Citadel watched her climb, considering her technique as she reached up through the branches. Pulling herself higher and higher. He heard the crack a moment before she fell. She hit the ground, and his eyes moved from her, to the tree. She hadn't even managed to get an apple…


He stepped closer to her, his nose wrinkling as he leaned over and studied her without touching. “Are you hurt?” He asked her, sounding more curious than worried. It didn't matter, right? She wasn't a person, not really. She was just a slave. Still, a part of him worried he had misread the situation. What if her being hurt got him into trouble?

She lay there in her pain for a moment trying to focus her mind. Her hip felt like a knife was stabbing into it. At his words she worked on sitting up and getting back up. That leg making her face twinge and scrunch with a hiss. But his question still needed answered and she wasn't a stupid slave. "....N-nope..." She was doing her best to hide it. Putting pressure down on the leg made her hurt more. Shit. It was probably dislocated. She moved forward testing it only to hiss at the pain again. Fuck the warlord was gonna get pissed at her. But she still hadn't gotten that damn apple. She twisted her head to look at the tree. He was gonna probably tell her to get it again. "Speech"

He narrowed his eyes at her as she spoke and struggled to her paws. Yes, she was. Was she lying to him? Far from annoyed, he was actually a little impressed. He had thought she was weak, but perhaps he needed to reevaluate that a little. He took in the new information as she looked back up at the tree. Tempting, but probably not a good idea.


“Do you lie often?” He asked, voice curious as he leaned forward and looked at the side she had fallen on. He poked the shoulder she had landed on a little curiously. He was apprenticing with Ollie, so he was starting to get some ideas of what injuries felt like. Her skin felt a little swollen beneath his paw.

He asked her if she lied often and she looked from the tree to him for a moment before her eyes dropped to the ground. Shit. Was she not supposed to tell him she was okay like she had never gotten hurt?

Her shoulder when he touched it made her hiss again. "Only when it matters.... She lifted the leg off the ground and moved to start towards the col. "I should get back before Master Basilisk thinks I'm shirking my duties... my apologies for failing young Master...." she wouldn't be going to see anyone. She'd been tending to her own self for long enough now that she could figure out how to work with this too. The pain was horrid but she'd dealt with worse.

She attempted to leave, and for the first time since he had met her, he attempted to control her by force instead of simply words. “I didn't say you could go.” He reached out one of his insanely over sized bear paws and extended his claws. He moved to tap it lightly over one of her paws, trapping it between the bars of his extendable claws. “Lying to me matters?” He asked, voice still clinically curious, as if he wasn't pinning one of her paws to the earth.


He waited until she didn't look as if she would try to leave again, and then released her. “Let me have a look. I haven't seen bruises before, I want to see what it looks like.” He said, motioning with a paw for her to turn her shoulder to him.

He pinned one of her paws to the ground and her ears pinned back as her body halted. His word causing her to start slightly. He wanted her to stay regardless of if his father would get onto her. Regardless of whether she had chores to finish. Shit. Then his question sounded and she winced a little. "Lying about things like my leg and how much pain I'm in matters sometimes.... Most masters don't want to hear me whine or complain..." Why did he care that she had lied? Even if it hadn't been a good one. Once he released her she sighed in defeat. This child was going to be the death of her. Then he told her he wanted to look and she held in the urge to tell him no that she didn't want it poked and prodded. Instead choosing to give up and turn the shoulder to him and look back towards the col. Master Basilisk was going to have her hide likely. "Speech"

Citadel was still studying her like she was particularly interesting and strange to him. In many ways, she was. He vaguely knew a little about slaves, but had never had one before. One that was placed in his family den, for that matter. “Do you have to lie to me?” He asked, still trying to puzzle it all together. He’d much rather know her truths than make stuff up. But this making stuff up might have some merit for his own use.

She finally turned the shoulder to him, and he rested a paw against her leg so he could stand up and look at the shoulder. The skin beneath her fur definitely looked agitated. “I can get a paste to help with the bruising and swelling.” He told her. He knew where Ollie kept it, too. “Come on”

"Speech"