She watched him fit the axe; as he did, she moved to help him by bracing the handle. This would make it easier. It, too, would prove something-- she did not scold him, nor did she instruct him. Instead, Bylgja just... helped the kid. He hid his interest, but Bylgja didn't pay that much mind at all. Let him hide it if he had to. She knew not all came from such places. Not every wolf had grown up in a family like hers, where each day was a blessing, where each day held such ... brutal death on the horizon. She thought, briefly, of her uncle, who had shown her how to craft a handle, and how he had died on the ocean, split apart by some horrible flesh amalgamate. Bylgja reflected on those she had lost. Brothers, sisters, friends. She'd seen some of them become twisted, horrible creatures. Infected. Changed.
Her eyes were... not quiet, per se. That delighted intensity still lingered, but she appeared more than ready to teach the boy, to talk to him.
"They do tell a story. Where I come from--" And here was her first caution, and it was not because of Strai. Rather, it was because of her own... well, her hesitance. She licked at her fangs and looked to the side, for a moment, her ears flicking. It was... a lot to tell a child, but he was not so soft. She supposed it wouldn't hurt. So she continued.
"-- there are monsters. Monsters of flesh and bone. Each day, we know we may die. Yes? So then we tell our stories on our skin. So if the monsters take us, we are still us." Her head dips.
"We tell our stories on our skin so that we know, too, that we are... ourselves. The monsters cannot imitate the scars. Just the shape." It probably was going over his head.
But he had asked, and she told.
It was her way.
Bylgja shook her head. "If they take what I have, I take it back with my teeth and my claws and my rage. And I do the same for my shield-kin. I do not fear my things being taken. I can always get my things back. Objects... objects are -- objects. Is easier to live with them, yes. But what matters is the flesh. The blood. So why not live with joy? With things?" Another semi-hypothetical.
"Bylgja"
