Otter Creek with love so sudden and so sweet,

uhh same to u tho <3

the mother listened; vaati relaxed in the priestess' presence, and relmyna favoured him with a warm expression as she mused over what he had said. his hatred was means to an end; his hatred was vengeance. vaati sought perhaps to weaponize the depths of his feeling toward kove. there was but one wolf she felt the yearling would heed, and it was damien. the dark brother was no fool; the young melonii's ire was kindled and clear. therefore, relmyna had little cause to doubt that it was the prince who drove vaati now. in the boy flared the embers that would burn blackfeather, and damien only held tinder to feed them.
why, then? "'Amien," the listener murmured, having found a way to make the syllables of the former master's name more coherent. "'ot 'ate Ove." surely he did not; the pale man at the wood's helm had done nothing to damien, that she could see. perhaps more had gone on when she was not herself, things she did not remember. there were only the things that she knew, and that was the expression of grief and quiet sharing between men when damien had rejoined them. kove had come, and they had spoken of cicero. and despite her conception that damien had only been play-acting all this time, she put aside the thought. his grief, his affection for the youngest meloniis, his passion — none of those emotions had been feigned.
"Aati, Oo 'an 'ead? Be .. 'ark Ma'ter?" her words must come, they simply must, even as the remnants of her tongue strained to make the sounds needed to convey to vaati what she meant. a pause; an ear flicked in frustration. relmyna gathered a sigh into her chest, offering the scarred boy an apologetic smile. "Aati, w'at 'o you 'ant?"
she spoke gently, not meaning the severity the sentence often implied; her gaze sought his own with soft supplication. what was his desire? did he only want to lead, or did he want the destruction of kove's influence over the wood? fervently relmyna hoped he would tell her; vaati was under no such obligation, but thus far he had shown himself amenable to the conversation. let him be blessed; soothe him, she prayed within her own heart.