Dragoncrest Cliffs I've never given in to madness, never given in to madness

the decision to keep ephraim had been made hastily -- but blixen has never not been hasty. maybe if she'd known ephraim more -- oh. it's useless for what-if's: she knows she can't keep him here forever (mallaidh will kill her) nor does she really want to, she just wants -- she wants nomi to not be dead. she wants -- someone wiser than her to be in charge. she wants artaax to be here and yell at her for being an idiot.

none of these things come to pass. instead there is a boy being held here who is not arrille, she knows, but she cannot let go of the feeling of forboding. maybe it's -- just a weird way for her to maintain in control during all this chaos. her heart is heavy when she sets off to visit him. there's some foolish part of her (the part that was never good at feelings, hers or other wolves) that thinks, well, maybe he's cooled off now and they can talk about it and things will just be normal again. she has the presence of mind to recognize this as foolishness, but it does not completely abate, even as she steps past @Bobby and heads towards the coywolf.

she opens her mouth to call him and stops, frowning. after a minute she decides, "ephraim."and leaves it at that, her expression wary in case he tries to go for her face again.