Lion Head Mesa (ap) sympathy butters no parsnips

are jawahir's pronouns fluid, or is it strictly they/them/theirs? apologies; i feel like i've been all over the place with their pronouns.

The coyote's barking laughter was sharp, and it made Ruenna's fur stand on end as it echoed around the wellspring. She vividly recalled the barks and wild laughter of the coyotes who had overrun the Blacktail Deer Plateau, attacking those who attempted to fight and and chasing the rest from their beloved home.  

Ruenna swallowed thickly, heartbeat quickening as she mentally wrestled with her trauma. 

Jawahir's words were a distraction. The coyote spoke of pleasing Ramesses, which was such a loaded concept, and purposefully vague. It left everything up to the imagination-- that is, exactly what it meant to please Ramesses-- and Ruenna did not appreciate the places in her mind to which such ambiguous language led her. She was a proper lady after all, and therefore uncomfortable dwelling on anything base or depraved, even in the privacy of her own mind. 

"Oh, of course," Ruenna uttered in response to Jawahir's swift correction about Satsu. "I didn't mean to imply..." Her words trailed off. "I'm sorry," she spoke again, dropping her gaze. "I am quite ignorant of the culture in these borders. You may think me naive, but I didn't realize.." She paused, and she restarted her sentence. "It's just that, pleasing someone can mean many different things.." she struggled onward in her attempt to explain herself. "I never meant to imply anything indecorous of the queen. I have no doubt she is as virtuous as she is beautiful." Ruenna fought the urge to look over her shoulder, to make absolutely certain no one had heard her accidental insult to the newly-minted queen.