they arrived in varied shades of annoyance and of supplication. wintersbane was first to arrive; his imploring silence earned him a cool lingering stare from the listener, one made impassive by her rage. it had not been him to bring the captive here; this she knew. but it mattered not to relmyna, for a redhawk was in their midst, and it spelled danger for blackfeather.
mou next, and the woman trained a colder stare on him. had it been a mistake to give her stone to the scarred boy? she did not know — she hoped fervently it was not so — but it remained to be seen. he kept his eyes upon the ground, and relmyna pulled her stare from him to rest it upon maegi. beloved melonii child, her chosen heir — a fool.
the way all three of them had glanced to the flame burning with fear in the den provoked a growl from relmyna, a sound designed to refocus their attention on herself. for the present, the she-wolf did not exist. the patchwork woman's tail arched over her hips in a rare display of her rank; she enforced it with a thorny sweep of her gaze. mou was not gifted the ability of clear speech; wintersbane could for the present wait.
maegi —
before you tell me what has taken place here, the war that killed your father was with these wolves. there was no desire in relmyna to be kind, to be gentle, to choose her words with warmth — they must know inherently the threat posed by the presence of this redhawk woman. and she had been too lenient, far too lenient.
he left a trail of blood through the woods, maegi; no one could have survived what was done to him. in truth, relmyna did not know who had killed the toxicologist; she had not seen him depart, only drew up the scarlet trail of his ruined scent once he had gone. the redhawks had scattered them, driven blackfeather out, and it was them she blamed for his death, knowing not the name of drageda. i will not have war again.
she straightened, turquoise eyes burning toward the indigo and fire of the melonii gaze. speak.

a sweeping wave of regret — the rage in maegi's face could only be born from pain. an agony relmyna had wrought in the child she still so loved with the silent lash of her words. but still she did not move from them. she had uttered them, brought the sentiment of bloody cicero into the world between them, and now the listener must take charge of what she had said. even if
it will cost you maegi
so it was mou. the woman did not pull her eyes from the young melonii's features, but the sithis-touched boy held parts of the story back. it was not a solid knowledge, merely a strong insistence within the priestess. and yet relmyna was weary from holding the fiery reins of such a rage she had not before felt. she wished to demand proper submission from maegi,, rout mou from the wood for his stupidity
they are so young
and it was not the fault of the scarred boy nor the scarred girl that the redhawks had come here.
yes, relmyna murmured silently. it can be fixed. her gaze, still hard with the force of her ire, swung between the pale pair. i believe you meant no harm. it is still important you understand that redhawks must never be trusted, must never be approached. unable — yes, she could not stop them from hating her, but if she could engender the smallest mistrust of the entire wretched plateau clan, it would be of sufficient worth to the listener.
her wolves will come for her sooner or later. if they have the smallest scent of us, they will return to blackfeather. a pause; relmyna's jaw tightened. another plant; another poisoning? did she wish to know? etching a mental note to interrogate mou at a later time, the listener went on.
as of this moment, wintersbane, i am posting you as guard here. the two of you, mou, maegi, are not to come near this cave again, so long as she is here. halting again, this time to scrutinize their expressions, though some glimmer of feral awareness told her she must not glance from the yearlings yet, despite the fact it was only one of them she did not trust.
if she ingested something, she will need tending. i will see to it from now on, until she is strong enough to travel. and then, relmyna breathed, steadying herself on the edge of mephala's voice, whispering gently as her skull began to throb, i will escort her home.
if she allowed what had gone on to continue, she would lose face, not only with herself but kove. and still compounding, the growing belief she had been far too lenient. confusion; pain in her temple. fire was not to be trusted; the flame would not be allowed to roam free. but neither would she be harmed. 
relmyna would glean whatever bits of info from mou she could, she decided, unnerved by the cold regard she had in this moment for the boy. and then she would bring the redhawk back to whatever rat-chewed hovel her pack called home. the chance of her own death was high, but there was no one else to do it: she could not sacrifice anyone else on the altar of this foolhardy decision. 
kill her.
the voice rang clearly, loudly enough that relmyna was hard-pressed to put it aside. silent now, she waited for their responses, wanting only the darkness of her den.

it was wintersbane who first spoke, and finally relmyna drew aside her gaze to regard the northerner. the reactions of the other wolves assembled went unnoticed. a favor. though her stare remained impassive, unreachable during the rumble of his plea, only his promise of a trade saved the gamma's offer from being outright spurned.
mou.
what have you done?
her eyes moved to the boy's scarred face, to the stone she had given him lodged in its empty socket of bone. never had she heard him speak so much before, and she was silent until he had finished. it was a worse thing than she had imagined: there was a bounty upon the sithis-touched creature, and more than before was she convinced the redhawks would seek to drench the wood in blood once more.
he offered himself to be slaughtered — would his price be paid if she sent him with fire back to the redhawks? his transgression was great, and the listener knew if she ordered it, mou would never return to them.
but relmyna did not care for those who had murdered cicero, and a dark feeling of gratitude for mou's ending of the alpha's litter welled sharply in her heart. he did not know he had done it, however — screech was not a name she knew. only mou, and whatever had been done, he belonged to blackfeather now. he was not a trade for the wretch they had brought to the cave, nor a payment to murderers.
and then maegi, and finally the cold in the listener's gaze faltered — maegi melonii, follower not of the old gods, heir to the throne, pleading for mou in the face of his offer. relmyna's jaw tightened, and for a long moment she said nothing.
you are not a sacrifice, mou. i do not care what you did to the redhawks; this is your home, and your place is here. with maegi, she went on, turning her gaze back to the girl she still considered her eldest in spite of herself. you have nothing to offer if i send you. all they know is blood. they will see only that you are blackfeather.
a breath; a pause, during which relmyna glanced toward the silver-cloaked warrior, if only for a steadying moment. no one is going to the redhawks except for myself and wintersbane. it falls to me to protect blackfeather, and i am not sending the young to do my work.
kove was their dark master; naught must befall him. the pack would go on without relmyna if the redhawks took their pound of flesh. her choice of companion in wintersbane was twofold: the strength of this favour, and his own might, his ability to perhaps escape where she would fail.
enough. what i have said will stand. do not come near her. relmyna glanced between mou and maegi again, her heart sundered. sheogorath had been her master, cicero her lover. her affection for the dead man was not affected by the actions of what he had done when he was not himself. a boy named screech had hurt her enemies — that was all.
it is safer this way. her stance was definite, heavy with the tension of the moment. 
presently, the woman's gaze burned toward fire, and there was no kindness there. she would not warn the redhawk wolfess of what would befall her if she attempted escape, but sithis was a god of blood, and would gladly purge mou's sin with the cut throat of another.