Drums... drums in the deep

She shook her head in dismay at his question back at her. He chose to reach out to her despite the potential to smack her. She let him gather her up in his mighty protective paws. There, there she felt like the world didn't matter. Here, under his protective chin, she could feel his breath fill his lungs and his heart beat steadily in his chest. The gentle rocking made her melt into his fur like a sticky syrup. Despite her shame and turmoil, she prayed to the heavens for the world to just stop here.

She placed her head and one of her arms over his arm, grasping desperately to take hold of it.
"I keep trying to find a way to make it work. But it will only once everyone at the table becomes comfortable with a whole lot of things really quickly, and of course that'll never happen. And I can't, I just can't solve it." She's never had a problem she couldn't solve and desperately wanted to.

Someone's going to get hurt. They're all going to get hurt. And she was the only one out of them all to know everyone potentially involved. She buried her face into his chest again. He could never know how she felt about his heir. Hazel could never know how Bas and Ignita felt about each other. Ignita had to hold these strings together somehow and knew one day it'd all fall apart, and it'll be all her fault.

There, the outcome. It was bleak but it was something she could at least prepare herself for. Bas could hold on to his hope that things will all work out. But she'll know how it all works out, and she can brace herself for it when it does.

Finally, a breath. She inhaled his musk deeply and steadied herself.
"All right. I'm ready." She started to push herself away to make their journey back home, resolved to be defeated in the end.
"Ignita"