[There might be a moment when she'd consider what she was doing right now and be embarrassed by her actions, but right now she just needed and craved this comfort... to be grounded and reassured that she wasn't alone in this strange world where they'd been brought to fight someone else's war. It seemed an unfortunate reoccurring theme for the gryphons.

When he doesn't pull away, she allows herself several beats and breaths to just be... and then she feels him gently preen through her feathers and she sighs. Affection was something the smaller gryphon wasn't used to, and that included something as simple as touch. She been forced to go through many a seasonal molt without the help of anyone, as she'd been the pariah of her Wing; and there wasn't ever much connection to other Wings with the rare exception of family or friends... neither of which Zhaneel really had,

So, with her face buried into his downy chest, she nibbles tentatively in return and the trembling in her wings comes slowly to a halt and when she speaks, it's slightly muffled but still audible.]

Why have they brrrought uss here, Aubrrri? Iss it really to fight a war? [She'd been listening while she waited, and what she'd heard hadn't made her feel any better about being here.]