A long time coming

Satira waited... waited... holding out hope that Mojito would say something that gave her faith that this time would be different from all the others. But that reassurance never came. Instead, her father confessed that nothing he could say could mend the damage his absence had left, and maybe there was truth in that. He said he planned to remain in Valta for as long as he had a say in the matter, that he wanted to settle down and start being a family, and how he wished he could shut the rest of the world out from themselves. Tira scoffed and shook her head; that would be all too easy an answer, and life was rarely so simple or kind. She looked away over to her right for a moment, watching the wind ripple the tall grasses for a moment while she tried to gather her thoughts and make some kind of decision. Her father had given her no sort of reassurance that he meant what he said or that he wouldn't spontaneously leave into thin air again. All she had to hold onto was the fact that he was here right now. Maybe the cold hard truth that he couldn't reassure her worried mind was a bit of reassurance in of itself. Mojito wasn't just telling her what she wanted to hear; he was being earnest with her.

She had a choice to make. Tira could either show her sire mercy and forgive him, let him back into her life and roll the dice on whether she got burned again or she could refuse his apology and keep him at bay, forever severing their ties and killing their relationship to keep her own heart safe. The logical side of her knew that trusting in Mojito was a risky choice given the lessons history had taught her. But the young woman was far too ruled by her heart. She did not want to hold onto anger or resentment in her life. She did not want to live bitterly or vengefully. And if that meant getting hurt again... well, consider it a harsh lesson learned. Tira was beginning to build a nice little collection of scars on her heart anyways. Looking back to Mo, the tawny wolf-dog took a tentative step closer to him, trying to look brave in the face of confronting her father, no matter how much it pained her heart to do so. "If you want to be a part of my life, Dad, then you can prove it," she declared, meeting his eyes with a resolute gaze. "No more running, no more disappearing. You stay and you be a part of it. If you want to try and fix this-" She gestured between the two of them with a paw. "-then you put in the effort. Because I want you to stay and be here and be a family again. I don't want to be angry or sad or upset. I just want my dad back."

Satira took another step closer to Mojito, now only a stride away from him, not breaking eye contact from her sire. She held his gaze with stern steel blue eyes. She needed him to know how serious she was about this. "But if you leave again, Dad... there's no more chances. I can't keep doing this with you if you're not willing to show me that our relationship matters to you. So I need you to tell me right here and now that you're in this for good. Because if you can't be... then the next time you leave, don't bother coming back to find me." The words she spoke were harsh, but they were said with no venom nor vitriol in her tone. Her words weren't spoken from a place of anger or resentment, but from the pain of a child who didn't understand why her father had never been there. They came from a heart so desperate to love, but so bruised and broken from the hurt of the past, trying its best to protect itself while still believing in the one man who mattered the most to her. Those piercing blue eyes looked up to her black and white sire, only slightly taller than she was, softened with a vulnerability and and a hurt that so desperately wanted him to convince her that he wasn't going to leave her alone again. She just wanted her father back and not have to worry about losing him again.

"Satira"