Black Bird Fly

She watched and listened as the boy stumbled over his words, seeming to struggle with finding the line of his answer, but Katja remained quite as he dragged each word into being. She gave a curt nod of her head when he asked if she was Katja, but otherwise waited for him to finish. There was something subtly off about the youth, but it didn't alarm Katja in any particular way. He was no more "off" than Kapra, or Harekr. Just a subtle difference that she pondered as her gaze probed his. She was confident in her ability to rein in the excesses of her pack, but there was a degree of mental instability that would just begin to cause more trouble to Yfir than it was worth. "Hmm," she murmured. It did not strike her that whatever ailed him, whether it was simple nerves or what, was a danger to Yfir. Moreso, Yfir was a sanctuary to those who needed a home that would accept them, and she would not turn this awkward would-be warrior away either. "Very well. You will need to prove yourself a warrior if that is a rank you wish to aspire to," she told him, "Though Yfir's true warriors require an oath as well, as do their students."