were living like animals, not in a built society.
Along with his map making, this sort of anthropology and history fascinated him. If he wasn't worried about offending her and taking several steps back in his pursuit of getting her unwavering trust, he would have immediately started picking her brain about just how feral they were all living. Asta hadn't even offered a name of her town - did they not even have one? What houses did they live in? She was clearly fascinated by his STEPS, so he knew she didn't have those. Huts? Not hide ones, that was for sure.
He held it all in though, if not just with a clenched fist, trying to restart the day. She knew what bread was, so she couldn't have been entirely wild. They baked. The dress she came in, while mostly ruined with mud and snags, was as detailed in the collar and trim as any of the linen wares they had in Lyko - so the deer hadn't lost their Shifter talents in weaving.
"Do you like morning teas?"
Asta looked up at him with a new relief, nodding, though asking what that exactly meant. Morning teas were darker and more bitter. Talia didn't have coffee beans, but the pitch black and bitter green teas were always packed with a jolt of caffeine, many times the adults sipping on it well into the afternoon to keep themselves alert during times of stress.
Dotingly, Molaki was going to bring about tea, with buttered bread up to the bedroom, but like the night before, Asta snuck up on him downstairs stoking the fire. She didn't want to stay there any longer, instead taking the opportunity to look more closely at some of the things that the male had stashed around his home in nooks and on shelves.
She picked up a small, flat, circular object, made of copper. It was deceptively light, as she picked it up, as it was hallowed out, the center holding an arrow that looked like a pin. Under the pin, was read inkwork that spread out like star points. Asta turned the object around, but she gasped quietly as the pin spin and didn't move with the copper outside.
"What's wrong?" Molaki asked as he sat the tea and warmed bread down on the table in front of his couch.
"I - I'm sorry, I broke it," Asta admitted sadly.
"What?" Molaki asked again, confused. "No, no. It's a compass. The arrow always points north."
Asta raised an eyebrow suspiciously, flicking an ear as she turned her whole body and watched the compass do it's work.
"I thought you said your kind don't use Okolt magic."
Molaki held back the urge to rush over to her and over explain his gadget, which was one of his favorites and irreplaceable for his surveying and map making. Instead, he sat down on the overstuffed sofa, patting the seat next to him, ushering her to sit.
"It's not magic, it's just nature's law," he explained. 'Science' wasn't a term they used in Talia, but they had the concept of many things that would be considered as such. Magnetic stones like loadstones and magnetic metals. "The arrow is attracted to always point north, that's how I don't get lost when I'm looking through new territory to map out."
Asta seemed.... to accept this explanation, putting the copper compass down lightly where she had picked it up from, then grabbing a heavy bound book before she sat down on the couch next to Molaki.
"So you don't.... know what direction your facing all the time?" She asked, still somewhat suspicious.
"...." Molaki opened his mouth to answer, but closed it again, twice, before just blatantly asking if she knew what direction she was facing currently.
"East," she answered, without hesitating.
"Is this a shadow thing?" Molaki sipped on his tea. He wasn't awake enough yet to have a deep conversation. He hated mornings.
"No, everyone can do that. You should just know," Asta chided, starting to flip through the pages of the book she had pulled.
"Well, it's not. I don't know anyone who can do that, Asta, it's gotta be a deer thing," the male concluded. "What other abilities do you all have then, anyway? Because they clearly are different than the predators."
Asta shrugged, pulling apart a piece of bread. "It's hard to say what's an ability that's unique if you've just always had it."