ask and you shall receive

Though he couldn't see her face to know her expression, the woman seemed surprised as she echoed his name back to him, and he stilled, listening closely to her. She seemed to recognize his name - not his surname, his given name, something that was rare for him even as an alpha. And she was surprised by it, so she didn't recognize him by sight.

Her words reached interested ears, as she spoke of knowing of curses - the sound of a bell suddenly being jingled made Cypher jump - and how he would need to be willing to give up something more precious than payment to break the curse. He touched the necklace at his chest... the payment Pyrrhic had sacrificed for him to pay her. And he would give it to her, but he thought too that she might have something more in mind than that. A personal sacrifice, something beyond payment. He held his stillness a moment longer in contemplation before he spoke. "Without my sight," he said softly, "I cannot protect my family or my pack. I cannot lead them if I cannot protect them, but I will not ask my brother to sacrifice any more. He has given enough. I must do this." He slipped the necklace from around his neck and carefully slid it to her, leaving his paw atop it. "This was given to me by my brother. I give it as a gift to you now if you would be willing to help me, Temperance, but I swear by the Fallen God that I will sacrifice whatever I need to in order to break this and regain my sight. Nothing in me is more important than protecting my family."

He lifted his paw off the necklace, brought it back to tuck under him and he breathed, serene in the depth of his acceptance.