The Sentinels Sometimes the answer lies in a memory.

Hope held on the end of her breath, Raleska did not allow her investment to shine in her gaze. She didn't want him to leave, but she was too proud to beg. She waited, then, for his response -- would it... could it...?

He didn't want to go. The tension she had been holding in her chest dispersed. The worry clouding her mind rolled out like mist... but... now what? It was so strange to see him here in the flesh, not trying to kill her. She couldn't help the way her eyes roved over every minutia; the direction of his fur, the darkening of old scars, the lake of peace in those mossy green eyes --  had he always looked so..?

She had always seen him as an enemy, and now that he was before her she was seeing him as a being, an individual full of beauty and poetry, like her. "How is your leg?"

---

It seemed like only a short time before they parted, Raleska more mournful than before. Unused to such a feeling, she stuck close to the forest and occasionally hedged a sigh into the winds as she went.