Herbalists' Cache mud dancer

hawk meets the battering of shoulders with merely a growl. hackles risen, lips curled with disgust. she had mourned with her cousin, promised to protect his wife...

but how could she submit, when he thought lesser of her? of star-woman? how would she walk and kill alongside him then? 

guilt gnaws at her. if she were banished, her promise to star-woman shattered. she would march after her kill-brother, and she would be deserting her queen and the starling cubs. 

"i made a promise to your wife," she spat, head reared back to avoid his seeking teeth. she crashed her heft against his, withholding her wrath. "to stay for her and the cubs. you would break her heart to send me away?" 

she had wronged him, yes, but she could not put aside her own code to follow his so blindly. "you hold no respect toward women. i will not join you, until you do, cousin."