01-21-2018, 01:30 PM
"Didn't say easy. Just better. Long to learn, sure. But first steps enough to start."
She finished the knot and sat back. The quick grin flashed again, amused that Jacinda's first instinct was to refuse the gift. Not that it made any difference. She winked. "And yes, can. Have."
Only for her expression to still when Jacinda answered the question. She had to pad carefully around the emotions it invoked; the desire to howl the success of a good hunt. There was no doubt in her mind, no ounce of compassion in her core. He had deserved to die.
"Good. Glad."
She said it savagely and without hesitation. This Regan had been Jacinda's world -- her universe, so she said, and on a human level Tenzin understood that those lingering feelings of love could not so easily be swept side. It was far more complicated than that, and maybe it was cruel to be so vehement -- maybe it was even not what Jacinda would want to hear. But Tenzin wasn't capable of hiding the truth of her reaction. She didn't have pity to spare, nor would she stoop to give it. The past couldn't be changed. But nor could new shoots sprout in barren ground. She looked forward, not back. "World better for it. Think you know, somewhere deep. Regret killing rougarou? No different."
Afterwards Jacinda lightened, her scent calmer, more peaceful. That was good. Tenzin let the vestiges of her own anger drain away, moving away from the past and back into the moment. She watched the woman finger the charm, could feel the fluttering of her emotions like butterfly wings.
"Means something, yes. But what use is gift if not special? Means nothing then."
She couldn't explain everything, of course. She was not naturally duplicitous, and the masks she wore were not so much contrived as pure survival. She was as honest about her nature as she could be without revealing too much. Which meant unravelling it into man-speak. "For me? Means home. Means protection. Is comfort of good memories and good hunting. Promise of now and future. Mine, now yours. Remember of this. Truth and... sister, yes? Anchor in storm. Is good metaphor?"
Pack. That's what she wanted to say, and what she couldn't. A promise that Jacinda was no longer alone.
She finished the knot and sat back. The quick grin flashed again, amused that Jacinda's first instinct was to refuse the gift. Not that it made any difference. She winked. "And yes, can. Have."
Only for her expression to still when Jacinda answered the question. She had to pad carefully around the emotions it invoked; the desire to howl the success of a good hunt. There was no doubt in her mind, no ounce of compassion in her core. He had deserved to die.
"Good. Glad."
She said it savagely and without hesitation. This Regan had been Jacinda's world -- her universe, so she said, and on a human level Tenzin understood that those lingering feelings of love could not so easily be swept side. It was far more complicated than that, and maybe it was cruel to be so vehement -- maybe it was even not what Jacinda would want to hear. But Tenzin wasn't capable of hiding the truth of her reaction. She didn't have pity to spare, nor would she stoop to give it. The past couldn't be changed. But nor could new shoots sprout in barren ground. She looked forward, not back. "World better for it. Think you know, somewhere deep. Regret killing rougarou? No different."
Afterwards Jacinda lightened, her scent calmer, more peaceful. That was good. Tenzin let the vestiges of her own anger drain away, moving away from the past and back into the moment. She watched the woman finger the charm, could feel the fluttering of her emotions like butterfly wings.
"Means something, yes. But what use is gift if not special? Means nothing then."
She couldn't explain everything, of course. She was not naturally duplicitous, and the masks she wore were not so much contrived as pure survival. She was as honest about her nature as she could be without revealing too much. Which meant unravelling it into man-speak. "For me? Means home. Means protection. Is comfort of good memories and good hunting. Promise of now and future. Mine, now yours. Remember of this. Truth and... sister, yes? Anchor in storm. Is good metaphor?"
Pack. That's what she wanted to say, and what she couldn't. A promise that Jacinda was no longer alone.
![[Image: twolf.jpg]](http://thefirstage.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/twolf.jpg)
|Tenzin|
If they stand behind you, protect them; if they stand beside you, respect them; if they stand against you, destroy them.