After she was done in the infirmary, she lingered outside in the hallway for a moment locked in an internal debate. It was still early, and she was exhausted from a poor night's sleep leftover from the previous evening's events. However, try as she might, she couldn’t rationalize returning to her family’s room to try and fall back asleep. Dawn was still fresh, and everyone else would be awake soon … if they weren’t already. And while she wasn’t necessarily avoiding her siblings, she didn’t really want to have to answer a bunch of questions either. So her decision was swayed, and she found herself trailing off to one of her favorite spots in the entire castle. Crossing the threshold, her pale blue gaze immediately fell upon the patterned chaise near one of the windows. She didn’t hesitate to cross the room, and in a single bound, hauled herself up and nestled herself in.
While her gaze settled on the array of wildflowers that were sprouting up across the neighboring plains, her mind wandered back to last night’s encounter, and the upheaval of all logical emotion that had come with it. Without looking, she lightly grazed the bite on her forearm with her opposite paw. It echoed feelings of irritation, however, it just reinforced the fact that what happened … did indeed happen. The frustration of being ambushed, paired with having to rely on the cruel stranger to in fact do exactly what she despised him for doing. Did that make her a hypocrite? Violently killing other creatures was wrong, unless it suited her? She remembered struggling with all her might to keep the one coyote she had been responsible for handling at bay, and in the end, it had escaped her. Had she really been prepared to kill it?
Then following him to the river upon his request. In fairness, she wanted to clean the wound. Though, her morale compass had been silenced by adrenaline. She didn’t realize that she had made a wrong decision until it was nearly too late. If her parents hadn’t arrived when they did … oh, her parents. The look in her father’s eyes as he suddenly commanded the space to protect her. Being carried home- thankful for the comfort, but partially ashamed for the necessity. Watching the first few beats of her sire squaring off with the boy before her line of sight was disrupted by the ground cover. From then on, the rest of the evening had been a blur. All night long, she hadn’t been able to even begin to process what had happened.
Now, left alone with her own thoughts … she didn’t know where to start.
Professor
Fleet-footed
