Failed Duties [[Closed]]

[Eidolon]

Eido stood and followed, pulling her jacket back around her shoulders. “Of course, senpai,” she murmured. “I use a burner phone. It can suffice for now.” She considered what she was going to tell her brother; what he would even make of it, her placing so much trust in a stranger. He was dauntless, and a little reckless himself sometimes, so she did not think he’d falter if he believed it was truly what she had chosen. But he would not like the promise Zephyr had made, or that Eido had asked it of her. She studied the other woman from the corner of her eye; the strength, purpose, and confidence. But a soft frown threatened as she contemplated the second answer, and what she considered it might really mean. A child born into such servitude? It certainly sounded as though it was what Zephyr meant. But in reality it was little different than Eido’s own upbringing; her family had belonged to Atharim for generations, and she had always known the weight of expectation upon her future. Still, it made her melancholy. Would she have chosen such service herself, had she ever had the choice? Truthfully she had never paused to consider it. Absent that duty, she had only ever experienced a half-life.

“And that is why you desire the protection? Our world is a dangerous one for a child. I will protect you both, as well as I may.” She said it formally. Meant it too. It settled some of her conflicts, and reassured as to the core of Zephyr’s motivations. Since there was no mention of a father she did not pry, though presumably he could be no hunter if Zephyr was tonight alone, else maybe she grazed in a more unconventional manner. The woman was a veritable lioness, but a child was something else. And the slash of the vetala’s claws had taken her right across the stomach. Eido would never have children of her own, and if she had any feelings on the prohibition she gave them a very wide berth, but she finally felt she understood why Zephyr would take the risk on her. It softened some of her guard.