Silvertip Mountain pikpaksriruk ∅

"That I cannot mock," Wraen remarked more to herself than for the white woman to hear. She herself had once been on the receiving end of unrequitted love with all the ensuing heartbreak and unhappiness. It must had hurt her much, still did, perhaps, she had never truly let go of, despite claiming that Arthur was like a brother to her now. And she both pitied her and felt somehwat relieved that in this hostile world there was another soul that cared so very much about him. 
What could she give Arcturus? She felt as if she were in the fairy tale, where in a castle of many rooms you may go in all, except one. And that one is, what you desired the most, that you needed the most.

Unconditional love? But that would not be exactly true - love was never only about emotions it was about conditions and meeting in the middle too. If she ever so let her heart follow freely, what it wished, not like now, when it was reined in and put inside a safely locked box, where would that take her? And though the Moonspear girl had thought to demean her value by expressing the harsh truth, it was not something that Wraen had never thought of herself.

Freedom? But what was freedom worth, if you did not have someone to share with it? The world would be a cold and lonely place to her too, if it was not for Maia there, Arcturus too. But at the same time she knew that she lived on borrowed time. There would come a day, when Maia would be wed to another, have a family of her own, and maybe Wraen would have a place there or maybe there would be a good reason, why she would not be able to join them.

And Arthur - she was true to her words. She had never considered him as hers to keep. From the day one she knew that he would be gone too one day. While he was between those two places, where the past has not yet let go of him yet, and the grand future is not yet visible, she had his time all to herself. She cherished every conversation she had had with him, how his expression changed, when yet again she had challenged or teased him, how he tried to understand a joke or a witticism. Loved every moment, when she had managed to work away that flint-hard facade and get a glimpse of the shining gem inside. He was a king in the making, and she had taken the role of moulding him into a great and good one too, even if it meant that in the end she would left alone again.

Should she tell her all this? No, the girl sought to hurt her and Wraen was not going to give her pleasure in knowing that she had managed to do so. That she had hit her, where she was vulnerable. She was not going to reassure her that, what she was told now, was no news to her. That she knew her to be right and that Wraen agreed. "Had you fought for him - you would not be here now, blaming me for the chance that you lost. Had you cared to ask or wanted to get to know me - you would have found out that I would have never stood in your way. I am not standing now - either to you or any other girl that might fulfill that dream of his," she said.

"Having a family is a valuable dream - I do not deny it. And it would go against my nature to deny it to someone, who wishes for it dearly," Wraen said with a sad smile. "You claim I do not understand blood and yet you do not understand that sometimes just blood is not enough. That just maybe Arcturus's turning back on Moonspear was not just because me, but that I opened his eyes to the fact that there is more to the world and life altogether than, what his home had to offer," she fell silent for a moment, turned her to the side and observed the lands beyond, then she turned back to face the girl. 

"And deep in your heart you know that too. You praise yourself in giving two children to the mountain, perhaps, look forward to giving birth to more, yet can you say that you are truly happy?" Wraen asked. "Because if that was so, you would not be so grievously angry with me. You would be there enjoying the familial bliss, you would not be here - blinded by hurt, anger and jealousy," she finished. "Is being a womb truly all that there is to your life - have you asked yourself, what will happen, when you have outlived your usefulness, when your children have fled you and you no longer can bear any? What then?"