There is a punishment that Keahi needs to attended to and today is just the day to see it through. She had waited for an overcast day so that Kite would be able to work without needing a blindfold. With the clouds overhead and the great canopy of the forest defusing what sunlight there is, it makes a perfect time for the girl’s punishment. In the forest, close to where Halo’s beehives are, the red woman has set out wood and a fur with metal nails and some tools.

For what she had broken, Kite will have to replace it.

Keahi had already talked with the healer and received instructions on how to construct a beehive and, once Kite has made it, Halo had eagerly agreed to help the girl transfer a colony to it. Being young, she is ready for the Fatalis girl to give her some pushback but the red woman is ready to take her on. There is a fine line between making sure the punishment is just and being too strict which the tropical woman is ready to dance on.

Checking over the supplies once more, she nods to herself before tipping her head back to sing a call for Kite. It is not a request and, if she ignores it, Keahi is ready to track her down and drag her here by her ear… metaphorically of course. Once the call is done, she sits on the ground and waits for the girl to appear, mentally ticking off the minutes between her call and when she appears.


"Keahi Mogotsi"

She twitched with the urge to itch the healing bumps left behind by the bees, but controlled the impulse with some effort. She was feeling grumpier than usual, her heist had failed spectacularly. She was in trouble, and she had failed to score some honey. It was not her finest moment.

She twitched an ear to the sky as a voice called out to her. She was surprised to hear Keahi. The diplomat didn’t seek her out often, and her voice sounded very… commanding. She was more intrigued than anything else as she followed Lioness out to the woods. She knew she was there when she scented the other wolf. She smelled of flowers and dried bear. She slowed her steps, walking cautiously until her nose bumped into the other wolf. She had arrived. She took a seat, and looked up in the general direction of the red wolf. “You called for me?” The Princess asked primly.


"Speech"

It does not take long for Kite and her feline companion to appear and she waits until the girl is seated before she begins. Tone gentle, Keahi says, “Hello Kynaite. You can take your blindfold off, it is dim here.” Waiting for the girl to remove the blind fold, the red woman offers her a smile when she spies her crystalized eyes. Nodding, she straightens up as she begins to explain, “So, I hear that you tried to raid one of Halo’s beehives. Your father wishes me to punish you for breaking one of her hives and almost destroying her hard work.”

Keahi keeps her voice calm and there is a small hint of humor as she knows how the heist had played out. Stings where her only reward and now comes the difficult part. The red woman continues, “So it has fallen to me to decide what punishment you deserve and I have thought of just the thing.” A red leg lifts and gestures at the items spread around the area as she explains, “You are going to build a new beehive to replace the one you broke.”

Letting her paw fall back to the earth, Keahi waits to hear any and all protests that the young lady may have. Once she has voiced some of her complaints, the red woman lifts a paw to silence any further words and simply says, “This is what you do when you hurt someone else.” Giving the girl a pointed look, she tries to convey just how upset Halo had been when the beehive had broken. Sure, it is an item and not the wolf herself but the healer had put a lot of time and effort into cultivating her bees. The least Kite can do is replace the structure she had broken.


"Keahi Mogotsi"

She grimaced up at the older wolf. “It doesn't work quite like that. Unless it's night time, or we are in the caves, there's always sunlight, and where there's sunlight there's a glare. The gems in my eyes catch that light and reflect it back at me. What's dim to you is tenfold for me.” She didn’t like explaining her disability. Every time she did so, she could almost swear she could hear an echo of Azure’s words in her skull. Demeaning her. It set her on edge immediately, and her expression was sulky as she looked in Keahi’s general direction.

This was off to a bad start, and Kite felt like it was only going worse. Her day derailed and Keahi went on to explain how her father had charged Keahi with punishing her. “I didn’t even hurt it!” She protested angrily. Actually, she hadn’t stuck around long enough to realise she had damaged one of the hives. She thought she’d only dislodged and moved it. “This isn’t fair” the feisty girl growled. She wasn’t afraid of Azure, who broke her toes and shoved her on a daily basis. He was a King . Keahi was just a diplomat. Who did she think she was? “I wouldn’t have hurt the hive if I could see. I didn’t even realise I had! Everyone acts like it's all my fault that I have to wear a blindfold all the time. Oh, it's dim Kyanite, just take it off! Taking it off hurts Keahi!”

"Speech"

Keahi watches Kite as she explains about her disability and gives a thoughtful nod to herself. Truthfully, she thought that might be the case and had some foresight to prepare something if the light was too much for the young girl. As she explains about the punishment, she is ready for the girl to give her some push back and she gets it. Kite growls about how unfair it is and continues on her thiarid but the red woman is no longer in front of her.

Quietly, she flits to four points around and unravels her surprise for the impulsive girl. Pulling a long length of cord on their right, a fur that has had a wooden frame attached falls from the tree line, hanging from the lowest limb of the tree all the way to the ground. Next, she goes to a spot behind them and pulls another cord and the same thing happens. She repeats the process twice more with similar results. Finally, she grabs a long piece of cloth and drags it from one side of the makeshift box to the other.

With her work complete, the pair now stand in an almost pitch-black area and Keahi has to feel her way to where she has stashed a small lantern. While she works, she does not speak and swiftly, pulls the lantern out. She places it near where Kite will be working and covers the soft light with a thin layer of cloth. Yes, she had thought ahead but she had wanted to know how Kyanite would react. Now, standing near the wood that the girl will using, she firmly says, “Remove your blindfold Kite.”

Her tone leaves no room for argument and she waits until the girl has it off and can take in the area. Looking at the girl, Keahi says, “I am sorry that your eyesight is painful. However, that does not excuse your behavior. You may not have meant to break the beehive but you were trying to steal honey. Now, you need to accept that it happened, even though you did not mean it to, and fix your mistake. You hurt Halo’s feelings and you ruined part of something that is very special to her. It is time to make amends.”

There is steel in her eyes as she looks at the crystalized eyes of the girl. She keeps her tone even and firm as she speaks. Kite had made a mistake and those are a part of life. However, she needs to learn to own up to what happened and try to apologize it. If she wants to get anywhere in life, she needs to accept that things happen and find a way to move on. Keahi is not here to belittle or make fun of the girl or her disability but she does expect her to do the task laid out before her.


"Keahi Mogotsi"

Kite didn’t realise the woman wasn’t in front of her until she heard the first ‘woosh’ she froze, head tilted as she tried to understand what was happening around her. It was Lioness that soothed her, a soft throaty noise, and a pat to the paw to tell Kite they weren’t under attack. Which left her with nothing to fret about except for a perfectly good tirade going unheard.

Once again, Keahi asked her to remove her blindfold. This time, Lioness assured her it's safe, and she does so. Pulling the black material up until it’s bunched around her ears. Leaving her to stare at the space around her in wonder. “...How” She started to ask, but Keahi was already speaking. Her words were firm and decisive. She had already made her decision. Kite was in the wrong, and she would be punished and forced to make amends for it.

There was a mulish tilt of her chin as she looked at Keahi. Able now to look the other wolf in the eyes, and realising she had been looking too high. Keahi wasn’t as tall as she remembered. But then, she didn’t see many wolves these days. She interacted with her packmates outside of caves more often than not, and her own growth spurt still caught her by surprise. She looked down at Keahi now, instead of into the space above her. She was bigger than this wolf… and Azure taught her that that mattered. Might made right. That could almost be that brutes motto. All her life, Kite was smaller, weaker, and less able then her opponents. It was probably an awful time for her to draw a line in the sand. Keahi wasn’t bullying her, but she was still pushing her. “Make me.” She said, meeting Keahi’s eyes with her own very strange crystal gaze.


"Speech"

This whole punishment is almost worth the look of wonder on the young Kynaite’s face as she examines the now darkened area around them. As she speaks about why she is here and why Kite is here the red woman notices the way she is being sized up. Keahi remains calm and, when the girl challenges her, the tropical born woman actually laughs. Meeting Kite’s crystal gaze, her own ocean blues dance with joy, she says, “You have spirit Kite and stubborn streak longer than my leg. You are smart and I understand why you are upset about this. However, I want to consider two things”

She keeps her gaze level with the girl as she explains, “One; you decide that you don’t want to do this project, I force you too and then explain to your father that you were too stubborn to do it on your own which means he will be disappointed in your antics. Two; you admit this is a battle you cannot win, submit to the punishment and learn some fun things today. Remember that your father gave me the task of figuring out a punishment.” She knows that Kynaite is smart but Keahi also knows that Azure has been mean to the girl. This is only meant to correct what was broken and is by no means a judgement of her character. But will Kite understand that?


"Keahi Mogotsi"

Keahi’s laughter surprised her. So different to Azure, who took any push as a direct and immediate challenge. She was already braced for it, and she found herself squinting suspiciously at the older wolf. “Are you… complimenting me?” She asked, her voice leaking all the confusion she felt into the space between them. Maybe Keahi taking leadership over her didn’t have to be the challenge she thought it was. It hurt to give so much as an inch, but Keahi wasn’t responding at all how she thought she would. Even her own father would have lost his temper by now.

There was also the strange tent to consider. Keahi had gone out of ehr way to work around her disability. How many wolves could she say had done that? Grudgingly, she glared at Keahi. “How do I make a stupid Beehive?” She said in place of an apology. A concession, if one could call it that.


"Speech"

The laughter that bubbles from the tropical wolf seems to confuse the stubborn girl and she enjoys it… for a moment. However, when Kite speaks, her words send a jolt of pain through the red woman’s heart at the tone of sheer puzzlement in Kite’s from receiving a compliment. Keahi’s laughter dies away and she lifts a brow in silent question, gently saying, “I am complimenting you Kyanite. You are very smart and an extremely hard worker. Anyone who doesn’t see that in you isn’t trying to understand who you are. Heck, I bet you will be the Alpha one day.”

A genuine smile is on the woman’s lips as she speaks, knowing that Kite is tenacious and, if she wished to be the Warlord one day, she would. Begrudgingly, Kite gives in to the punishment and Keahi offers her another, this time gentle, laugh. Giving a nod, the woman says, “Well, first we need to construct the frame. These boards here,” a paw gestures at thirty-six thick wooden boards, “are precut to the specifications that Halo wished. You will be making boxes that can stack on top of each other. I will guide you on how to make them but you must do all the work.”

The hope is that the young Kite will get a better appreciation of all that goes into setting up a hive so that she will be more careful around them in the future. With a smile, Keahi adds, “You know, once you know how to make these, you could have your very own hive and all the honey you want.” Brows lift in amusement at the thought of Kite having free access to honey.


"Keahi Mogotsi"

Kyanite twitched a little at that. It was a small, secret desire. One she did not know if it would ever come to fruition. But wouldn’t that be the ultimate form of revenge? To usurp Azure one day from his throne? She hoped nothing was displayed on her face. The darkness in the little space Keahi had erected for them likely helped with that.

“Alright” Kite said, as Keahi pointed out the frame to her. She grabbed one of them, and stuck her tongue out of the corner of her muzzle in concentration as she brought another of the boards together. She got to work connecting them. “I don’t think I want honey anymore” She muttered under her breath.


"Speech"

Keahi settles in near the pile of wood, watching Kite take a few of the boards and begin construction. Theses boards have been precut and notched so that they can easily fit together. It will save on the nails and hammering that will come later. Eyes watch the girl’s progress, chuckling softly at the way she sticks out her tongue in concentration. At Kite’s words about not wanting honey anymore, the red wolf tilts her head and says, “But there are so many flavors to try! Did you know that the flavor of the honey depends on what flowers the bees are pollenating? I have heard that the best honey in the world is made by bees that pollenate fireweed.” Would she be interested in these facts? Keahi was amazed by all the information that Halo had to share on bees and she hopes to impart some of that wisdom to the young Kite.

"Keahi Mogotsi"

Kite scrunched her nose up as Keahi spoke. She had agreed to do this work, let Keahi manoeuvre her into agreeing. Mostly because the other wolf had caught her by surprise. But it was still in her nature to be contrary especially when she was doing something she didn’t want to be doing. It was almost like she couldn’t help herself.

“They probably all taste the same anyway” she said, as she pushed another board into place. That was the last one, she gave it a nudge with her paw, and the box seemed to hold together okay. “So, I can give this to Halo and then everythings okay?” She wanted to clarify. There wouldn’t be… more punishments on this later?


"Speech"