When you lose something you can’t replace

His hug softened the blow of his lack of promise, and she buried her face back in the fur beneath his throat, but her jaw clenched stubbornly regardless and she sniffed. Nothing to worry about… Yeah, sure…, but cynicism didn’t come naturally to her and honestly, the reassurance of his presence alone was enough to take some of the edge off her bitterness.

When he seemed to be trying to put her off with his talk of work she scoffed. As if she had ever run away from a day of work in her life. "Sparring actually sounds really good about now… well, y’know… once I’ve slept…" She laughed weakly, her growling stomach grumbling over the sound. It was then that Pandora returned with some late season berries and shoved them under Daphne’s face, grumbling and chittering to herself as she waddled back and forth along the stream banks, no doubt bemoaning the lack of fish in the hotter water from the springs.

Daphne took one of the berries between her teeth, her nose wrinkling at the bitterness of the juice that burst over her tongue. "Want some?" she offered to Grim, not expecting him to show much interest. She was only eating them out of necessity. "I seem to remember it’s a bit of a hike to the Armada?" Or maybe it wasn’t now she had grown into her paws… She’d been so young when they left here.

"speech".