Moonspear shelter

Hydra noted what the girl had told her, and would relay it in time to @Lyra as well. Likely her sister already knew as much, but it never hurt to add to their mental inventory. Watching the girl go, her eyes lingered upon her even as Kukutux spoke. One ear turned toward the woman to indicate she had heard the words, and then the matriarch looked to her. 

She was not sure Kukutux would think so for very long. 

No, she answered. Her own appetite had suffered for the recent event, but she had been well fed before then. Not hungry enough to accept the offer then, and thinking it would better serve their children or else someone hungrier, she simply said, though I thank you. I wanted to speak with you, about my brother, she began. A knot in her throat came unbidden, though she tried to swallow it. When I spoke with him, he expressed he was loyal to himself. Trusted only himself. The smell of fever was gone, and I know he meant those words. I had hoped... For foolish things.

Loyalty and trust be damned, though she desired both from him—she had hoped that he would look at her as he once had when he was very young. A look that, as she had interpreted it, showed her the depth of him. Vast and endless, truly, and her there with him in that veldtlike place. She need not be on a pedestal, she just simply was pleased to see herself there at what she felt was the forefront. Guardian of it, of him. She only ever wanted to keep him safe, and to watch him grow.  

Hydra loved that damnable boy, even though she sought to strip the feeling from her heart as she stood here before Kukutux, silent still, wondering throughout thes awful aches: 

Why did he not love her? Why must he refuse her? 

Catching her breath, Hydra blinked and continued on, you were with him, when he woke. You saved him, she breathed, and I thank you for doing what you did. Was he... how was he, with you? She asked, voice soft while her eyes searched. As cold? As unforgiving?