the firestarters always get the burns
and the good guys never get the girl
She is a slow mover - she is waiting for the obviously-soon-following 'retaliation' from Lepis. Ah, there it is already. Ilma stops to listen, but does not move back towards Lepis. It's indeed warmer where she's headed.
So Hyaline made the steal into a threat of war? Maybe - that's why if she had had the chance, she would have asked her queens to give it a day to talk it over, though after admitting once that she might not have agreed with her queens, she will not verbally do so again. And whatever the case; it had been a war-like act from Loess, and Hyaline had no other way to interpret it. And so she'd done the only thing she could to prevent actual war - steal Lepis back, let them feel what Hyaline had - it's uneasy, it feels slightly like betrayal even, perhaps. But it's better than the alternative, better than letting her queens actually declare war on Loess, which most certainly would mess up all existing alliances. But apparently, Lepis does not understand this. For one claiming to be a diplomat, she does very little to understand the view of the other party - ultimately that is where she failed to make a deal in the first place.
Lepis threatens to return to Loess, and Ilma repeats the 'casual' motion of her wings when the girl does. The Cleric even goes so far as to threaten with war, to which Ilma raises a brow. Obviously - not that Lepis seems to get it - keeping her here would give Hyaline the upper hand, a hostage to be traded back. So yeah, she's pretty sure she knows what keeping her entails - her molten orange gaze meets the other woman's bluish grey ones, with a look that is almost a sigh in itself. Tired of the repetitive motion of threatening, and that combined with small insults. It's nothing but threats, really.
Standing there staring at the woman until she not-finished her last sentence, Ilma's mind works over the possibilities - she'll have to be following Lepis around to keep her here if need be, that's for sure; but she's determined enough. And until 6 months have passed, nobody should be able to reclaim her. Plenty of time to get acquainted. "Perhaps I should. And perhaps I will; give me some time to think it over, but do not demand it from me right away or the answer is most certainly no. I think you and I already know what you want most, right about now, so stop playing games and come clean with me, or stay here and sulk. Run away even - but I'll find you. Do not think that we have no means of keeping you if we want to. I had just hoped you would stay somewhat willingly, because if you do, you'll have more freedom here than you could have otherwise." Clearly Lepis wanted to go home, while Ilma would have been stubborn enough not to take the offer and sit out her full sentence; something Lepis might not have considered. "And who knows, perhaps you'd have done the same for me and release me early. But inflicting a wound and then healing it still leaves the memory of pain, Lepis. Releasing a stolen horse is not a favour, if anything, it neutralizes the steal in the first place, and gets us back to ground zero, but then tensed. I suggest you try another tactic if you want something from us. At the moment, we're not quite sure if we're interested in any deals with you at all." Her winter coat bristles a bit at a sudden flare of wind, but it settles quickly enough not to have her shiver as she outwardly calmly, awaits a response. She'd rather just show the mare around and give her a place for the night, but no, Lepis was determined to negotiate (or, threaten really - there was no offer, so it was not a negotiation at all) until the deep of night.
Well then, so be it.
@[Lepis]