lasher reached out to nudge her a second time. now should have been the time that the willow could have surrendered some of her strong appearance, and leant upon atticus, but he was indisposed. he thought of the promise he had made her, and how he still felt it stood, but now was not the time to mention such things.
his heart was warmed by the ferocity she felt for him. "i will mend, dear blue willow. i shall always love peregrine, and i do know that he loves me also, but he is a traditional man, and deep down i knew that he must plant his seed and carry on his lineage. i only wish he had not chosen fox."
if the female peregrine had chosen was unlike the fireflame, without overreaching ambition; if he had not elevated her immediately to a position of power in a place she did not understand; if all had been different, perhaps things might not have fallen as they did.
then again, though lasher did not know if he believed in fate, perhaps peregrine and fox had been intended to meet, that she had been intended to take him from the plateau and supplant his children with her own. taltos sighed.