Herbalists' Cache mud dancer

morning came. he rose with a purpose, having slept outside the snow shelter. 

water nor food he sought, nor hunting nor the reprieve of open land. it was @Black Hawk, and the set of his cheekbone said he would drag her bodily across the snow if she did not heed.

indeed, single eye cold, he bore down upon her; fight or not, his jaws gaped to subdue. to dominate.

she was his kin, and therefore his to keep and to punish. there was a second chance in the threatening pinch of his teeth, if she would at last see it.

awake but resting, hawk was dormant when her cousin descended upon her. his teeth sinking into her scruff, startling her conscious with a snarl. muscle coiled and tensed as she propelled upward to thrash. ripping herself away from his jaws, peddling back until their cold glares could meet.

her lip curls, revealing teeth she would use if he would lunge again. she should have expected it; it was all in due time. and yet, she seethed no less. tail lashing before it stood straight, a banner waving in challenge. she would not bend the knee to him. never to him.

"speak, before my patience wanes." she spat. he would wish her to submit, and she would not. and if he wished to fight, so be it.

sun eater did not speak.

he snapped again for her, driving through the snow to clash.

her insolence had provoked him. now she would submit to the lanzadoii ways or she would leave. sun eater did not need her. saatsine did not need her. mistrust meant an end to her time among his clan.

teeth flashed again, again, hard shoulders striking.

all utterly silent.

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."

;;;

they collided. 

sun eater remained silent. his fangs held quiet glinting in the morning light. 

this was what black hawk had not been taught: the law of tooth over word. flinging insults had already happened, and he did not respond to her mention of his mate.

a grab then, for the top of her muzzle, to shove it low, bulk shoving as he made his attempt. if she did not submit, he would push her bodily through the snow with smaller clashes until she was outside the cache.

the next moments would decide her time in saatsine.

the way a wheel spin decided this ;;

a war raged within her, far more dangerous than the one her cousin inflicted. to stay or to go—to swallow her pride and submit to a man that disgusted her so...or follow her kill-brothers path and leave. 

it would be simple, if it weren't for the promises she'd made. not only to star-woman, but sivaak. the muradoii who had staked her claim; the woman hawk had also worn to protect. 

women were difficult. perhaps this she and sun-eater could agree on, in a different time. 

part of her wished to fight. to tear into her cousin and make him see the reason he hasn't. but her duty, her promises...

his teeth meet her muzzle, snagging into her skin. she does not yelp, she does not cry. she welcomes the pain, the blood that stains her maw and floods past her lips, before she's peddling back. 

"i yield," she rasped. pride swallowed, her decision made. she would live beneath him, for the sake of star-woman and sivaak.

sometimes it is all we can do <3

"get down," he snarled at last. the taste of her blood was placating, but still he stood, crowded into her space, tail held high.

"i am your band leader. me. i am not only your blood. blackfell is not lanzadoii. he will never be lanzadoii, nor gjalla. you think i do not like women? only a woman's word spares your life. only star eater stands between you and me. my sister meleys. suliya. sivaak. nagruk, all women of saatsine who i have hunted with. killed with. stupid, black hawk. do not stay stupid."

a snap in the open air. "his words should never have come from your mouth. keep your own mind. it is he who thinks we should possess the earth. the lanzadoii do not. the man you killed could have been another hunter. that is how i think. let a stranger eat from dry kills. slay only if there is a threat. it does not matter. we are strong, and stronger now."

his sides heaved with anger. 

"you will never call star eater a name. never. or say she will take another man. ever. i will kill you, black hawk, blood or not, if you refuse our ways again. if you insult again. it is time you learned how to be."

sun eater jerked away with a growl, glowering.

her pride warred with her duty. he demanded she cower at his feet, and it took everything within her not to snap and snarl and disobey. she was not a woman who kneeled. not to a man. 

but she had no choice. she had to keep telling herself that it was for star-woman and sivaak. and so, she knelt. ears pinned, eyes averted, her lip curled with simmering anger she could not unleash. 

his words are barbs that pierce her hide. he speaks with venom of her kill-brother, and yet, she cannot defend his name. forgive me, blackfell. she does not speak as her cousin rages and spats. 

words that will be absorbed later. dealt with on her lonesome, or perhaps she would have sivaak to soothe her temper. "thank you, cousin," it takes all she has to speak the words and not spit them. like a poison on her tongue, bitter and acrid.  "i will do no wrong. not again."

there.

it was done.

he did not trust black hawk. but he did not believe she would harm his children, nor those of sivaak to come. now blood bound blood; the children in the snow shelter shared what ran in her veins. there was no more to say.

staring at her a moment longer, sun eater turned and trotted away, headed into the open plains to hunt. he was not satisfied, yet this was all it could be for now. 

she thanked him. she bowed her head. he did not need to press more.

fraught with ire, he left her there in the snow.