When her eyes fluttered open, it took her a good bit of time to fully realize that she wasn't somewhere she recognized. Her head popped up with a gasp and her head started to spin from the sudden, jarring movement. Dalila rested her head back down on the ground while she panted lightly from the rush of adrenaline and panic that hit her system while she looked around at her unfamiliar surroundings. The events that got her to this point slowly began to filter back into her mind - all the blood shed and fighting and the frantic sprint to put as much distance between herself and her old home as possible. Eventually her memories caught up to when the monochromatic, magenta eyed woman had found her and she began to piece together where she was. She lifted her head again, this time more slowly and carefully, and looked over the many wounds and bites that were scattered over her body. All of them had been treated and patched up with some sort of herbs or medicines that she couldn't identify. Her head was pounding with a headache and her throat was dry, but she was alive. Somehow she had managed to make it out of that carnage and fate had put her in the path of someone that could help. A sigh of relief passed her lips and she looked out toward the sky to try and figure out how long she had been out for. She really couldn't remember what time of day it had been when she passed out and there was no real way of knowing how long it had been since then. A few hours? A day? Longer? If how thirsty she was and the growling in her stomach were any indication then it had to have been at least a day. The marbled, speckled woman carefully rolled herself onto her feet and started pulling herself up into a sitting position on her haunches, but that was about as far as she got. She sat there for a while, letting her body right itself and figure out which way was up and down. She at least could see out into the forest that surrounded the den she was in and her brows lifted when she saw the oddly pale trees that surrounded her. It was unlike anything she had seen before and it made her wonder what kind of place she had landed herself in. "Speech"

Venom wanted to be there when the woman woke up. She was summoned and waited quietly near the den. She was given plenty of time to think, she herself boasted wounds from her fight with Chimera. There was no way she was going to reward him with the girl now, perhaps she’d get to keep her for herself. Her mother always kept some kind of hand maiden beside her. Maybe Venom should take one as well.

Those thoughts swarmed her mind and were interrupted when she heard shuffling inside. Venom lifted herself from beside the entrance and looked inside. Finding the girl’s gaze almost immediately. A sickly sweet smirk played on her features as she beheld bright eyes. Maybe she was still weak from recovery, but her will to live was obvious.

”Good. You’re awake.” Venom didn’t lower her gaze or its intensity. It was alright if the girl felt uncomfortable around her. If she made her place known now while she was weak she would think twice about fighting back later. Right? ”I’ve been so eager to talk to you.” Though it was true it wasn’t because she wanted to get to know the young woman. The sooner she knew her new fate the better. By the time she was whole her mind would be resigned to her fate.

The familiar magenta gaze of the still unnamed woman that had found her in the swamp appeared in her line of sight, making her blink with surprise. She didn't look away from her very direct, pointed gaze, but her ears did fall back against her head while her head dipped a bit with an instinctive, ingrained submissive nature that was more taught than felt. She had learned early on in her life how to spot wolves that held authority over her and this woman immediately reminded her of that from just a glance. It didn't make her uncomfortable. In fact, it felt more familiar and more like home than she might want to admit. She was a little surprised to hear that the apparent leader had been waiting to speak with her, but she supposed there was some explaining she would need to do. She was quite interested to see where it was she had ended up as well. "Yes, of course," she replied as she pulled herself to her paws, not without a bit of effort, so that she could slip out of the den and more easily speak with the larger, monochrome woman. She settled back onto her haunches across from her rescuer while giving their surroundings another curious glance. It was so unlike anywhere she had ever seen before and she wasn't sure what would make a forest so unusually pale. Her blue eyes quickly refocused on the stranger in front of her though, not wanting to seem disrespectful. "I'm Dalila," she said to introduce herself with a polite dip of her head. The lady she had previously served had made sure that she was taught strict manners before she went into her service and now it felt like second nature to act in such a way with someone she didn't know. "Some wolves used to call me Vista instead - whichever you prefer." She wanted to question her surroundings badly and find out more about this place that she had more or less stumbled into, but she held her tongue. Clearly there were more important things to address first so she waited to ask her questions after the other things were settled, giving the imposing woman a curious glance. "Speech"

The girl was quick to her feet and Venom sat back to allow the girl to make herself more presentable. Venom’s rose and lilac eyes looked her over again, pleased that she returned to consciousness and seemed to have a will to live. She was obedient too. Venom smirked amusedly, But obviously gave Dalila her full attention. She wasn’t sure where the girl was from before this, or what fiends she might lure here.

”What a pleasure.” She told her sweetly. ”Dalila, Vista.” She formed both names on her lips. ”Vista for now.” She told her confidently. ”You’ve been saved by the Empress Venom Abraxas,” She gestured to herself as her forked tongue flicked. ”Where did you come from? What wounded you? Do you know where you are?” Venom offered up her barrage of questions with an intense gaze. ”Do you know what’s to happen to you?” She followed up slowly, more eager for her reaction to the question than the answer itself.

She would have been fine with either name that the imposing woman picked for her to be called by, but she did find it interesting that she landed on Vista as her chosen name. Dalila had been the name that most of the upper classes of wolves she had lived with had called her while most of the wolves she lived and fought beside in the lower classes had tended to call her Vista. The only exception had been the lady she had served - for whatever reason she had chosen to call her Vista as well. The only reason her master had ever given her was just that she liked how it sounded better than Dalila and from then on she had been Vista in the eyes of the woman she served. Venom Abraxas. She committed the name to memory - not that she really thought the woman that called herself Empress would be easy to forget either way. She caught a glimpse of the woman’s forked tongue, but it had been quick and she wondered if she had just been imagining things or if it was a trick of the light. A string of questions was thrown her way and at first she didn’t really know where to begin. Her mind worked backward in her memory as she tried to piece together her fragmented memory so that she could fully and truthfully explain her situation to the woman that had saved her. "I grew up in a pack far from here, though I’m not entirely sure how far. I just started running and I don’t know how far I ran before I got to where you found me. I was a fighter and a hunter there. The pack was split into two main groups and I was a in the lower class of the pack that did most of the working and fighting.” She didn’t enjoy calling herself part of the lower class, but it was simply a fact of her life and something that she had grown up in so it wasn’t even like it was something she had to adjust to. Her gaze drifted off as she spoke, recalling everything that happened as it flashed through her memories. "I worked my way up and was able to be a servant for one of the upper class ladies - I hunted for her and acted as her body guard… Our pack was attacked by all of the surrounding packs at once and they killed everyone. I protected her as best as I could, but…” Her eyes fell to the ground in front of her paws as her ears folded back. Was it sad to mourn the loss of someone that she was a essentially a slave to? Perhaps, but it was the only life she had ever known and her lady had been kind to her. ”After she was killed I ran to save myself… and that’s when you found me.” Her mind eventually returned to the last in Venom’s string of questions. What was going to happen to her? Her clear blue eyes lifted back to the pink and purple hues of the monochrome woman’s with a bit of uncertainty. She had no where to go now… Her home was destroyed and going back there now would most certainly mean her death. Would she be any better off on her own? She didn’t know what life was like without the instruction and structure of her pack and the thought of striking her own path in the world sounded terrifying. Venom had called herself an Empress so she surely had to be the leader of this pack that she had been brought to. She most certainly reminded her of the highest tier of wolves that she had lived with if nothing else so it only made sense. ”I… I don’t know,” she answered honestly before quickly adding, ”If… If you’ll have me… I could serve you. It’s the least I could do for you saving my life.” "Speech"

Vista was going to go way back, though Venom guessed that she had indeed asked for her life story. What with the thousand questions she’d lobbed atop of her. She seemed honest, and quite thorough as she told Venom everything that she wanted to hear. She couldn’t know that, right? Venom wanted someone useful, though she’d originally intended to find an almost apology gift for her brother, she now had no brother to give her to.

All would be revealed as time went on, and her honestly and forthrite story alluded to her upbringing as a servant of course. Maybe one that had worked her way up, but not some noble. Venom didn’t want to get too excited but she seemed like a worthwhile addition. Ambition, but keenly aware of her place. Even as she answered the very last, the trickiest question, she forged ahead.

”Excellent.”

Venom replied one word to the girl’s story, feeling no need to show her any sympathy. The girl seemed relatively unphased, besides her injury, for what she had endured. The young Empress couldn’t have asked for a better candidate to serve under her. There seemed to be little reason to place her in a slave like rank if there was any amount of ambition within her, Venom wondered what she’d turn into with a soldier rank.

”You can work your way up if you wish, but I’m enlisting you as a soldier.”

She was a bit nervous to hear the response Venom would give her to her offer. In her own mind, she didn’t feel like she was worth having. After all, she had failed in her duties and failed to protect her master. Now she was lost to the wind and injured - surely she wasn’t someone that Venom would want. However, it seemed like she was wrong or at maybe Venom saw the story from a different angle than she had. When she accepted her offer and informed her that she would be placed in the rank of a soldier. She had no frame of reference yet for where that put her in the ranking of the pack, but she was just grateful to have a place at all. She smiled softly and gave a grateful dip of her head to the Empress, her ears folded back submissively. “Thank you… I won’t let you down.” And she meant that. She wouldn’t fail again. Life had given her a second chance and she wasn’t going to throw that chance away. "Speech"