There is a small sense of satisfaction when he takes a step back from her after she shifts into the bear but it is not nearly as gratifying as she would have hoped. The shame at losing control, at letting him bother her that much, ruins any joy. Mazikeen did not want to be feared, even by him. When she hunted with her packmates she almost never actually ate whatever was caught. She just enjoyed the chase, the sense of working together, the thrill, the challenge.
Would it have been different, she often wonders, if she had not discovered what it felt like to be hunted? To be torn apart for sport and left for dead.
However, this feeling of shame is difficult to hold onto when he comments on how she is easily infuriated. She does not respond to this with words but sticks out her tongue at him and makes a face.
When he continues, her orange eyes practically roll into her head. “Wow, I’m so surprised.” The words drip with sarcasm but then she focuses on him a little more seriously - watching him with that predator’s gaze as she asks with a sharp tongue:
“Does it feel good, having no one?”
Maze thought she wanted that once. Thought it was all she would get in this life - two loving, sad, parents and then once she was old enough she’d be on her own for the rest of her days. She believed this to her core when she was young and wild and did not believe she needed anyone.
Now (though she’s still relatively young and wild) she knows better. Knows the filly who told Firion she would never stop running was wrong and foolish.
Now, she would die for the friends and family she has made since that day in the woods.
And Firion? What did he have to keep him company except that stupid smirk?
@[firion]