It didn't take a genius to realize the girl was fighting with some sort of inner turmoil. She snapped back at him that her words meant nothing to him, and she was right. He didn't give a shit about her problems. She meant nothing to him, just some curious little girl who had stumbled upon him and tried to act tough. He briefly pondered killing her, realizing how disappointingly easy it would be. She was right up on him, making no efforts to defend herself. One push and she'd be on the ground, belly up. Then one accurate strike of his teeth and her throat would burst in his jaws. Just roll her off into the river and it would all be over for her. She'd just be a hazy memory and she'd be forgotten by the world. Just another lifeless body floating out to the ocean.

She did nothing to fight back against him when he shoved her back, and instead of attacking him again, she took a shaky breath and seemed to calm herself down a bit. Sitka gave a low harrumph of disappointment. There went the fire too. She had so much anger in her, but she did nothing with it. She had heart, but she kept it locked up. What a waste. She glared at him like an obstinate child and asked what he expected from her. "If that's how you respond to someone trying to attack you, then I'm shocked you're still alive," he muttered. "After that display, I expect nothing out of you. Now if you'll excuse me..."

Sitka stepped past the seething girl, disregarding her while he disengaged and began to wander back off through the woods along the river. He had to find that armor smith to fix his armor before something else decided to try and kill him. He didn't even look back at the girl to see if she was following him or if she'd gone off on her own too. She had some stuff to sort out, it seemed. She was wild, unpredictable. Maybe it would have been a mercy to just kill her, but he didn't feel like euthanizing a mentally ill wolf today. She could be someone else's problem now. Thank the gods he hadn't even gotten her name. All the more reason to disassociate himself.

"Sitka"

She had thought of herself as a survivor. She had gotten free of the man that had ruined her life. She had come to Boreas, and woven a story that had won over the Fireside Alpha. She had met Alastor, who had taught her how to hunt and shown her a hint of kindness. She felt she was getting by, getting better. Sitka opened her up with his shoves and sharp tongue and showed her just how broken she really was.

She rocked back on her hunches as he cut her again with his tongue and stepped away. Walking away from her, as though prepared to wash his hands of her. She seethed, but she also knew she had embarrassed herself enough. She had wanted to… to what, exactly? To prove herself by shoving herself in front of danger and seeing what happened. She had been kidding herself, if Sitka had truly wanted to hurt her, there would have been nothing she could do to stop him.

She let her rump fall slowly onto the soft grass, and watch the white wolf walk away. Feeling the isolation and loneliness of her life as yet another stranger passed her by. Her heart ached, ached for something she knew she would never find.

"Speech"