Her daddy had sent her ahead to alert her mother, a very important task that she'd been trusted with and not her brothers - because wasn't it her that had come to support Daddy? And she'd been the only one too, because not even the healer lady who'd shown up had been there for him. Long legs carried her at a bounding lope towards her mother's den, a smirk of triumph on her black-marked muzzle. "Mother!" she sang out as she pranced up. "Daddy got into a big fight and needs a healer! He won," she added, with a gloating sort of pride that said 'of course he won he's my daddy'. Her ears pricked forward as her mother stretched to her feet from where she'd been sleeping. "And I want to help!" she declared for good measure, her muzzle already setting in a stubborn line. ""

She'd had a long night of night operations, and was sleeping it off when the youthful voice of her daughter dragged her awake. Yawning widely she blinked at Evangeline as the girl babbled about her daddy getting into a fight. Valentine was fighting? With who? And she'd managed to sleep through the whole damn show! Well, that was disappointing to learn. "All right all right, I'm up, I'm up," she mumbled in response to Vana's chirping, groaning and pushing herself to her feet before wiggling down into her den.

She had a few herbal odds-and-ends stored here - she didn't really consider herself a healer primarily, so much as a fighter with some knowledge of battlefield healing, so she really only kept things related to injuries rather than sickness. Let's see... plantain, comfrey, yarrow, honey, lambsear - she'd use spiderwebs as a bandage but she didn't think he'd sit still and they'd just fall off and be wasted, so honey and lambs ear it was. Some of that agrimony and crushed goldenseal root she'd had steeping in water in a thick bamboo stalk for a while to rinse out any open wounds, arnica and witch hazel in another one for soaking bruises. Should be good enough unless he was injured worse than expected. But really, it was Valentine, how badly hurt could he be? She'd have to replenish her "tea" after this, if Valentine's opponent showed up, whoever that was, but they'd probably gone to one of the real healers anyway so she might still have a bit left over. Be interesting to see how her recipes worked in comparison to just licking the wounds clean.

For that matter, why had Valentine come to her and not his Smoochie-poo? Granted she seemed more midwife than healer but surely she'd want the chance to have her paws all over the giant of an alpha and make him all better. Weird. Or maybe that was just Cascade subconsciously looking for a way to continue avoiding Valentine. Well, she hadn't been actively avoiding him, but somehow she'd managed to not be near him since she'd woken up in his den with him after the whole incident with Neios. They hadn't done anything - just slept together, and not as a euphemism either, they'd just slept together and maybe that was the thing that was weirding her out so much. It was a lot easier to deal with Valentine when they were just sexual, or playing around. That night's seriousness was... different. Felt different. It was just plain... weird. She wanted to spend all her time with him so, perversely, she'd spent none with him. Then she'd miss him and how much fun he was, and was more determined to avoid him. A vicious cycle and one that she admitted to herself was awfully stupid and girlish of her. So what if she needed him? He was her best - only - friend, wasn't he? Luckily he, being Mr. Bigshot Alpha and busy with Ashmedai on top of that, probably hadn't noticed her absence.

Wiggling her way back out with her booty - har har har - she sat down to wait for her patient to show up. It shouldn't be too long now unless he'd lagged pretty far behind their daughter.

""

Still fuming, Valentine tore through the tall weeds that separated him from Cascade's densite. He was so fucking pissed. If not for Evangeline he would have probably gone in search of things to destroy, or better yet, hunted down that pair and given Rhythm a piece of his mind. He was so angry he could have killed her. Okay, not really, but the desire to take his disappointment and make her feel it physically was there. Thankfully for them both he had the sense to recognize that his thoughts were steeped in anger and irrational at best. He desperately wanted her to return soon, wanted the chance to rage and make his displeasure perfectly clear; if she had any sense whatsoever she'd stay away for a few days. Valentine slunk towards Cascade and stopped before her. His ears were slicked back against his crown and his fur stood on end. He was wound so tight his muscles ached, but he couldn't seem to relax, couldn't will himself to let go. Glowering, he just stood there. He didn't know where to start. Why was he here again? "Speaking" "Thinking"

Hmmm.

Cascade took one look at Valentine and decided - probably very wisely - not to poke fun at him at the moment. She also decided - probably also wisely - to use their daughter as a shield. For now. "Vana, why don't you start putting this water on Daddy's bruises, ok? It's got arnica and witch hazel in it to help prevent any swelling - I'll show you what they look like later." There was a wadded up ball of fur soaking in the container from an old kill that she could sponge the stuff on with. An easy enough job for a young would-be healer. To Valentine she sent a frank, evaluating look, then asked bluntly, "I have to clean these wounds. If I offered you something that would take away the pain and calm you down would you actually take it? Or should I not bother?" It's not like she needed him to take anything. His wounds weren't that severe. She didn't have to set a bone or anything, and she certainly wasn't going to trick him into taking anything for it if he didn't want to.

""

Her father's suddenly deeply enraged appearance took Vana aback, and the girl sat, brow furrowed. Why was he so mad? He'd won, he'd shown that bad guy what was what and bitten his dangly bits clear off, so why was he so furious? Was it something she'd done? No, she decided. It couldn't possibly be something she'd done - it had to be the brown healer-lady's fault, or maybe Angelus had snuck up on him on his way here and had poked him in the butt with his favorite pokey cactus plant as he was so fond of doing. That had to be it. She nearly bounced with excitement when her mother asked her to put some watery stuff on Daddy's bruises, but she stopped herself just in time and moved with dignity over to the container. She got to help! She was going to learn to be like a real healer. "Where does it hurt, Daddy?" she asked, her childish voice innocent of any knowledge of his emotional turmoil. ""

Valentine restlessly shifted his weight from paw to paw. Each movement sent a stinging reminder snapping through him which only served to up his agitation. Absentmindedly he listened to Cascade give Evangeline instructions. His mind remained riveted on the fight, playing it over and over. He couldn't disengage, couldn't force his thoughts elsewhere. The brute's eyes drifted away to fix on the distance. It took him a moment to realize Cascade was speaking to him. His eyes came back, but he struggled to focus. All at once he was exhausted and wired. Without thinking, he snapped, "Don't bother." The brute shifted his weight again, feeling the burn in his chest. He forced himself to breath. Petulance would get him nowhere. Finally he relented, "Yes, I would." It wasn't pain that was Valentine's concern, he'd dealt with worse, it was his temper. He needed to let go. Evangeline's sweet voice swept over him and Valentine made himself breath again. If it were just him and Cascade it would be one thing, but he needed to rein himself in with Eva right there. Already he was beginning to feel guilty for his entrance. She didn't need to see him like that. Maybe it was silly, but he didn't want her to see how flawed he was. He clung to the hope that he was still superman in her eyes. Soon enough she'd know the truth and then there would be no going back. More than anything else he feared being disappointing. "Right here on my chest, Vana," he said, neck arching so he could point at the spot with his nose as if the mark wasn't obvious already. "And right there on my leg." He twisted so she could see his leg and pointed -chest wound protesting- at his thigh. "Speaking" "Thinking"

He growled out a negative, but she waited as he shifted, just watching him motionlessly, and finally he grumbled out a sullen assent. Her habitual half-smile didn't widen, or show any sign of her being pleased by his capitulation, but she turned and slipped back down into the den to grab a few items to drag out. She dropped them at his paws. "Kratom," she said by way of explanation as to the nature of the leaves. "I heard about it from a wolf who'd spent a lot of time on the southern continent where it grows so I brought some back. It's supposed to be... very relaxing. Or I can get you something else?" In truth she'd gotten some intending to coax Valen into getting stoned with her, but it was supposed to be a very potent painkiller and... well, he looked like he kind of needed the emotional pain relief it was also supposed to provide, more so than she did. She cocked her head to the side, curious about if he'd be willing to try it or if he'd prefer a more traditional painkiller, but whether he accepted it or not she settled down next to him to start cleaning the wounds on his thigh. She ran her tongue roughly over the injury, perhaps not the most gentle of nurses but she wanted to make sure the wound was clean more than she wanted him to be comfy right now. The last thing Valen would want would be to end up laid up for months from an infected wound after all. "So, Soliloquy Destruction decided to grow a pair and fight back did he?" she asked between bouts of cleaning.

""

Evangeline's face was all seriousness as her mother passed Valentine some herbs she said were relaxing. Kratom she'd said? She stared hard at the dried leaves, trying to commit them and the scent to memory. What did Cascade mean by relaxing? Would Daddy fall asleep? She hoped not; she wanted him to actually see how helpful and smart she was being. Her father's voice, gentled somewhat from the angry tone he'd used before, called her attention to his bruises and away from the kratom leaves. She beamed happily at him, clearly unphased by his equally-clearly grumpy mood as she dipped the fur into the herb-scented water. What had Cascade said was in it? Arnica and... bitch hazel? No... witch hazel. With complete concentration - and for once, silence as the fur clenched between her front teeth prevented conversation - she dabbed the water onto his chest where he'd indicated, soaking the fur as thoroughly as possible while trying to stay out of Cascade's way as she cleaned the cuts on his thigh. ""

Without a word Cascade disappeared down into her den. She wasn't gone for long and when she returned she cared with her several items he had no name for. Without ceremony she dropped them at his paws. He waited for her to explain what they were before he leaned down and snapped them up. Valentine didn't pause to consider the possibility that they were to be placed upon the wounds instead of eaten. If he was doing it wrong Cas would tell him soon enough, and if they gave him the squirts or something later he'd deal with it then. Soundlessly he accepted the rough wound cleaning. It burned fiercely, each lick sending a web of sparks flying up the damaged nerves. Eva was a bit more gentle; she dabbed at the tender places on his chest and largely avoided the bite wound there. Absentmindedly Valentine wondered if the pair would eventually trade places. "So Soliloquy Destruction finally decided to grow a pair and fight back?" There was a beat of silence as the words registered and then Valentine gave a muted snort of amusement. The irony. Slyly he glanced back at Cascade as he weighed the merits of voicing his thoughts on the subject in front of their daughter. After a moment's consideration and heavy editing, he grumbled, "Yeah, and then I bit them off." ""

The cuts on his thigh were as clean as they could get - she had deliberately removed the clotted blood during the process, so fresh blood had begun oozing up as she'd cleaned any lingering debris. She reached over to grab the bamboo container of agrimony-goldenseal water in her teeth to drag over to her, but looked up, startled, at the implication of his words. An approving grin flashed over her dark face, crinkling her eyes and turning up the corners of her mouth around the bamboo, and she gave an equally approving hum. So he'd castrated the dumb sod had he? Well serves him right, doesn't it? If someone was going to challenge an alpha's authority they'd best be prepared to lose a few things and he was lucky, so very lucky, that it'd had been his balls and not his eyes. He could still provide for what family he already had, assuming he cared enough about them to, and if he didn't well clearly he didn't need to be having anymore kids anyway.

She carefully tipped her head, the liquid pouring over the wounds to work its disinfecting magic on the wound, then set it aside - for the moment choosing not to reply to this knowledge for the same reason he'd edited himself so. "Vana, this rinse I'm using has agrimony and goldenseal root in it," she said to their daughter, who looked up attentively. "Agrimony is an astringent, which encourages the bleeding to stop, and goldenseal root is anti-bacterial, antibiotic, anti-viral, anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial... basically anti-everything we don't want your dad getting into open wounds. Come on, switch me spots while it dries and you can do the bruises there. Try not to get anything on the cuts or I'll have to start over."

The pair switched sides, and she set herself to licking at the lacerations along the alpha's sternum as she watched him for any adverse reaction to the relatively unknown to her herb. She'd been told that it was rare to feel ill from it but rare didn't mean impossible. But just as much, she was watching his emotional state and resisting the urge to track down and beat the shit out of whoever had hurt him. "I kind of doubt you'd be this mad just because Soliloquy Destruction challenged you," she murmured quietly near his ear, so that Vana who was concentrating with an admirable intensity on dabbing his thigh bruises without touching the wounds, wouldn't hear. "You ok?"

""

Concentrating as she was on healing her Daddy, Vana wasn't really paying a whole lot of attention to their conversation. Well, she was, because she wanted to know everything about everything and everyone and as they say little pitchers have big ears, but she wasn't really giving any outward sign of listening until her mother started talking about the herbs they were using. She added agrimony and goldenseal to the list of herbs she was slowly building in her head. She didn't really have a picture of what they looked like yet, but she'd bug her mom about that later. They switched spots, and as she dabbed at the bruises she caught her mother whispering at her dad like they were keeping a secret from her. She scowled - that wouldn't do. She dropped the fur back into the dwindling herbal water in order to jump temporarily into the conversation. She'd more or less soaked his thigh anyway. "Daddy bit off that slave guy's dangly boy bits," she stated matter-of-factly. Ok, she wasn't really good at names, and why should she bother learning them anyway? Waste of time. She shot her parents a challenging look. She knew secrets too. "I don't know why, because that's gross and you aren't supposed to touch other people's bits. But Daddy won and the brown healer lady took the bad man away. Does this mean the bad kids will go away too?" She scowled, thinking of the only real interaction she'd had with one of the Destruction kids, the all-brown boy who'd been rude about her Daddy. It might have been her mother's job to watch them so they didn't run away but Vana hadn't bothered speaking to them directly since then. It was a long time to go without talking to wolves you were forced to spend so much time with but it was so worth it. Casually plucking the fur back out of water she set back to dabbing it on Daddy's thigh as though she'd not said anything at all. ""

Not once did the stinging let up. It felt like Cascade was trying her hardest to lick his skin off. Gritting his teeth in pain and anger, Valentine took the rough treatment in silence. While Cascade explained something about plants or healing or whatever, the brute just fumed. He said nothing, did nothing, just accepted their presence and the kindness they were (painfully) bestowing upon him. After awhile the two switched places. Cascade began to work at the bites on his chest and while it hurt, somewhere along the line the plants she'd given him had begun to work. While it didn't -or just hadn't at this point?- taken away his pain, the leaves had taken the edge off. Unbeknownst to him, they'd also begun to work at his rage. The fury was still there and his disgust in Rhythm hadn't lessened any, but he slowly let the tense way he'd been holding himself go. "I kind of doubt you'd be this mad just because Soliloquy Destruction challenged you," His gaze, which had been firmly fixed on the distance until this point, snapped to Cascade. "You okay?" Yes, he was perfectly fine. He was in control of everything and all was fine and dandy. "You're going to laugh," he hissed back through gritted teeth. She'd told him just how much Rhythm was worth and he hadn't believed her. Their daughter spoke up and gave Cascade a rundown of what had happened. If he hadn't been so set on being pissy he'd have found her interpretation amusing. That is, until she reached the part about the "brown healer lady" because there his mood would have inevitably soured. Casting a sidelong look at Cascade that promised a more thorough rundown when they were alone, he answered Eva, "Yes, they went with him I'm sure." He hadn't looked yet, but he was sure they have taken the chance to scurry off by now. ""

Cascade snorted, barely holding back the laughter she knew would just make her difficult only daughter sulky and more difficult. "They're called testicles, dear," she said matter of factly to her daughter. "They are what allow males to impregnate females so when Daddy took them away it was so that Soliloquy couldn't have any more children. It was a very serious thing that he did for a very good reason and not something that a girl your age should be doing." She fixed Vana with a hard stare - she knew her daughter's vindictive nature and didn't need her daughter running around castrating males who annoyed her. Well, the children were at the age when - though they'd probably been picking some up here and there - she'd need to sit them down for an actual lesson in what-is-sex before someone took advantage of them the way Mercy had been taken advantage of.

But right now she was more interested in what Valen had to say, and the way he said it was rather troubling, particularly in regards to Vana's statement that the "brown healer" had helped Soliloquy while Valen had come to Cas instead. Finishing cleaning the chest wound, she reached out with a paw to drag the container of agrimony-goldenseal water over to her. "That's good enough for now, Vana. You can put more on tomorrow, your dad'll need it when they start stiffening up. Why don't you go on over to your dad's den and make it super comfortable for him so he can sleep tonight, ok?"

She waited - tipping the rinse water over the sternum wound and dragging over the plantain, comfrey, yarrow while she waited - until her daughter had left, the pouting offset by the pride of having a job to do, before turning a surprisingly serious gaze to Valen. The kratom was surely taking effect by now so hopefully his wounds - the physical ones as well as whatever emotional ones were jabbing at him - would be somewhat soothed. "What happened?" she asked quietly. "I'm not going to laugh, Valen. Not everything's a joke, not even for me. I just want to help you." She leaned down to scoop up the plantain, comfrey, and yarrow to masticate them together in her jaws while she waited.

""

Her mother snorted, and Evangeline scowled at the vain attempt to smother her laughter. But Cascade went on to speak frankly, giving the proper name for the dangly bits and their use. Vana listened intently, and had about a billion questions, but almost immediately Cascade went on to dismiss her. Vana's mouth opened to protest the injustice, but she paused calculatingly. If she whined about leaving, her mother might not think she was ready to be a healing apprentice and then she'd be right back to doing nothing just like the babies. If she wanted her parents to keep treating her like a grown up like this, she might want to reconsider her usual strategy of crying to get her way, at least sometimes. Besides, Cascade was asking her to do something super special for her dad to make him comfortable. She couldn't argue with that! She liked helping Daddy and the attention it got her was far more satisfying than what she got from tantrums. "All right," she said sulkily. She'd go find some dry moss or something, maybe even catch a bird and use it's feathers! That would be really comfy for him, and then tomorrow she'd get the bruises-water from Cascade and put it on his bad bruises again... A little more cheerfully, she hitched herself to her feet and sought to give her Daddy a sweet little kiss on the cheek. "Bye Daddy, see you later," she told him, before trotting off toward his den. ""

Had it been any other time Valentine would have either been amused by the conversation between Cascade and Evangeline or been made very uncomfortable by it, but as he was still set on pouting the King dealt with it stoically. Testicles and Evangeline in the same conversation. It was enough to make his fur stand on end. Finally Cascade dismissed their daughter. Eva didn't look too pleased with it, but she surprised him by not protesting. She further surprised him by stretching up and kissing him on the cheek. He softened. "Thank you, Eva." Before she could get away he aimed a kiss at the top of her head. His eyes trailed after Evangeline as she left and lingered on the last place she was visible for several moments after she was gone. When he was certain she was gone his eyes darted back to Cascade. His jaw worked for a moment as he debated what he wanted to do. He wasn't too keen on talking about it. Rhythm had humiliated him. Even with Cascade's promise not to laugh he wasn't entirely sure this was a conversation he wanted to have with her. Or anyone for that matter. Against his better judgement he found himself saying it. "After I won she went with him, Cas. Didn't say a word to me, just helped that useless fuck to his paws and took off with him." He stared down at her, waiting to see if she'd keep her word.

Valen aimed a kiss to Vana's forehead, and Cas melted. She was lucky, unbelievably lucky, that the wolf who had fathered her pups was such a softie when it came to his children. What if he'd been like Neios? She'd been so young, so stupid a year ago when she'd given herself to him. Damn who'd have thought the wolf who'd fucked her while they were both still covered in coyote gore would have made the best father she could have ever asked for. It made her wonder, wistfully, what her own father Kaios might have been like if he hadn't been killed. But, remembering her foggy memories of her own mother, recalling Neios, and Nausica, and even the oldest brother she'd met only briefly... it was unlikely she would have ever known a real childhood even if she'd not spent most of it in terrified solitude. Her children would never face that, thanks to Valentine Imperialis. It was practically miracle level luck. Yet now he was sitting before her with a problem, with hurt rolling off him in palpable, and angry, waves. Valen remained silent for a while. She carefully masticated the herbs into a pulp while she waited, spitting them out onto a leaf of lambs-ear. Picking up the sticky honey she made ready to smear it on his wound, but his voice stopped her. She watched him attentively as he spoke, but it took a moment for the words to sink in. Rhythm hadn't just 'brought the bad man away' as Vana had said - she'd deliberately scorned Valen to go with Sol. Brow knotted, ears falling back, she eyed him quizzically... and a little disconcertedly. She'd known he liked Rhythm. Hell that was why she'd blackmailed Hati into kidnapping her in the first place wasn't it? She just hadn't realized how deeply that went. Was he angry because he'd been betrayed by a possession? Or because his heart had been broken? Up until now it had just been a game, toying with the innocent little waif who'd fallen for Valen. What, exactly, was it now? Using spreading the honey on the wound as an excuse to buy her a little time, she remained silent. And the lambs-ear with the poultice. Using a paw she pressed the leaf against the honey, sealing the poultice against the cut. She even added another couple of leaves over top, pressing into the honey that oozed out from under the first leaf, just because she knew he wouldn't go easy on them like he should. Finishing, she sat a moment staring at her handiwork. Ok. So... Serious conversation time, right? "So... Rhythm left with Sol." So she really couldn't think of what to say. She sighed deeply, seeking to run her tongue soothingly across his shoulder. Wait... weren't she and Soliloguy both Destructions? Like, some kind of cousin or something? Either this wasn't Rhythm-running-off-with-another-man thing that had been the first thing to occur to her, or Rhythm Destruction was into weirder shit than she thought. "She will come back, Valen. She will. You know she's pretty... uh... delicate. High strung?" High maintenance? Sensitive. She settled on sensitive. "Sensitive. Things that are normal for wolves like us... she isn't used to that sort of thing. Her people don't do that. What did Bass do when he got here after Hati won Rhythm? Try to maim you? Demand you maim Hati? He'd probably have been within his rights to demand Hati was maimed for stealing his sister." Well, or demanding she was maimed for instigating it but hey as far as she knew Bass didn't know that. "Hell he didn't even maim Rhythm after she rejected him, he just kicked her out of his pack which she didn't even belong to anyway, and you saw how something as little as that broke her to pieces. Seeing you as something other than... uh..." She almost said 'her lapdog' but figured this wasn't a good time to snip about it. "... other than a cuddly marshmallow probably was a pretty big shock to her. She'll come back when she comes to terms with the fact that you have more to your life than just making her happy. You are an alpha, and you do what needs to be done. She'll figure that out and come crawling back." ""

OOC: M fooooor....lotsa language >.>

The answer he got was not the one he wanted. He didn't even know what he wanted, but he knew it wasn't that. He wanted to be angry, to be irrational and hurt and yes, hateful about the whole fucking business. How dare that little bitch turn her back on him. She sat up on her high horse and she turned up her nose and waltzed off with that piece of trash. He wanted to grab her by the scruff and shake out every stupid, righteous notion that filled her vapid little head. Valentine had done what he'd done for a reason. How dare she question his authority? Aggravated with himself for being such a hateful asshole (and Cascade for being honest and Rhythm for being stupid and the whole fucking situation for being so fucking ridiculous), he huffed. She was right. The whole Destruction family was a joke. They were soft and so far removed from what their name suggested that it was comical. He did wonder how such a pansy-ass family had gotten such a name. Sure, there was an individual here and there that managed to rise above their weak heritage, but they were few and far in between. He should have expected that kind of bleeding heart reaction from Rhythm and Valentine could have kicked himself for being so blind. Begrudgingly, he finally parted with the words, "You're probably right." But did he want her to come back? Part of him, a very big part of him, wanted her to wallow in the mess she'd made. It wanted her to follow that neutered git around and tend to his every fucking need and then when she was done playing hero, he hoped she realized that she'd alienated everyone who mattered to her. First Bass and Abaven and now Valentine and Imperium. He hissed through clenched teeth as he debated if there was more to be said. The words he wanted to say made him feel weak. Should he even tell Cascade? Part of him wanted to clam up entirely and not trust anyone with any part of himself. He wanted to go back to how he used to be, when no one mattered and he got what he wanted without giving in return. "I trusted her, Cas. Far more than I should have. I made a mistake and I'm paying for it." Feeling exposed he quickly adopted a tone more befitting an alpha and amended, "I will get over it and I appreciate you trying to help me." The wounds. He couldn't forget those. "And I appreciate you and Eva taking care of my injuries."

The vulnerability in his voice made her breath hitch painfully, and a slow bubble of fury spread over her to send a tingling akin to adrenaline from her nose to her toes. She turned her head aside under the guise of reaching for more herbs for his leg, to hide the fierceness that suddenly lit her face. "If I didn't know it would only hurt you more, I would kill her for it." The low-voiced admission tumbled free unbidden and if it were possible she'd have snatched it right back. She drew back, not meeting his gaze as she winced. Well shit, Cascade, even you know not to tell your alpha you'd like to kill his girlfriend for any reason, even if he is hurt and mad at her and you hate her for doing it to him. That seemed like a pretty sure way of making him mad at you instead. But sheer force of stubborn will made her own up to it and she determinedly turned to face him again. "What I said about her not being used to our ways doesn't excuse her actions. Whatever her reasons she did still betray you and your pack by choosing an enemy over you. Instead of trusting you, trusting you to know what you were doing, she walked away. So you aren't wrong to feel angry and hurt. But..." she turned her face away again with a grumpy scowl. "I also know that she means a lot more to you than just a pack member, or you'd have punished her for it right then instead of letting her go. So I know she'll come back to you, and you'll forgive her. That's the thing with opening up your heart, isn't it?" she added wistfully. "It's easier to get hurt but it's easier to forgive too?" She couldn't remember ever caring about someone enough to forgive them. She'd never had someone love her so unconditionally they would forgive her. She'd had to climb and claw her way back into Valen's good graces after she'd engineered Rhythm's kidnap and it hadn't been until recently that she'd felt her equilibrium returning; he and Rhythm would be right back where they were within a week. There was a world of difference between "friend" and "lover" and while she was still learning what it meant to be a friend, innocent little Rhythm seemed to come by love naturally so undoubtedly she'd have Valen like clay in her little paws again as soon as she realized just how hard it was to have to live by herself and came back to Valen. It was a disconcerting realization to know just how much power such a useless little female could have over someone - almost frightening. And who was going to protect Valen from getting hurt again? She sighed. "Just promise you'll be careful?" She took the herbs for the poultice for his leg into her mouth to chew them then, in part to keep her from saying anything else stupid. ""

"If I didn't know it would only hurt you more, I would kill her for it." Ignoring the flair up of pain in his thigh, Valentine slowly seated himself. His thoughts followed a similar line of reasoning. If anyone else would have turned their back on him like that they would have paid for it immediately. Cascade went on to unknowingly second his thoughts. Did it make it easier to forgive? He supposed it did. Twice his mother left him and that hadn't stopped him from seeking her out. Hell, even when he was still pissed at her he'd joined her pack. Was this really that different? Through all of this Valentine remained silent. His emotions had yoyo'ed so much in the last several hours that he wasn't sure how to feel anymore. Or maybe that was the plants he'd eaten. Valen couldn't tell. He appreciated Cascade's efforts. He appreciated that she was willing to stand there in front of him, chewing on a nasty green blob and listening to him whine. More than anything else he appreciated that she chose to do more than just stand there and nod and chew and make sympathetic faces. Talking to Cascade was very different than talking to Rhythm. They may have done their relationship in the wrong order but what they had was genuine and deep. There wasn't a label that fit what they were, but that didn't make it any less real. In some ways what he and Rhythm had (used to have?) been built upon a lie. It was a nice lie, a 'I want you to like me so I'm going to act my best' kind of lie, but a lie nonetheless. From there it had grown more genuine, more relaxed, but it was still built on that falsehood. Cascade had been different. The day he'd met Cascade he'd been high. He'd fallen into a hole he didn't know he could get out of and he'd gone out of his way to punish himself for being such a fuck up. It was kind of hard to come back from that, to put on a show and pretend to be more likeable. So he'd just been himself. Perhaps there was the difference. Rhythm had met him when he was at his best. Cascade had met him when he was at his worst. It was Valentine's turn to sigh. He still didn't know what to say. Finally he snorted. Cocking his head, he peeked at her out of one eye. "You know I can't promise that." And that was true, wasn't it? As dark as his thoughts had gotten, as much as he'd threatened to close himself off, deep down he was too eager to be loved. He knew it was going to hurt him but that wasn't going to stop him from seeking it out. He didn't want to say thank you again. The words just didn't quite cut it. "God, Cas." He harrumphed then said dryly, "How did you get so wise?"

She made a wry face at him as he grumbled that he couldn't promise that. Yeah, she knew that. It was just part of Valen, as much as his height or his blue eyes. He couldn't help it. It didn't bother her but it... worried her. She didn't like the idea of him getting hurt. Well... emotionally hurt, she amended to herself as she spat the nasty glob of herbal goo onto a lambs-ear leaf. Physical wounds were easy to heal. Emotions were trickier. Riskier. In that respect, she was a lot safer than Valen was, though he was physically much larger and stronger, and the better fighter, she was skeptical and emotionally closed of and you know what? The only time she'd had her heart hurt since she'd grown to adulthood was when Neios had abandoned her (multiple times) so clearly she had the right idea. She was lonelier this way, maybe, but... she couldn't get hurt if she didn't fall in love like Valen. Anyway, all her emotional energy went to the kids and to her friendship with Valen. She didn't need to add the added stress and inevitable heartbreak of a lover to that. If anything she pitied Valen. Really. And it made her angry - not at him, but at the women (and men) that she knew would break his heart. It made her angry to the core that anyone would take advantage of that sweet, vulnerable side of his for their own selfish ends. She slathered the honey on him and pressed the poultice and lambs-ear bandage against his wound as she had on the other one, adding a few more leaves again, before flashing him a half-smile. "I feel like of the two of us, it wouldn't be me that people would think to describe as 'wise' Valen." She smoothed her tongue over a tuft of fur on his shoulder soothingly. "There, all better. Give it time and don't overdo it, and it should all heal over with a minimum of scarring." Whether she was talking about his wounds, or the issue with Rhythm, was up to interpretation. She continued to smooth over his shoulder absently a moment, before shaking herself back into some semblance of her usual cocky grin. Too deep. Way too deep. Walk it off, Cascade. "Well, let's get you off to your den so you can sleep the drugs off, or you can sleep here if you'd rather not walk that far." She stretched to her feet, busying herself with ferrying the remains of her herbs back inside her den to stash them in the small herb cache there. If he wanted to keep talking, it wouldn't take but a word to halt her busy-bee scurrying, but he really did need to be getting some rest at some point, and this conversation had delved much, much deeper than she'd expected. She felt a lot like she was skirting too close to the edge of a ravine, that same dry-mouthed adrenaline-fueled knowledge that her paws were dancing on a precipice, and she was quick to back away, quick to cover the sudden nervousness with a teasing grin and busy work. Emotions were a tricky thing all right, and while Valen seemed to navigate through them with - for the most part - a frustrating sort of ease, it was better - far far better - for someone like Cascade to just... avoid that whole mess. ""