Remorseless

Any hope she had of reassuring Irilyth that she had her support and reigniting the fire she loved from the little blonde women was lost as Irilyth continued to detach from her and struggle to meet her gaze. Part of her truly wanted Irilyth to take the offer and to come back home, but instead her lover simply insisted that she wouldn't let her live on edge as she protected her from Alastor and instead would gather some of her things so she could live in one of the spare dens until she said she could return. Manea's shoulders sagged with a kind of defeat of her own, her ears flicking back as Irilyth referred to her as Matriarch. She had put so much effort into breaking Irilyth of that habit and now she couldn't tell if it was simply that old habit returning or if this was some form of Irilyth's blame being directed toward her and causing her to distance herself in whatever way she could without out right lashing out. As long as the little healer continued like this is was going to be impossible for her to tell.

As Irilyth requested to go, calling her Matriarch once again and making her heart wrench in her chest, a slow sigh escaped Manea and she let her paw slip away from her cheek. "You may," she replied softly with her ears folded back against her head with a mix of guilt and helplessness. Before she moved aside, Manea lowered her head to press a gentle kiss to the top of Irilyth's crown. "I love you, Irilyth. I'll be around to check on you soon... I'm sorry." She finally turned to leave then, her jaw tense as she went off toward the family den. She struggled with what to do now since she knew neither Irilyth nor Alastor was going to budge on this and now she was stuck in the middle of the wolves she loved, furious with Alastor for what he did, guilty that she hadn't been able to prevent it, and yet she knew that there was no real way to punish Alastor without risking putting their marriage into some sort of tail spin again. At the very least she could go make sure the family caves were clear of him before Irilyth got there and hopefully get a chance to chew him out in the process–for what little good it would do.

"Manea" & "Irilyth"