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Though Metetzili's bones ached, the pale coyote did not complain. He'd never complained, at least not of such trifling matters. His own body mattered little, in the end -- it had proved a failure in more ways than one, and it was no unexpected thing that it would begin to fail him in new and unexpected ways. The hybrid shuffled toward the window and took a moment to gaze out and into the wilderness. The late summer heat was pressing -- the cool winds from the seas did nothing to stave it off. He turned back toward his half-sister, dark red eyes appraising her slight form. She showed a resiliency he had never had even in youth, bearing no sign whatsoever of her long journey and the childbirth she'd endured shortly thereafter.
She seemed to look at him in the same way, though Mete could not read her expression as well as most. His daughter-sister was a stranger to him now -- he'd sent her and her brothers off as children, and now this pale-furred woman sat before him. Tlantli shook her head, tossing her short-cropped hair off and away from her eyes, but she did not balk at his gaze. Mete inhaled, and sighed, stepping toward her. Tlantli, he began. Though he was well-versed in speech and a learned man, he was treading into unknown territory with this unknown woman. Why did you come back? You remember why you were sent away, don't you? There was caution in the yellow hybrid's tone. He did not wish to sound like her father anymore -- that was something he'd done for duty, as it was required of him. Their father had died, and it had fallen to Metetzili to attempt to mend the Kimaris family. They were on equal footing now, as he saw it -- an old man of a brother and a younger woman, by rights, she ought to have taken his place the moment she returned to Eterne. She hadn't, though, and this had vexed Mete as much as any.
The look she gave him was strange and Mete could not discern its meaning. He thought it lacked anger, though, and that was good. Baphomet, he said, half-turning away from her. He had avoided this subject most of all with her, for he saw the fierce love of her children plainly. He is still a danger, maybe more of a danger now. He's got more friends, more power, the hybrid said, looking down at the stone floor of his room. He is as much a danger to them as he was to you.