Stone Circle What has caused chips to fall?

At the heels of Faðir and Móðir she swallows, her tongue suddenly feeling too big for her mouth as emotion threatens to leak in the form of dismay- apologize! To that ruinous waif!? Already the havoc he reaps! And wouldn’t he be so chuffed to know it? But sadness stills her tongue. She listens in silence. She hadn’t meant to disrespect Gunnar nor his authority- and yet she’s done just that, and hearing him say so is a worse pain than her loathe of the boy-thief.

For Gunnar, she wants to be controlled, to show him she is capable of being who he needs her to be. But she’s overwhelmed. In the flurry of emotions suddenly she is not a wolf of two, but a child of two months on the cusp of a tantrum.

“That boy took from me when I had nothing! He doesn’t deserve patience, and I’m not going to give him a second chance just because it’s polite to do so!” She yelps, imploring them to understand, it wasn’t about a mere rabbit! And there was another reason, too- the fear that he would be around during the onset of a season she’d rather just ignore altogether. But she doesn’t dare voice this aloud. Her heartbeat quickens and it's all she can hear in her ears.

But replaying what Gunnar's said in her mind, she quiets. After a long moment, she speaks again, though it's much more quiet.

“I understand. I’m… so sorry, Gunnar. I… guess I don’t know how to compartmentalize,” she admits, not daring to meet either of their eyes. Her head lowers shamefully.

She didn’t have Bjarna’s wisdom. Nor Gunnar’s patience. Nor Taktuq’s grace. He’d said she was a good Nornir, but it left her wondering what she even did bring to the table. She was never going to be the sounding board they needed.

“When you promoted me, we were small. We needed guidance. Now we have strong leadership- you, and Taktuq,” Something like a sigh puffs from her lips as she forces herself to raise her head and look between them in earnest. “Maybe I’m not cut out for this,” she confesses.

Because she'd been thinking it even long before the boy came to rip peace from Kvarsheim- that she was a fraud among their ranks, and sooner or later she'd be discovered.