She hadn’t laughed. She had promised him she’d laugh as she threw him into the river, but she hadn’t. She should have. But the moment had not been a proud one for her. The moment had shown too clearly how much (too damned much) she had cared. And regardless of what else she might be, she couldn’t bring herself to laugh at his pain. She couldn’t even bring herself to be angry anymore.

Instead, as they travel towards Nerine, there is only tired resignation. She had tried to let go and failed. He had tried to leave and failed. It seems, regardless of the anger and tension she had fostered between them so long, they are destined to keep each other’s company at least a while longer. Or perhaps it had been a choice. But if it was, she doesn’t want to dwell on it, as unwise a choice as it would no doubt prove.

Just as he had given up his fight, she too had given up her anger. It has gotten her nowhere anyway. He refused to reciprocate, and she is not built for seige.

She does her best to ignore him as they arrive in the coastal kingdom, him still wet from his unexpected dip, her dry as a bone and appearing entirely unruffled. Her only intention upon arriving in the kingdom is to deposit him in a safe corner and find somewhere she might regain her own calm and equilibrium in peace. She has spent too much time these last several days hijacked by the force of her own emotions.

Her plans, unfortunately, are foiled by the approach of a speckled red stallion. She recognizes him immediately as her uncle, though they have never truly met. Regardless, she had made it a point of knowing all her relations. Dovev rouses immediately, pressing close in a protective manner. Unnecessary, but in the wake of her own turmoil, she cannot seem to find the will to push him away.

As it turns out, she isn’t entirely heartless.

“Leilan,” she greets evenly, pale blue eyes fixing on the roan stallion with an unsettling intensity. She says nothing further, instead waiting for him to steer the conversation.

i see your sins
and i want to set them free

For a brief moment, Heartfire can see the gears turning in her uncle’s mind, attempting to place her. It’s true they haven’t met, but power of deduction is enough to place her in their sordid family tree. After all, that distinctive blue roan sabino seems to have quite well taken to only she and her siblings.

It seems though, that true to nature, he cannot resist poking the bear. If there is anything she had learned of Leilan in all her spying, it was that he has a penchant for drawing trouble along with him wherever he goes. And Dovev, for all his weariness, still reacts to his overly familiar greeting and taunting words.

And for all Heartfire had been willing to put up with his possessive behavior, she is still not willing to be shoved out of the way like a child. Scowling, she pins her ears and nips sharply at his neck, reminding him she is not a toy he can clutch his chest and proclaim ‘mine’ when others threaten interest. Nor would she ever pretend submission just to sooth his bruised ego.

I’m going home. She blinks then, surprise registering as her scowl slips. She had not heard him refer to home before, and that he would say it now causes a queer feeling to settle in her stomach. She stares at him, silent for a long moment, before simply stepping back, allowing him to pass.

After another heartbeat, her attention turns back Leilan, features smoothing as her customary calm settles over her once more. Her gaze chills as she considers him. Relation he might be, but she still does not appreciate the deliberacy of his actions. “If you only wish to tweak noses, go elsewhere, uncle,” she reprimands in a low tone, head tilting slightly. She is most certainly not in the mood for such antics. Not now.

i see your sins
and i want to set them free

He had, as he so eloquently put it, caught her an an impossibly bad day. However, even had he not, she would still question his motives. To be fair, she might have been less irritated and far more subtle on any other day. But of course, that’s always a risk you take when you nip at a lion’s tail.

Her blue eyes are steady as she regards the roan stallion, expression inscrutable. She makes no response to his assertions that he had merely wanted to see how his family was doing. As he had had no clue who she was more than thirty seconds prior to their greeting, she doesn’t buy it. Leilan might use sarcasm and crude misdirection to dig his way out of many trenches, but he hadn’t met Heartfire before.

If he had, he would already know she does not disseminate. And she doubts Scorch would have informed him of her tendencies. Of course, grandmother and granddaughter are very similar in the that respect. One would have thought he’d have learned from Scorch.

At his last snarky quip, Heartfire arch’s one equine brow at him before tilting her head in wry acquiescence. “Sound advice, I think I will,” she challenges, tone cool despite the acknowledgement. She shifts, moving to follow Dovev before pausing a moment. Turning her head slightly, her icy gaze fixes on Leilan once more. “Unless you had something more to add?”

Her version of a second chance, slim as it may be. She is certainly not opposed to getting to know her relatives. Even so, she is not willing to be insulted in order to do so.

i see your sins
and i want to set them free

A familial trait it seems, their fearsome tempers. Before she had met her grandmother (before she had truly developed her unique ability to garner information), Heartfire had often wondered how her parents, both far more kind and patient than she could ever hope to be, had produced a child like herself. However, it seems her father is the outlier in this family, not herself, though he had shown surprising insight when he had chosen to name his first daughter in honor of his mother.

Surprisingly enough, Scorch and Heartfire have gotten on well, despite their strong personalities. But, to be fair, Scorch has had far longer to learn how handle too similar relatives than has her youngest son.

If she had been privy to his thoughts, she might have laughed. She would also have informed him she doesn’t deal in stories, but rather in facts. Vision does not lie in the same way that memories do. Memories can shift and alter over time, but the things one has actually seen always remains the same. A thing impossible to dispute.

Given that fact, and what she knows of her uncle, she doesn’t hold high hopes. He seems to have a habit of sticking his foot in his mouth. Perhaps another day, when her patience has not already been so sorely tested, she would find him and they could converse like normal adults. His words give her pause however. She hadn’t expected the faint admission from him, and her eyes linger on him in consideration. A pang touches her heart, and in her distraction, pain flashes briefly across her features before she regains control.

It is a kind offer, but this is not a pain she can discuss with others. The death of a son is not something one simply overcomes, and despite all her feigned indifference, she is well aware every bit of her recent turmoil stems from that loss. Besides, she’s not entirely certain anyone who tried to confront her grief would survive the attempt.

After a silence that lasts just a little too long, she answers him in a level tone, giving nothing of her thoughts away. “I appreciate the offer, but this is not something anyone else can help me with.”

Let him make of that what he would.

i see your sins
and i want to set them free