Dragoncrest Cliffs the flame will protect

It may have been going on three weeks since she’d come home and rested but she knew she shouldn’t be doing this. At the very least, she should have had someone else in her place, but she wouldn’t have seen firsthand how Eske worked. Watching her from a distance isn’t the same as up close as she had been and she wouldn’t have seen Eske do what she needed to win. Even though pain sears through her form, she can’t take her eyes away from the warrior. She watches her mouth form the words, though she knows what’s going to come out of them, but they are interrupted a beat later when a very unhappy, very pregnant Portia barges in.

If Thuringwethil had the words to speak, she might have snapped at the healer but she glares hard enough anyway to get the message across. Her interests may have good intentions but she is Heda. Her lip lifts in the beginning of a snarl but she does not proceed and does not chase the woman off. A warning, at best, but her eyes turn away as Eske begins to fill the air after Portia tries to settle and steady her breathing.

“Eske did nothing wrong,” she corrects. Not in her eyes, anyway. “She won. She is my Cheka.”

Thuringwethil knew there was a chance she wasn’t going to win anyway, but she knew if she played her hand right and knew how to move around the girl, she could have still taken her down and likely caused more damage to her ribs. Eske didn’t let it happen and she knows she’ll give her life to the job she wants.