I just wanna run like a child

"Trouble that I never asked for," he reminded her sharply, eyes narrowing. As much as he'd like to claim he'd rather be in slavery still than be in debt to Acere, that wasn't necessarily true... though Kai admitting that would be like pulling teeth. It wasn't terribly hard for him to regain his composure as she tackled him, though he looked a little perturbed at being tackled so brazenly. Sure, these were her lands or whatever, but... still. "Again, all trouble I never asked for. I think Acere thought I was worth it because I had a thing with one of his nephews. Who had a mate and children, I later found out," Kai explained, trying to feign casualness about the whole thing, though his words were still quite acerbic. "Not that that fact was what bothered me. But he was a coward. Pretended he barely knew me when I showed up, and left soon after," Kai nearly scoffed. He had loved Tyranis, truly, despite his faults - but such an act of cowardice was unforgivable. And though Kai was far from altruistic by any means, he never lied about who he was, he could say that with certainty.

Apparently not many wolves could say the same.

"My family's long gone. My father returned to our homelands - he was never a member of Abaven. My mother was though, her name was Renhett. I haven't seen her since I was very young. I only stayed in Abaven as long as I needed. Pack life isn't for me," he explained dismissively. Though he didn't sound outright sad at the mention of his parents, his tone was far more serious now. He loved them both dearly and hoped he'd see them again someday, but if not? Sometimes that was how things happened and dwelling on what had once been had never done him any good. "And compared to you, Rhyme's quite old. Compared to me? Not so much. Let myself feel young for a moment." The truth was that he wasn't getting any younger, and somehow six years had passed him by in a flash... it was hard to shake the feeling that he had so much left to do, even if he didn't want to spend much time dwelling on what he could've done differently. If anything, it made him want to focus on the future, to seize the opportunities that lay ahead of him. Once he was done with Winterfell, of course.

Her assessment of him derailed his thoughts and earned a loud snort. "Perhaps your eyes aren't working very well, then? When's the last time you saw a tusked wolf in these parts?" His question was more of a rhetorical one than anything else. He knew well enough that such features were few and far between... and he'd never met another wolf with tusks besides his father. "And I don't give a damn what Acere thinks of me. Or what you think of me. Or what you think of him, for that matter. Even a blind man could see what a fool he is." His deal with the Hjarrandi band was a foolish one, he knew that, and he didn't need Theory telling him the same.