Herbalists' Cache mother bear

the polar bear-woman takes her fill. it fills hawk with a newfound sense of pride, being able to provide for the woman and her cubs. and as the woman eats, hawk assesses. strong, fit, battle-scarred—she wore the stories of war on her skin. 

and yet, she was not mangled in hawk's eyes. it was a grizzled beauty, but beauty all the same. when the woman turns to face her, lips curled to reveal bloodied teeth, hawk stands calm as she always does. watching, waiting. 

listening, as the muradoii woman stakes her claim. she does not ask; no prettied words, no charm, no courting. the woman just takes, and it is something hawk had never seen before. 

there is no disgust in her gaze, only wonder. muradoii were a distant cousin she'd met few times before, when she led her old band on their hunts and journeys. brutish kind that were always suspicious. 

sivaak. the woman's name is sivaak. and she wish for hawk to belong to her. there's a hesitance—an image of star-woman and her cubs flashing before her eyes. was it guilt? even though her heart belonged to star-eater, the queen was a woman hawk could never touch or claim. 

but with sivaak, all possibilities were endless. and now, after her cousin's betrayal, she had an opportunity to rise not as lanzadoii, but muradoii. 

amber eyes rove the woman in thought, before she leaning forward to graze her nose along the woman's neck. "you teach, and i learn. i am lanzadoii no more." she rumbled gruffly. a silent acceptance.