They walk in companionable silence and she only bristles slightly at the feel of his touch on the top of her head. Her silvery eyes are sharp when they slant upward, her smile tight. “You should know better than anyone that I do not require sheltering,” her voice is soft as she practically purrs it, her head leaning up to brush against the scars she has left on the more sensitive parts of his flesh. She does need what he offers though—she knows that—and so she doesn’t push the matter. For now, her pack does need a home.
When he gives her his one warning, the one thing she can’t touch, she makes a sound in the back of her throat. “I have little desire to go after your offspring,” she muses. For all of her flaws and questionable morales, she has never truly desired to go after the completely vulnerable. There is no thrill in the hunt when the prey cannot fight back—when they cannot draw her own blood or put up a defense.
Still, she understands the need to protect and she rolls her shoulder.
She can accept those terms.
“I seek freedom,” she says simply, knowing that it is a direct contrast to his need to conquest. “I look for a new way of living—a chance to form my own rules and create my own world.” A more natural order, in some ways, but she knows that it will require sacrifice to get it. “I’m willing to do what it takes to reach that. I do not mind supporting one conquerer should I think they will turn a blind eye to me.”
Her thoughts are interrupted when Straia arrives and there is something like familiarity in the way that her lips quirk upward. “In one way or another,” she echoes in agreement. That her idea of conquest is over the current status quo matters little to her. Instead she shifts her weight, holding the others gaze for a moment before glancing around. She watches as the tree expands, its roots reaching deep into the earth.
She glances back with the reflection of fire in her mercurial gaze.
“For now.”
she said a war ain't a war before both sides bleed
@[ghaul]