Sleepy Fox Hollow such sweet nothing

[table][tr][td valign=center] [/td][td]

The order went unanswered, responded to with laughter alone. She could feel her stomach twisting from the fear she’d since swallowed, urging her to flee, though she knew that she could not. The lair was her home, the mountains hers to protect, and it seemed as if the latter was in danger. His presence alone disturbed her, the wolf she saw no longer the one that had followed her home so long ago. He was a threat now, and she wanted nothing more than for him to leave—the mountains, the Wilds, and perhaps even this life. She could have run, she could have left him there, but her need to defend that which she felt belonged to her prevented her from doing so. Not only that but the reminder that two of her children were not home kept her there, too, the thought that he might find them deeply unsettling—terrifying, even.

As he took a step towards her, she took one backwards, away from him. The pull of the dragon, his quest to gain control, nearly became something that she could ignore no longer. A part of her wished to give in, to grant him the power that he so desired and hope that, with his strength, she would be able to protect both herself and her home. She considered it but knew that she could not throw away all of the time spent in her youth training to control the beast. She had learned to restrain him, to accept him as he was, and so she could not abandon her place above him.

With a hesitant step forward, she forced both her ears and tail upwards, careful to cover her fear with a thin veil of neutrality. To display even the slightest traces of dominance towards anyone had always left her feeling uncomfortable, but she pushed passed the unease to better focus on what she was trying to accomplish. “You will leave these mountains,” repeated the vessel, voice unwavering. “You told me once that your father was a terrible man and that you did not want to be like him—but you have become him. You do not belong here, you are no longer capable of maintaining the peace.” So often had she given others the benefit of the doubt, but now, as she stared at the man, she could not imagine that the Ukko she once knew still existed within him.

[/td][td valign=center] [/td][/tr][/table]