When I steal the light from you

Bellamy had little time to dwell on her thoughts now. Guarded as she was, she half expected this stranger to make some claims that this land, too, had been claimed. She didn’t want a fight, not with her leg still healing and her figuring out the customs and oddities of this land. It had been a mercy that Acere and his pack responded as well as they did to a trespasser. It still churned her stomach… the thought that, had she not been so lucky, she could have just as easily wound up a slave again. They had seen her broken, the weakest side of her, and that too had Bells rolling with feelings she wasn’t quite certain of. She hadn’t decided if she actually trusted Acere or not. She wanted to believe… believe he was a good man and that his pack was the way her parents had told her a pack should be. Of kings and queens who cared for their people and didn’t use them… ones that gave the option of choice and valued the thoughts, opinions, and feelings of others.

As she watched the stranger, uncertainty in her gaze, Bells didn’t move. She knew with her leg still healing if it actually came to a fight she was at a disadvantage… and she was alone too. Ears and Whiskers were back in Winterfell, or so she assumed, and it made her all the more nervous. She relied on them a lot for emotional support and back up now… they were her family. But surely she could handle this?

The stranger spoke, keeping a respectful distance. Bells kept her gaze fixed on the other woman’s face. She couldn’t quite read her and that alone had her all the more wary. There was a familiar feeling of ‘don’t trust’ rising in her gut. She needed to proceed with caution… until she knew more about this stranger. Intentions, allegiances… anything of the sort that could either confirm or shatter her suspicions of an untrustworthy individual. Whiskers had told her time and time again that she was far too guarded with all creatures… but Bellamy had her reasons. Not wanting to get hurt again, manipulated and used was a pretty damn good one.

“I’m not exactly used to meeting others in this land.” She spoke of Boreas as a whole… and spoke the truth. “I haven’t been here all that long.. And I’m still getting used to how all the wolves and packs here operate.” Another truth, her words hard, though they didn’t hold any threat or outright anger. “Is it… normal for strangers to approach each other differently here?” She tried to keep a control on her word choice but it was hard not to slip into her usual demeanor. That part of her, however, often seemed to cocky and could help encourage tempers to flare… not exactly desirable right now.