having it out

Where did this kid get this wisdom? She was able to tilt her head and look up at them. With some more steadying breaths, she was able to lift her head back up. Her tears still fell, her face felt hot and puffy, her eyes red and swollen. She couldn't look at them, she was embarrassed by her outburst.

She shook her head in pitiful wonder, Hazel had taken it out on Baz, Ignita thought that was just how it was done here. Spider was proving it otherwise. She feels their tail and is comforted by it. Does this mean they'll forgive her? Or did she wail so hard they pitied her?

She looks to Spider then, as they tell her that no one should just strike her down, the firelight shines on the stretched skin of the scar over her nose. As far as she knew she deserved this scar, even though it was Basilisk's own claw, back when he had claimed her for his side in the Armada.

She couldn't be Hazel. She listens to them, her heart still aching over the agony of hurting them. She wished she was the one giving them the comforting talks... He withdraws his tail. He looks so small and young, just a kid on the precipice of adulthood. She had been there just a season ago. They weren't so far in age.

"Thank you... Spider." Her soft voice cracks, and she sniffs. She could barely speak. She nods at their question, "I do." She says simply.

"You don't... you don't have to love me... like you do Hazel. You don't have to stop loving her either. If... You just need space and a break for a while, I... I can understand that." She drew in a slow breath, sniffed again, and wiped a tear. She couldn't face them when she tried speaking, it was so hard to speak and look in their eyes. "Neither of us expected you to accept any of this right away. And... and we wanted to wait and honor Hazel. And we wanted to tell you before we told... the pack. Because you deserve that." She said, then brought her gaze back to them, unable to move, unsure if she tried draping her own tail over their back that they'd shy away from her, she didn't know if she'd be able to take it if they did that. "I don't have to be any kind of parent in your life if you don't want me to be. We can be... cordial... But I'd hope to one day be friends again. You can take all the time you need though. We will be announcing it at some point, but that doesn't need to rush you into... anything." If she could salvage anything here, anything at all, it would just be simply... Don't hate me.

"Speech"