09-27-2025, 08:53 PM
None of this sat easily. Enforced servitude was barbaric, and not kinder than death. Sasha Petrova fought like a frightened animal. And had he been a caged animal, Eido knew Kōta would have acted to free him. In her silence there was a complicity she warred with eternally, and which drew her into more quietness than was usual, even for her. She felt the wedge grow between her and Zephyr where once there might have blossomed friendship, and yet it did not diminish the oath of protection. For her, and for whatever life she might one day carry into this world. Eido wondered at the future of a child with so formidable a mother. What they might one day become. And in that uncertainty she found another reason she could not walk away. Complicity was like that; a tarnish on one’s soul. Some small part of Eido believed that one day she might make a difference. That she bore responsibility which would not disappear simply because she turned away.
She reminded Zephyr frequently that fear and pain were poor tools. When she spoke any further on the matter it was with some quiet authority – some lived experience she did not deign to share in detail. She missed the hunting birds of her youth, and did not want to confide her past – or any sense of the true woman behind her oath. Eido was a shield, nothing more. But Zephyr was often impatient, and pain brought quicker results than the partnership Eido tried to steer her towards.
His eyes haunted her. His screams and howls. She dared not speak to Kōta about it. Her thoughts strayed frequently to Kiyohito, but she did not wish to bring only her burdens to his door either. Instead she trained harder, sinking herself into the physical prowess when her inner conflict would otherwise unravel her. The power had never returned, not since she healed Zephyr.
The most painful truth was that without the device embedded in both their skulls, Eido knew they would both be dead. Sasha Petrova had killed hunters before, perhaps simply in uncontrolled frenzy and fear, but it still made him dangerous. Now he had a face to hate, and Zephyr only stoked those flames trying to mold him to her liking. Release wasn’t an option now, she knew that. She followed in silence, and remained in the shadows while Zephyr began her session.
She reminded Zephyr frequently that fear and pain were poor tools. When she spoke any further on the matter it was with some quiet authority – some lived experience she did not deign to share in detail. She missed the hunting birds of her youth, and did not want to confide her past – or any sense of the true woman behind her oath. Eido was a shield, nothing more. But Zephyr was often impatient, and pain brought quicker results than the partnership Eido tried to steer her towards.
His eyes haunted her. His screams and howls. She dared not speak to Kōta about it. Her thoughts strayed frequently to Kiyohito, but she did not wish to bring only her burdens to his door either. Instead she trained harder, sinking herself into the physical prowess when her inner conflict would otherwise unravel her. The power had never returned, not since she healed Zephyr.
The most painful truth was that without the device embedded in both their skulls, Eido knew they would both be dead. Sasha Petrova had killed hunters before, perhaps simply in uncontrolled frenzy and fear, but it still made him dangerous. Now he had a face to hate, and Zephyr only stoked those flames trying to mold him to her liking. Release wasn’t an option now, she knew that. She followed in silence, and remained in the shadows while Zephyr began her session.
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