Sunspire Mountains oh, he hops with the hippest of them

same! Dx gonna go ahead and fade here <3 COME BACK NOW OKTHANX

her point of view, regardless of whether or not he agreed with it, was something to be expected, and more importantly, understood. stigmata could not convince a wolf as young as she that her family leaving bearclaw had not been a slight directed at her. that they had not abandoned her, in the same way she had not abandoned them by going off to look for her brother. that just as she felt she could not survive without her brother, they had not felt as if they could survive in that valley - and it was not that bit of history that he felt the redleafs must atone for.

he didn't answer any of piper's questions. largely because she was fired up, but also because he wasn't in the mood to amend the young wolf's feelings about her family. he didn't see a point to now argue that it would have been as easy to deliver a message to her as it would have been to get one to the missing lucas, because such remarks would only serve to piss her off. more than anything he wanted piper to know the truth of the matter and see it all from a perspective that was not that of a wounded and homeless child, but this was no such time. not when the angsty pot was calling the kettle black.

"i do not enjoy seeing you suffer," stigmata said flatly, his eyes menacing her coldly from his lounge. he was quiet through a short interlude, then blinked. "you have a place with me, until you refuse it... and if i can help it, i would have you returned to me when this is all over." because piper was his, and he was piper's, in some ways or another. he fell silent again, before rising to his feet and inviting her with a flick of his tail to join him once more in the warmer mountain breach.

later, when it was dark again and their bodies had relaxed beside one another's, he would try again. try to explain to her that some events could not be helped, that it would have happened if she had been there or not, and that everyone's vision is clearest in hindsight. he would try to use her own journey as an example, and ask her if she regretted any of it, but who knows if any of it ever got through her fiery head. for now... for now he just murmured her name once, nibbled behind her ear a bit to soothe her nerves, and then sighed deeply into a melted pile of flesh and bones.

he worried already about when she would leave, and felt a heavy, unspoken reluctance to see that day come.