Herbalists' Cache sleeping mist

star-woman's voice cracks like a whip. commanding, firm—not loud, but they hit just the same. she is what makes hawk hesitate. she is the one who keeps her from lunging for her husbands throat. 

she is the one she's loyal to. not cen, not saatsine. her and the life growing in her belly. 

her eyes meet those of the woman that stood between the trio and her cousin. within them, she sees the hurt hawk caused with a comment misinterpreted. her lips tug into a scowl—at herself, for having been so loose-lipped to speak so harshly of the woman. and then she frowns. 

"those words were not meant to hurt you." her voice softened nearly imperceptibly; a hint of a pleasing note for star-woman to understand. it is not what hawk thought of her; it is how her husband thinks of her. a warm body and nothing more. 

"your husband speaks foul of you. of women, of the daughters in your womb. he thinks of us lesser. tell me—were you not a chief?" sun eater could ink into the background now; her focus only on his wife. 

"do you not deserve respect you earned? respect you fought for. respect you deserve." she spits with venom. his disdain toward not only women, but his own wife, makes her blood curdle and sour. it makes her wish to see him fucking bleed. 

her tail lashes with pent up energy she dare not expend, not in front of star-woman. "it sickens me. you mean nothing more to him than the cubs inside of you. this misogyny of his will be your ruin."