A weakling too. Dwin still had a vivid memory of Sylvie's breakdown and the moment she caught sight of Peregrine faltering, a shadow of dread crossed her expression. It was there for a second and then it was gone. Up until now her cool gaze had been fixated on the young man, her pose had been rigid and the fur along her spine had bristled. To give him a break from the pressure, she looked away and up and took a step back. As much as she did not understand, what he really wanted, she also did not need another panic-attack-stricken mess.
"Home is not a physical place. It is, where your friends and family live," she told him. "No one, who you named or who knew you, lives here anymore. I met Towhee somewhere out in the wilds, far from here and even that was a long time ago," she said.
"So, if you wish to find them here - I suggest to seek elsewhere," she added. "If you have nowhere else to go and need a safe place to stay during winter, then tell me good reasons, why should be let in. We have place for people, who value honest work and who respect others. Unfortunately - being a Redhawk does not give you any favours," she told him.
"A person's worth lies not in the grand family name, but in, what they do," she finished and gave him time to speak.
Dwin frowned slightly, when Peregrine started his elevator speech with words about his dad. She did not care, who his dad was, she had asked him to tell, who the hell he was and why should Brecheliant accept him here? In the back of her mind she did realize that even in her thoughts she was harsh on the fellow and that at this moment she was not living up to the second value of her pack that she had listed. Treating others with respect.
Let it go, Dwin. She thought to herself, sitting down and trying to soften her expression. At least to a degree that the young fellow would feel a bit more comfortable, but not enough to become too confident of his easy acceptance in the ranks. "You do not look much like a mercenary," Dwin remarked, pointing out to his absence of scars. Though she had to admit that having her deceased uncle Bronco as a reference, whose skin had more scars than fur in some places of his body and had lost both ears (?) at some point, was maybe a bit too high.
She had no confidence in the young man not running away screaming from danger, but they could use help in marking the borders. That was the part of mercenary trade that people did not glorify much about, but it was the job that needed to be done every day. "Yeah, but you can mark borders. The territory is big and more than one bladder is needed to keep the markings fresh. Do you know, how to do that?" she asked him and decided to clarify. "Pee sparingly and mark?" after all that was one area, where boys had to excel. And the way she asked was pretty serious - she was in no way mocking him.
"Naturalist - how? A healer? A good knowledge of plants? A poisoner?" she urged him to tell more.
she can be skipped for the moment if you like!
It was about then that Maia showed up. She’d needed to come from a ways away and, catching wind that her daughter had things handled, taken a moment to catch her breath. She was still getting back into the swing of, well… Auspex things. And it felt like showing up to a border call heaving and huffing wouldn’t leave the best first impression.
Maia smiled, noting that it seemed Ceridwen seemed to be handling things well, but unease flickered in her at the last statement. It didn’t necessarily… mean anything. But killing? Was that really a skill he felt he needed?
Brecheliant wasn’t a place that needed trouble, especially now. She found herself fervently hoping he didn’t come with any, but she’d wait to interrupt until they’d finished.
The last part made Dwin anxious and suspicious, because being able to kill someone with the help of poison changed things a lot. Up until now she had looked down at this young man, who had not made a great first impression. Now, however, the very idea that he might poison her because of a grudge, made her like and trust him even less. And trust in Dwin's books meant everything. Who was to vouch for this person, who appeared quite normal, not to turn out a psycho killer, who poisoned people to deal with his lack of self-confidence?
Dwin was glad to see Maia join her and thus relieve her of the unpleasant job of making the final decision. After some discussion between the three, the young wolf seemed to realize that for the time being Brecheliant's doors would remain closed to him and that he should seek refuge elsewhere. Still - hours after the meeting had concluded, Dwin walked around with that uneasy feeling of being threatened.