The journey back to the Armada had been a long and painful one. Waiting while the healers looked her over had left him pacing until he was shooed away to wash up. Once he was allowed back into the den, he seated himself on the ground, and waited for her to wake. Pulling her off the mountain had left him feeling responsible for her, and she was a guest within the Armada. One he did not know. Once she awoke, he would have questions for her. Until then, all he could do was wait.

He didn’t realise he was nodding off as he did so until his head tapped the floor. He shook it with a frown, and looked about himself, seeing if anything had changed. Finding the place as he had left it, he started to relax again.


"Speech"

Isa slept and she slept hard. Not once during their trip to... wherever this was... did she wake. The woman imagined that whatever healer had seen to her had spoon fed her some sort of pain relieving herbs and possibly a sedative. That was fine and dandy with Isa. She needed it. Her body had sustained a great deal of damage in her fall. The bear claw marks on her shoulder were the least of her worries. There was no denying that her leg had been broken. She still grimaced when moving the leg that she'd been dangling from. A broken rib or two, perhaps? Definitely lots of abrasions and bruises. She was a mess, but she was alive.

Eventually, Isa woke, brilliant blue eyes focusing on a large figure before her. His head was lowered as though he was fighting sleep. The moment that his nose touched ground, his head shot up again and he looked around the space almost suspiciously. The barest of grins tugged at the fae's maw. Wasn't this a place that he knew? Why should he be unsure of himself here?

The snow and ice woman raised her head gingerly from the fur upon which she lay, grimacing a bit as she felt just how much her body had been battered. "You don't have to be afraid of me," she spoke in soft tones, accented as though she'd come from a place far, far away. And she had. "I'm in no position to take you on, though I could if I wanted to, mind you." A little bit of humor to try and lighten the mood. "Thank you, by the way." She remembered him. He was her savior. The woman bowed her head gracefully in his direction. "I am Isa Almiraj and I am in your debt."

"Isa"

The Warlord snapped his head to his injured guest as she spoke. Ah, sleeping beauty was awake at last. His eyes narrowed as she spoke. The first words out of her mouth seemed to him to be a challenge. “Right. I bet you could, ass kicker” He agreed, the tone of his voice making it clear he strongly disagreed - even if she wasn’t half dead in the heart of his pack.

“Yes.” He agreed, getting to his paws, and padding over to her. “You are. I expended a lot of resource and time getting you off that mountain, and your recovery is going to be a slow one. One that will take up even more of my healers supplies and time. But, not to worry. I know how you can pay off your debt.” he gave her a smile with little warmth. “I'm Sirius Fatalis. It’s good to meet you, Isa Almiraj, and welcome to the Armada. You’re going to be spending a lot of time here.”


"Speech"

The man rose and towered over her, offering little in the way of friendliness or reassurance. Well, if he was going to be like that... Injured or no, Isa wasn't one to back down easily. She'd lived long enough and had gone through too much shit to be cowed, no matter her opponents size. Though it pained her, Isa pushed her body to a seated position, then to a standing one. She felt as though she might pass out from the pain, but she was a stubborn one, and so she remained standing, her blue gaze burning into the equally blue gaze of the giant dire.

His words held threats and Isa's gaze narrowed slightly. "Supplies that any good healer can easily replenish," she pointed out. "And you're right, I will be spending a lot of time here as I am an honorable woman. In my culture, we repay our debts." Isa was considered high born, her parents holding high positions within their pack. Honor and duty were hammered into her from an early age. She would repay her debt whether he liked it or not.

"So, Sirius Fatalis," Isa began. "Since I am to apparently be such a burden to you, what do you wish of such a broken, invalid?" As if proving her point, the fae's hind legs gave out and she sat down hard, her brow furrowing to denote her pained state, but she made no peep otherwise.

"Isa"

The Warlord hid a smile as the woman pulled herself from her bed to stand on her own four paws. She looked like a stiff breeze would knock her out. But if she wanted to act like a tough girl, so be it. He would give her no quarter. “ Good, you know your place then” He said at her easy agreement. Not that she had a snowball chance in hell of walking out of the packlands in her current state.

“You will be ranked as a slave in the Armada. You’ll start from the bottom up, and we’ll see soon enough if you’re all talk” He told her, voice dry. When her legs gave way and she landed on her rump, a touch of humour appeared behind his eyes. He reached forward and gave her shoulders a condescending pat. “Rest, Isa. my littlest pup could knock you over right now. Don’t worry, you wont start paying off your debt until you can walk on your own power. “ Until then, her debt would only grow.

"Speech"

A slave. It was almost comical. A label only meant something if you acknowledged it, which Isa would not. Slave, Queen, Empress of the Universe, it was all one and the same. She had a debt to repay regardless of what the man chose to call her.

As her hindquarters met the ground once more, the man seemed to grin. He patted her back and stated that he would allow her to heal before she began repaying her debt. "How gracious of you," she purred with a smile, but her gaze stared icy daggers at him. Sirius rubbed her the wrong way almost instantly and she seemed to be doing the same to him. Good. If she had to suffer his presence, she would make sure that he suffered hers.

"Children?" The lady's brows lifted in surprise. "Just goes to prove that there's someone waiting out there for everyone, no matter their disposition." Another sweet smile curled up the woman's maw. "Now, if you would be so kind, my lord," the last two words were honeyed venom, "I should rest so that I may better serve you when the time comes." Was she dismissing him? Yeah, she was.

"Isa"

“Watch it” he growled, any hint of humour flooding from his expression. He hesitated, but she didn’t deserve to know about his Zee. so his sudden anger could simply be a mystery to her. “Mind your manners, slave” He said instead. Feeling the slow burn of anger crawl through his veins. He couldn’t say why exactly, but the mere mention of his wife from the woman's mouth left him off kilter. He pushed aside the pain the anger covered, and he took a step back from her. Mostly to take himself away from the temptation of smacking her.

Dammit why did she manage to irritate him so easily? He would have to find the worst jobs possible for her the moment she was on her paws. He almost regretted promising her time to rest up. It might have been interesting to see her trying to drag herself up to First Light Point in her current condition. “I’ll let you be then, the sooner you heal, the sooner you won't be a total waste of space.” He growled, before turning and - definitely not fleeing - left the den

-exit unless stopped-

"Speech"