Ravenshook Cliffs [m] seal paw

red leaf did not understand.
she need only exist for him to care? she did not exist to be saved! she was no damsel — was she? and regardless, it was unusual for a man to think this way about a woman. it was unusual for a man to be gentle to much of anyone. and yet here was chakliux, doing this out of the goodness of his own heart?
she almost could not believe him, but she wanted to.
if i must leave cen behind me, then i want to-- i want to make my own choices, for my son and i, she rises suddenly to her feet, crouching beneath the cover of the boulders. i do not want to be told what to do anymore. what to think. what to feel. i have been told this for-- for too long. but the problem with freedom was that too much at once could send her right back to where she started.
as he turns to leave, red leaf blurts out a garbled i will come back to moontide, darting from her shelter and diving toward his flank in an effort to shield her eyes from the storm. and i-i will... ask brave one if he would like to stay permanently.