As anger and rage were quite new to her experience, a fortunate effect was that she hardly had the means let alone motivation to hold onto it for long. Though ‘hurt’ was easy. Hurt was a well-known expression endured for more seasons than she cared to admit. And with it came the ease of masking it, letting it fall behind the solidifying façade of indifference as Njal expressed his intentions.
Apologize?
The word echoed in her mind, its reverberations knocking against her fortified resolve until it began to ebb one crumbling fragment at a time. No one had ever come to apologize to her, but the novelty of it only lasted as long until the announcement of the transgressor’s name was given. And even then her face remained hard, unmoving, as if the wind itself dared not to stir the hairs of the stone visage. Drawing upon that anger from the memory of that day would serve her no purpose now and was better left alone. She was more composed than to lash him with her anger especially, when he had not taken part in the breech of her pack’s security. However, there was a dark sect of her mind that would have favored equal torment, if only to instill the same unrest that pale female had given to her brethren. Instead, she breathed deeply through dark, flaring nostrils, and expelled the breath slowly through the gradual part of her weathered jaws.
“I cannot accept your apology, as it was not your actions that brought this complication…” exhaling, she leapt from her pedestal to stand on level ground. Minding their proximity, she remained closest to the mountain as if in its great mass she would find the strength to remain on her own four paws. Letting her eyes fall to the ground, she looked anywhere but to the earth dusted paws of her mentor. “I do not understand why it would matter if you need word from your superior,” she expressed, unembarrassed by her ignorance in the Creek’s inner workings. “Nor do I understand how you would call me ‘friend’-“ meekly, her ears folded back against her head “-when just as easily you claim I am unwelcome when I have done nothing wrong.”
There had been hope when told of his interest to continue their training, but it was fleeting when reminded of the complications of their arrangement. For one reason or another, it seemed that the Creek wolves were not kindly to the Vale; a reality that left the warrior terribly uneasy. Had it been on part of the Vale, she could have taken what methods she could have to resolve it, but since it was not on their part, she was at a loss of what to do. And because of this, she did not foresee the hope in a continued arrangement lasting for long. |