Stick Stickly

He waited patiently as Marina vented her fury over the raid, listening with his usual attentiveness, interest frank upon his face, but the only expression beyond that was a silent chill, a calm that refused to break.

Finally, when he judged her sufficiently vented, he blew out a sigh. “There is only one problem with your ire-- which I do agree with,” He locked both fathomless sapphires with her single pale red eye, delivering his next words with a cold severity, and a weight that was un-moving.

“You have a litter of young pups that depend on your love and devotion. You are the only rock they have, and if you sink, they will drown. Argus is missing, and apparently Ochitsu, as well. That should be, by far, your first concern right now. Chasm has a bruised look in his eyes that I do not like, and he was checking Nova over as though for injury, last time I saw them, which wasn’t long ago. What. Happened.”

The last two words snapped out with the authority of a leader’s command, leaving no room for dodging the question, and no room for lies, not that he expected her to lie.