Bearclaw Valley just have the strength to know you're wrong,

from beyond the redleaf princess, the missing dancer's sister, stigmata could feel the glare of a thousand eyes prickling the edge of his awareness like blunt needles. he looked directly at the spot that concealed her, and then without missing a beat, devoted his full attention to piper until indra saw fit to make herself known.

a crackle of tension bubbled up between them, and if walls were what she'd had the first time they met, then it was a frigid mountain that stood between them now. he was not eager to take on the daunting task, but if nothing else stigmata was a wolf of his word and he did not intend to let her fierce resentment deter him from remaining. after asking @Piper for permission to speak alone with indra, the two were left to stand alone in a cloud of dead air.

there seemed to suddenly be no wind. no scents. all sound except for her breathing seemed to elude him, and stigmata was hyper-aware of everything about the young beta in that moment. he knew that the things he wanted seemed impossible, and still, he wanted them; still, he would try. "it was not my intention to be gone for so long, indra," he offered in his nethervoice, deep and reverberating.

would it matter? would she want to know why? "i am still here to serve bearclaw."