and some by virtue fall; any

[Kushiel]

Kushiel saw that he was having some small measure of success with Shaytan. At least she wasn’t attacking him any longer. That was better than nothing. Besides, the gray stallion was hardly in the mood to do any more attacking of his own. He was tried. His head hurt. He did stuff last week. He deserved a break. Still, he heard the skepticism in her voice and tried to keep a wince off his face. Fine, maybe he’d gone a little too far with saying the tree liked the fire. Still, he certainly hadn’t done it any harm, and Kushiel liked its fire. It was safe to say that at worse, the  tree was ambivalent. Still, Kushiel didn’t want to push his luck. He only nodded, keeping his mouth shut for once in his whole life.

When Shaytan acquiesced he mustered up a grin, and tried not to sag in relief. Well what did you know? Diplomacy did sometimes work. The stallion felt the flicker of his good move return, and he felt bold enough to step a little closer to the tree, to share it with her as they had decided. About then was when she decided to lie down. The gray stallion jumped a little in surprise, then looked at her prone form with curiosity.

Was he really so unintimidating? Did women and children really feel no need to fear his presence? The big stallion scowled. He needed to work on that. He didn’t even bother to keep the sarcasm from his voice.

“Well by all means, take a load off!” He all but crowed it, feeling a little put out. Not only was he not a threat, but apparently, he was boring. Was she going to sleep or just proving a point? He muttered incoherently under his breath. She was, perhaps, the strangest women he had ever met, and he’d met his mother. Really, that was saying something. Unable to stand it any longer, he looked down at the spotted girl.

“So, Shaytan. Seriously, what’s your deal? Do the bunnies taste good or did you have a messed up childhood?” He knew a thing or two about messed up childhoods. His mother was a mindreader who asked about his love life. The accidental things things he had divulged were enough to permanently scare them both. Still, he had not turned to the murder of fluffy animals. He looked down at Shaytan curiously, to check to see if she was still awake, and it see if perhaps a visual helped him better understand her. It did not.