You Can Have It All, My Empire Of Dirt

She doesn't know what's been said about her. What's come from the mouths of those who truly didn't know her. The whispers from those that had no clue what she was really like. All anyone really saw on the day of the challenge was the Medusa that had made it to her breaking point. The fight that Recluse had forced because of her own cowardice. Medusa had had enough which had led to that day, and thanks to Recluse, it had sealed the fates of those she claimed to love but had ultimately abandoned. And instead of Recluse standing here begging or fighting for the freedom of her children whom she claimed to love soooo much, it was the child. Okay, maybe a yearling, but still fairly young. The boy Enki looks stiff, Medusa can tell. But still, she waits calmly, unusually and uncharacteristically quiet as she waited for him to speak.

He started by apologizing. Which in turn, caused her to tilt her head as she listened. In her mind, he was apologizing for his mother's wrongdoings. While it was true that Enki and his littermates had never done her wrong, she supposed she had taken them as one last chance to see if Recluse would crawl out of her hole and show that she loved those she claimed to care about, but the bitch had failed once again. Instead, Enki stood here, pleading with Medusa and offering the apology that his mother should have long ago. His tone sounded genuine. Soft. No malice or sarcasm or hint of reluctance. Okay, maybe there was in his body language, but that was understandable. He was afraid. And again, while she had no clue what he'd been told about her, he would likely see for himself that whatever he'd heard simply wasn't true. Or at least, most of it, anyway. Though she wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed compared to most, she still had a heart and understood things just fine.

Then he drops his proposal bomb. Telling her that he was basically willing to give himself up if she released his littermates. He promised her two years of his life. Two years to Insomnia. Would the pack even last that long? Who knew. But regardless, he was offering it anyway. And hey, she knew that if Insomnia were to fall before then, they were all free to go. At that point, she likely wouldn't care anymore. She probably would find some other obsession and go on her merry way.

She remains quiet for a few moments as she absentmindedly looks up at the sky in thought. It seemed she would never truly get anything worthwhile from Recluse. The white bitch would continue to prove her own cowardice, and in Medusa's head, that was enough. She knew the truth of things, and that's all that really mattered at this point. Maybe. "Enki should not be the one standing here and saying sorry for the things Recluse did. But he is, and she isn't." She turned her head to look at him. "Medusa respects Enki for that. Way more than she could ever respect Recluse." She dropped her hindquarters abruptly to the ground, briefly feeling something sticky as she wrapped her tail around her toes, and forgot that she had blood on her. Oops! Maybe that was part of the reason that Enki was afraid of approaching her, too? Oh well. "Medusa has been waiting for Recluse to prove that she wasn't a coward. To come and try to get the ones she says she loves, but she has not. Enki might not know, but Medusa did a lot in Habari, and tried to fight for her freedom because she was not told that she had a chance to not be a slave. If Medusa had known that, Habari would still be Habari, and Medusa would probably be there not as a slave." Straight facts. "Medusa wanted to fight for her freedom when she realized she would be nothing but invisible and treated meanly by Habari and Recluse. But Recluse just let her go. Enki might think it sounds dumb, but to Medusa it wasn't. Medusa wanted to fight." She wasn't sure how to explain the why behind it, so she left it at that for now.

There was definitely a lot to unpack still, but Medusa wasn't going to bore him with the details of her past and her grudge against Recluse and half of Habari. "Medusa accepts Enki's offer. He will stay here, and his littermates can go free. Enki will not be a slave, and if he chooses to stay like Enki's dad, Ghoul, and Widow, then Medusa and Enki can talk about it. But if Enki still wants to go, then Medusa will let him go when his promise is done." She nodded to him. If she was anything, she was honest. She had no reason to make up lies or twist the truth. Hell, she had told an alpha or two already that she had Habari prisoners! While it wasn't everyone's cup of tea, she had no plans to keep the Habari wolves prisoner forever.

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