Walk | Talk | Think
Surely she had surprised him. It was likely the last thing that had crossed his mind when she had brought up his own. Tahlia was quiet, watchful, waiting as he shifted to lift himself a little from his side enough to raise his head and look at her more fully as he spoke. With her limited knowledge regarding Bane and his past, or whatever previous pack it was that his strange mark, as well as the ones that marked both Nako and Anais, she had always supposed it to be some ritualistic thing that had brought it about, some right of passage that each would have had to meet in order to receive it. It surprised her greatly when his answer was simply that Anais had wanted it.
Her dark golden eyes blinked, a slight surprise softening her look of hardened anticipation for an answer she would not have liked. It had not crossed her mind that Anais had actually wanted the marking, that she had gone out of her way to receive it secretly away from her mother. Though she understood why. If she had asked, Tahlia would have refused, and now without having been offered the chance to decline her daughter's request she was irrevocably scarred for it. With such a strong aversion to them, it was hard for Tahlia to feel okay with it. She and her daughter were not the rough and tumble men of the family, who were expected to fight and challenge each other and earn a scrape or two along the way. Women of her upbringing were supposed to keep up a presentable appearance, to behave with a certain amount of dignity and refinement, a different set of codes. But Anais seemed just as headstrong as her father and siblings. How was Tahlia ever going to help set up her future if she was always too busy running off and doing her own thing?
Though a part of her still placed some of the blame on her mate - he should have said something to her, despite everything that separated them at the time - she reminded herself again that it was over and done with. Nothing she could say or do or wish for would change the fact that her beautiful daughter was now scarred with the "mark of Talutah" just as her father and brother were. She only hoped whatever future prospects she set up for her would not be hindered because of it.
He placed his paw against her shoulder, reached forward to touch her nose with his as he made a pleading sort of whine, obviously trying to diffuse the tension the topic had stirred up in her. She sighed, relenting, and lifted her head off the ground to press her cheek to his, forcing the thoughts aside. "I worry about her," she stated quietly by way of an explanation for her sudden curiosity on the matter. "She is so unlike me, I hardly know how to react to her at times." She snuggled closer, hoping to comfort any worry that she had brought about in Bane. "I want the best for her. I just fear she might not get there," she added, stopping herself from finishing the thought proper. Without my help.
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