Hushed Willows vergnügen

Poor Lily didn't have half a chance of convincing the boy to do anything.  Though Seabreeze lacked any ability to threaten him due to the fact he saw her as evil, Lily was just far too meek for him to listen to when riled up.  He'd come this far, so why would he back off at the pleas of someone who typically ignored him?  She was gone from the scene soon enough.

But Seabreeze really didn't care and her tirade only proved it.  Mali looked at her like she was something gross and distasteful because honestly, she was.  A complete and utter disappointment beyond his wildest dreams.  He didn't flinch, muscles only tensing in case she did something more than threaten.  He didn't bow, he didn't cave to her threats, just stayed put.  To a certain point he wanted her to attack him.  Do it, prove that she was the actual villain in this.  That he is the valiant brother standing up for what is right in the world.  Yeah, everything's all about you -- we're just trash for your stupid pups to harass.  You want us to disappear.  Good to know, he sneered.  What else was he supposed to take away about that?  It was all just how she had it so hard, woe is Seabreeze!  She has it the worst!  Not a word about how he was wrong.  Not a word about how she'd done anything to find the other missing child in the pack -- because, he knew, she never did anything.  All Seabreeze seemed to be good at was making everyone run away from the problem and giving up on people.

He was split between turning away because, well, she was completely useless and pointless to attempt to show the err in her ways, but he didn't want to be the one to surrender. Nah.  He'd stand and wait.  Besides, he certainly wasn't going to go back into the packlands like she wanted -- if the dude hadn't taken her side, he might have made a show of going off to find somewhere better for his family to live but that also didn't sound good, so he wasn't sure what direction to head in.  Oh well. He'd figure it out.

The only disgrace here was her and she had no power over him.  Mali was totally ready.  If she tried to touch him, she'd have however many pounds of unpredictable, moral-free subadult trying to do damage in revenge for all the slights both real and imagined that she'd ever inflicted on him and his sisters.  He was certain that in a brawl, he could win out of strength of spirit and spite alone -- but the fact he was bigger than her these days didn't hurt either.  He wasn't gonna start it, but he was ready just in case.  Or she could leave and he'd win that way instead.