Hana was home, and Azure was furious. He had promised for her sake that he'd spend the next few days nearby, offering her all the comfort and simple pleasures of life that she could ask for in her recovery from captivity, and then when the time was right he could head off in search of the retribution she deserved. It would be a long few days. The very fact that this had been allowed to happen to his mate, under his nose was enough to bring his fury to a boil, but knowing it had been that filthy bitch of a pirate who had done it... Azure could hardly tolerate the calm before the storm. Azure ensured Hana was comfortable back at home, reuniting with her children and resting from the long journey, and made for the northern warren of the Col. The Warlord and his wife were out on some trip east, leaving their den vacant for the time being, and Az intended to make use of it for the privacy it's distance provided. He climbed the ramp with urgency, pausing at the top only to throw back his head and loose a brief but powerful call to his servant. She would come, and she would come now. Shouldering past the alpha's doorway, he made his way into their common area and began to pace, awaiting Lyre's arrival. "Speech"

Lyre's presence within the pack was barely known. She was quiet, moved about mostly unseen, and did what she believed needed to be done. Here and there she would receive orders from her king or his mate, but for the most part, the striped fae kept herself busy of her own accord. The woman hunted here and there. She'd crafted planters which she then filled with useful plants. She'd healed a member of the pack after he'd burnt himself. She'd brewed a rejuvenating potion to get the young and elderly through the cold months of winter. Lyre was quiet, but she was pulling her weight.

The call from Azure came and the fae's dark ears shifted forward. As she had been tending to her planters, the woman brushed the dirt from her paws and hastily made her way into the mountain. Her nose twitched, following the dire brute's scent until she ended up at the chambers of the other alpha, Azure's father. The scents of other wolves were stale, only the scent of her king being rich and new, so Lyre stepped within the stone chambers.

"Yes, my king?" Lyre met the man's gaze as he liked, but dropped her own a moment later to bow her head to the man that was her master. She knew of the former absence of his mate and knew that the woman had returned, but Lyre didn't know the details, nor would she ask. It wasn't her place to do so. She had made sure that Azure's chambers were clean and prepared for the woman's return and that was as far as her involvement went.

Within her chest, the black and brown woman's heart thudded a little harder. She'd seen the look on Azure's face. It was impossible to tell what he might want with her, especially here, away from the rest of the pack in secluded chambers. Whatever he did wish of her though, she would supply. She stood. She waited.

"Lyre"

Each second felt like minutes as he awaited the arrival of his servant, and by the time she did pass the threshold of the den Azure's fury was already erupting. He spun to face her as she entered, tracking her movements with a critical gaze as she bowed before him. "It took you long enough." He hissed, grasping desperately to the only readily apparent flaw that he could subjectively punish. Lyre was too good a servant, her experience left little to be desired and therefore left nothing for Azure to nitpick. He knew she had hurried at his call, but chose to ignore it for the ease it allowed him to lash out. "My mate is home, she was kidnapped." The words were like poison on his tongue, an admittance Azure never thought he'd ever be forced to speak aloud. The very fact that someone had dared to strike out against him like this... he had not been firm enough with Sparrow, had not staked his claim well enough. "I need you to do something. It requires subtlety and discretion. No one can know I commanded it of you, not my father, not my mate, no one. It can not come back to me, and if you are discovered for it, you will swear under pain of death that it was your idea and your idea alone. Can you do that?" Eyeing his servant firmly, he waited for confirmation from her own maw. Relying on another individual was not something he was used to doing, but Lyre had thus far proven herself to be as trustworthy and obedient as one could expect in a slave. "Speech"

Azure snapped at her and the woman's only reaction was the natural shifting of ears to shield them from the sound of his displeasure. She didn't move, nor shrink away from him, however. It would only rouse his ire further. Though she would accept whatever task, reward or punishment he deemed worthy of her, Lyre wouldn't go looking for trouble. Slave she may be, the woman still had a sense of self-preservation.

Once more her king began to speak and Lyre listened intently. His mate had been acquired after being kidnapped. The striped fae nodded, showing him that she was paying attention to his words. Her brow furrowed in concern. Though she didn't know Hanako well, she hoped that the woman was okay and hadn't been injured or abused during her capture.

Azure's next words brought olive colored eyes blinking and she nodded again, those viridian pools locked on her master's face. He had a task for her. One that, if she failed, she would take the complete fall for. Lyre's nod was firm this time. "What would you have of me, my king?" Dark ears shifted forward as she gave the teal marked man her full attention. She was curious as to what he would ask of her. It didn't matter what the task was, she would carry it out.

"Lyre"

Azure did not expect Lyre to disagree, to argue with him or to deny that she was capable of any task he set upon her. Her nod and confirmation was exactly what he had anticipated from her and yet, Az struggled to get the words themselves out. He thought he had prepared himself for what he had to command of her, but imagining stating it aloud was much harder than it had been shouting it silently in his mind. He sighed, the bristled fur along his spine smoothing as his anger dissolved into disappointment. Collecting his legs beneath him he sat, and gestured for Lyre to do the same. "I... can't rule out.. that she wanted to be apart from me." Azure admitted, the iron all but faded from his tone. Tearing his gaze from his servant, he focused intently upon the wall to his side. Eyeing each crack in the stone, tracing the shapes, attempting in some way to disconnect from the conversation he was forcing himself to have. "I've heard that some sorts of herbs can have negative side effects if you let your body grow dependent on them and then stop them suddenly. That they can make you increasingly uncomfortable the longer you are off them, the longer you are away from your fix." Hana was a diplomat in rank, and while Sirius would surely allow her a period of rest after her capture, one day she would roam again. It was a certainty, something Azure could not argue or manipulate. How long she would leave and how far she would go, however, were things he intended to have a very direct hand in deciding. "I can't lose her, Lyre, do you understand?" "Speech"

Lyre watched as Azure fought for the words that would get his point across. He seemed embarrassed to be asking her for this and, once his request was out in the open, she understood why. Her king had doubts that his mate had been stolen at all. The servant fae didn't know her master's woman enough to make such a mental judgement. Hanako was aloof and they had little interaction. That was fine with Lyre. She wished to serve Azure and no other, but serving his family was what he wished, so the striped woman would do so.

Once he'd finished asking but not asking for her cooperation, the earth and shadow fae nodded once. "I can begin making her a nightly tea, my king." Once Hanako became addicted to the substances within the tea, she would become rather ill once she didn't have it. That didn't mean that she would need to take the tea forever. "Should the time come when you'd rather she didn't take it, simply let me know and I'll wean her off of it." Lyre was fairly certain that she could mask the flavor so changes wouldn't be noticed.

So Lyre never spoke out of turn. She never offered her own opinion on things, nor did she really even speak without being spoken to first. In this case, she decided to speak. "I am... sorry, my king, that this has happened. I'm glad that the lady is back with you." Ears slicked back against her skull once more and Lyre bowed her head, going silent. Already she was crafting a brew within her mind that would do exactly what Azure intended for it to do.

"Lyre"

The anticipated response was given but still, Azure's nod was appreciative. The master and servant did not have years of familiarity between them nor the sort of friendship one might need to undergo a task like what he had requested of her without question or concern. Lyre was a worthy acquisition, one he knew he would need to hold close to especially in the coming storm. "It won't harm her?" The question was posed with only a trace of concern, Azure trusted that his slave would not take this opportunity to make his mate sick or disabled, but that didn't mean there would not be noticeable or painful unwanted side effects. Side effects that might make her seek out another healer, risking their secrecy.

Azure's brow raised as the slave spoke to him out of turn, offering her condolences on the situation and expressing being glad that Hana had returned. He watched as she pinned her ears - expecting punishment? - and bowed her head, falling silent once more. "So am I, on both counts." It was easy enough to let the transgression go, after all, Azure very much preferred being reminded of who his underlings were as individuals. It was not nearly as fulfilling to command, discipline, or harm a wolf that might as well be a sentient tool.

"What would you have done, if it were you that had been captured by the pirate scum?" He posed after the silence had been prolonged.

"Speech"