The killing referenced to, the she-wolf did not want to know. She deafened her ears to it and placed the statement in the recesses of her mind never to surface again. She had not heard those words… and would not be haunted by the imagined scenelet. However her face portrayed the shock her mind would not, brows raising beneath her bangs then just as quickly lowered with a rough, clearing shake of her head. Now wasn’t the time for that… not now. But she had heard the distress in her beloved friend’s voice and that was enough to leave that silent conversation be.
Maintaining the course of the present, she pulled her ears forward intuitively capture ever word and syllable by starved ears greedily grasping for the truth to ease their appetite. Gradually before her eyes the hardened front forced by past transgressions and the house that exacerbated them ebbed away and beneath crept vulnerability and truth. Her friend disrobed of hostility, of stubbornness and a sense of ease was at last felt by the Nomad. She couldn’t think of her as a monster. A gentle smile touched her lips as defined digits enclosed around the paw resting lightly on her palm. Though it waned as a scowl marred the tawny visage and the paw withdrew from her grasp; the subtle pressure of the stroke of the smaller paw left in its wake.
Within the cold blue of her gaze surfaced both anger and fear melding into a stormy torrent that shook the amber-eyed female to the core. Her tail had gone still in waiting, ears forward as they absorbed what they were offered to better understand what tormented this soul that none could see. She hadn’t the mind to feel humbled by this, but terrified that a fear of this magnitude was withheld without so much as an iota of a tell, even to her. Her hands trembled in her lap as she quietly seethed, holding fast to naught by the air rapidly expelling as her hands clenched tighter into fists and claws grazed calloused palms.
X’yrin said nothing even though words brimmed at her muzzle threatening to burst the dam if for a moment she relinquished control of herself. It was not until she heard the soft exhale that her own frustrations followed suit in a sound breath, and with it her tension receded. She took another breath while looking at the vulnerable female, her fist unclenching and arms becoming loose again. Instead of raising them to encircle the girl before her, only a hand extended above the head of her pupil… then came down in a swift, albeit light, rap across her head. “Vesper,” the woman sighed wearing the face of an exhausted mentor whose student had forgotten an important lesson. “You should know you will not walk this life alone.” Softly her head came to rest a top the lightly struck skull. “We may come into it and part from it alone, but while we are alive the bonds we make keep us from being alone. If this is the company in which you want to make those bonds with, then you must feel within your heart that that is what you want. Do not do it to please any other but yourself for you are the one that must live with the decision.”
Who better to know this truth than the golden woman herself? She who left both family and friends for the sake of achieving her own means. But she was fortunate in that regard, that she had a master and a family that understood her wish and gave her the grace and means to make it so. Looking to Vesper, she didn’t see that blessing but found a chain that kept her to the borders though with all her heart she wanted to return to the wanderer’s path. Torn indeed by her desires and sense of obligation. X’yrin saw in the girl herself not a few months ago, craving the freedom of the vast and unknown though she was bound to Ichika by duty. Eventually she had found a balance and in time, she would help her dear friend to do the same. She continued, her voice descending to a whisper for the coywolf’s ears alone. “I cannot tell you what is right for you. That is something you yourself must figure out, but know this; whatever your decision may be, stay within this home or return to the unknown, know that you do not walk alone.”
Carefully the she-wolf withdrew her hand and let it rest gentle against a soft tawny cheek. She brought her muzzle close to the scarred muzzle and placed an endearing kiss upon her cheek conveying the sincerity and truth of her words. “You have one that walks with you in heart and loves you dearly...” Too soon for the moment to linger, the Nomad withdrew altogether and uncrossed her legs as she pushed herself to stand. “You and I are Nomads without name Vesper,” the woman smiled. “We do not walk alone… nor do we bare the weights of our burdens alone. Please remember this.”