Noctisardor Bypass bedauert

He had told her, and Wylla fretted anyway. It wasn't like whatever lay between them promised to be fulfilling in any way. They had clashed before and it seemed certain they must clash again, to cynical Wylla, whose life led her to believe only that every good thing must be followed by sorrow. Burgeoning hope could do little yet to quell that in her. A lifetime of being proven wrong would likely not be enough, and they did not have a lifetime.

What life might they have lived if Wylla did not clash with Raptor, if she had instead remained by the ocean with a younger Mahler, chosen him instead? What life might they have had if they had sent Caiaphas from Grimnismal, and not the other way around?

She wanted to protest the sincerity in his eyes and voice, because surely there was some deserving girl out there and he was only doing them a kindness, of course, but Wylla knew he was telling the truth. She owed him trust in this. She did, whatever her fears said.

Wintersbane. Her opinion of that man was diminished some these days, but once she had respected him. Once she had viewed him as an equal. Not exactly a friend. Wylla lacked those. So he had a pack of his own now, and naturally had sought alliance with his brother of Sagtannet. Sagtannet was for you and Wintersbane, she had once said, and it was true, proven in their continued bond.

Wylla chewed on the inside of her cheek a moment, torn between the ever-present need for validation in the form of accusations and this new feeling of forgiveness she longed to embrace. Some wolves were well beyond her ability to forgive, but if she could forgive Mahler, if she could begin to trust him at his word... Surely, she could forgive Wintersbane.

I can help, she said, meek against her accusation from before. Stupid. Stupid, stupid, paranoid girl. When, y'know, and she shrugged her injured shoulder with a wince.