
He'd offered her berries, fish, rabbit. He'd offered her conversation. And now, he wanted to offer her a home. One that was closer to the pond downhill, one that would hopefully one day be full of children. But he couldn't just ask her, no. He had to show her how good a home it was first. Many familiars and pets were hard to bond with, but it was the male musky that Loyalty had spoken of one day. A dream she'd shared with the confession that her home would never be accepted by one. If one, however, were to accept his, though, maybe then he could muster the courage to invite her to move in. To be his mate. She was already his whole world.
It'd taken a lot of time to learn about musk wolves and what the males found desirable about a location. He already had a nice elevated location that was uphill from the nearby water sources. A den, though, he didn't have that. There was a mound that he could dig in, though, and he wondered if that would do. He usually slept under a lean-to he'd made of fallen branches to keep the rain off him, but a burrow that extended into the mound would be nice. Not only for the musk wolf but for Loyalty as well.
The hard part had been concealing it all from Loyalty on a daily basis. He didn't want to tell her yet. He didn't want to keep her hopes up. He wanted it all to be done first. Hopefully with the musk wolf having adopted his home as its own and bonded with him.
Creation worked through the night, covering his handy work with branches, though he was sure that Loyalty knew something was going on. He'd wavered a few too many times while standing upright, sleep catching up with him fiercely. But, finally, it was done.
The mound had been dug into so that at least three or four adult kin could rest comfortably. In addition, it had room for a few musk wolves, too, and possibly a firepit if they ever found themselves a fire salamander. It was uphill from the water and very unlikely to flood. And there was ample rabbits and squirrels and fish and berries for food. What more could any kin or creature want?
Now, he had to find a musk wolf.