Serpent Lake Eye, tooth, claw, death

it broke soto to see his warrior-pearl reduced to this; he blamed her father more than niño, who had only acted to save his country.

the irony they both paid an eye for it was not lost on soto.

he dusts the dirt from her pelt and winces to see her flinch. mi perla, he starts, brow furrowing as she points to her throat and says a jumble of words he only partly understands.

she must go home. it is not safe here. she is not safe — and he is not her safety. his heart stings to know this, to breathe life into such an ugly truth — but he is the black rot to sully her flower, and the ultimate reason one glossy, sea-green eye lies withering in the dirt.

vete a casa ahora. soto urges, placing a paw upon her shoulder to gently guide her. he motions to the red keep in the distance, where her monster father surely must now be noticing his daughter’s absence. vamos. his voice nearly breaks, but he disguises the thorning of his throat by looking coldly towards the red sands that call safiya home.