Viper had been spending almost all of her days out of sight, out of mind. Ever since she joined Chimera on the island, it was sure other residents of the pack had notice a near absence of her if she even made an appearance to them before at all. She used to spend most of her days running, training around the shrine before she had a den specifically. Chimera dug her a den on the islands across his built bridge, but she wanted more. And he delivered, as much as he wasn't necessarily kind or sentimental. Chimera wasn't an average wolf, but Viper wasn't really either, was she? They may not have been a match made in heaven, though maybe not that anyone had noticed. But what he had given her was all she knew, and really all she needed.

After the raid on Incendium, it had Viper thinking, remembering the Raid from Fireside. How weak she had been against Jupiter. But she had trained everyday since then. She was much stronger than she was then. Physically, and honestly mentally too. She had changed so much since she last saw Jupiter. He didn't plague her mind, especially now that she had Chimera. But there were times that her thoughts had soured her mood in the thought and memories of him. She wasn't truly over him, not that she understood the feelings she was having.

She had sought out Hattori, following his scent and not wanting to call him out of his way. What was on her mind was not that important, at least through her eyes. She would have waited for the chance encounter with him, or creepily waited on the center of the islands for him to go back to his den for the night.

"Speech"

Hattori was the sort of man who kept busy but made a point of not following a predictable, orderly routine. Old shinobi habits died hard and the harder he was to keep a track of the better, in his mind. Thus he couldn't say he was overly pleased when he noticed he was being tailed, a hanging back shadow that was closely following his steps but not well enough it seemed. His ear flicked in a rare show of annoying as he came to a standstill on the beach, just on the edge where the sand met the dense jungle behind him. He was not the sort to beat around the bush, if Viper wished to speak with him all she had to do was seek him out and say what was on her mind. Not skulk in the shadows like a panther.

"Viper." He spoke, not bothering to turn around and face her. "What do you want?"

It wasn't Viper's intent to irritate Hattori, but she didn't notice anyway. Not even in his voice. Actions spoke louder than words for her, so she would have really only been offended if he had turned around and attacked her.

When Hattori addressed her, she came more forward and joined him on the beach. She only peered up at his face for a second before turning to gaze forward at the ocean and taking a seat, "I was thinking," She paused but not for long at all. She wasn't really one to beat around the bush either. Viper was quiet in nature because of what she went through prior to joining Ashen, so her words were quick to get to the point instead of lacking confidence. "When we go to fight- er, Raid," Chimera had been doing lessons with her to help her dialect at least a little better, "Do you think we will go to Fireside?" She wasn't here when Winterfell had raided them, but she was when Fireside had. So the thought had come to mind.

"Speech"

Viper sat but the Shogun remained standing, more out of habit than anything else. Whilst not the most social of wolves she was strong, capable and pulled her weight when it counted. He didn't care what she did or who she spent her time with, but there was very little Hattori didn't know about Ashen's goings-on. If spending time with Viper provided Chimera with even a bit more sense of stability then it was most likely a good thing. Not that Hattori cared for the man at all, it was by Venom's grace that he was here at all.

Instead, the Shogun focused on her question, ignoring her little slip up, as he hummed in consideration.

"Most likely." He could not say for sure but he imagined that the Empress had some interest in returning the favour to Fireside. Raids were rarely personal affairs, conquest was what wolves did best, but an eye for an eye was a natural order of things. Inevitable really, what goes around comes around. "Though I can not say when. Why?"

He glanced over his shoulder at her then, wondering why the topic lingered on her mind.

Viper didn't show any kind of emotion or really any thought as Hattori spoke. She already knew what she had in mind, but she was a difficult wolf to read in general other than 'content' or 'angry'.

When he confirmed, or at least it was a total confirmation in Viper's mind, Viper hadn't left silence between his words and hers, "I'm not supposed to go there." To this she showed a little uncomfortably in her face, a little wince as she did think about her time in Fireside before Hattori had found her. She was more grateful that he offered her this Ashen experience, grateful for this new life that he had really given her. More than even she could fathom.

"But I..." She did pause, taking a breath before continuing, "I want to fight Jupiter again. It is, why I've been training so much." After her failure in Fireside's raid against Ashen, it was her drive to make herself stronger because one day she did want to fight and conquer Jupiter. Not because of maybe embarrassment from the loss in supporting her pack, but because of the emotional turmoil that Jupiter had caused her. And while he wasn't on her mind every second of every day, being with Chimera had only heightened the need to make him pay or make him realize just how great she was or could be.

"Speech"

She was not supposed to go there? What did that mean? As an Ashen wolf it went without saying that she was not free to come and go through Fireside lands. They had practically been strangers before the raid, but naturally feelings had soured, especially from Ashen's perspective. Her looked in her direction again, staring as he tried to figure out what he shift in her expression meant. Even now he was not the best at reading people and Viper was stranger than most, her mannerisms just a little off-centre.

She soon continued, stating she wished to fight again, to best the opponent she'd fought last time. From the sound of it at least. Hattori cast his mind back and remembered the blue wolf she'd clashed with, how despite her best efforts she, like many others, had been bested. He could understand why she was casting her gaze forward to the future, looking for another chance to test her skills. The Winterfell raid had been quite uneventful, and Hattori struggled to image how such a pathetic pack managed to best Ashen at all. Those were different times he supposed, with different leadership and their members treading a different path through life. The Empire was as strong as ever, no wonder past enemies crumbled without even putting up a fight. Pathetic.

Still, Viper had made the best out of a bad situation and had trained till her skills were razor sharp. The Shogun could see it, even the way she stepped was different, her muscles strong and poised from many hours of practice.

If this was what she wanted he saw no reason to deny her.

"Then when we raid them in return, consider him to be yours. "

Viper didn't understand Hattori's want or lack for information. No one had really prodded her for answers before so she didn't feel like him not really asking for the details was even necessary.

But she felt like she was carrying this. Like maybe her entire being wasn't normal, because it wasn't. Chimera had been giving her lessons on her dialect, but she had been slowly realizing since she left Fireside that she wasn't like other wolves. She was blunt, aggressive, strong. But she wasn't wise like others her age. She wasn't like Hattori who was very reserved and maybe logical and actually younger than her. She wasn't like her mother who held a lot of wisdom in her older age. She was just, Viper, there was probably no one else that was as mentally messed up as her. At least in the ways of intellect and wisdom.

She had stayed silent for not long, but probably too long. Probably enough for Hattori to want her to go her separate way back off towards the island. Though maybe he could sense the tension in her. Either way, she was finally able to get it out, "They had me a prisoner there." They had her imprisoned for justified reasons, but Viper didn't think so. Viper just wanted to be with Jupiter, now she understood she wanted to be with Jupiter the same way she was with Chimera. And they didn't understand just how different she was from the average wolf. It may not have completely made her actions right, but in the end she believed she was only protecting herself when she trespassed into Fireside lands, and that they overreacted beyond reason.

"Speech"

"I see. " Hattori expression gave away nothing, but the fact he went onto press her for more information spoke volumes.

Hattori knew she had not been part of Ashen at the time, so what had she done to deserve such a fate? Though a little rough around the edges there was nothing egregiously unagreeable about Viper, as far as he could tell. But then again she had been quite thin when they had met, perhaps she had overstepped some boundaries in order to survive? Wolves could do foolish things when driven by hunger and he doubted Viper was an exception to this age-old rule. But then again all of that was mere speculation, he couldn't know for certain unless Viper told him.

It did make him wonder if this was why Fireside had raided them, as some sort of retaliation towards Viper? His lips pursed just so, a dark line across his face. Something about that theory did not sit right with him, how would they have known Ashen had taken her in? As far as his resources told him Fireside was not one for information gathering, did not have their feelers spread out across Boreas as Ashen did.

"I am a private man and so I will treat you with the same courtesy. Spare me the details and tell me what I need to know. " Though his delivery wasn't gentle his point was reasonable all the same. Everyone had their history, he didn't want to make her share any more than she needed to. "Tell me what happened."

Hattori was much more proper than Viper, she was well aware. And they were both quiet in their own ways. Hattori didn't speak when he thought nothing needed to be said. Viper didn't speak because she thought she would say something to hurt her. And she didn't like her immature dialect. It made her feel like she wasn't good enough, she wasn't smart, unworthy. She tried not to feel that way though. She tried to see her physical strength to see herself as worthy.

When he asked what happened, she seemed a little reluctant at first. But she didn't keep him waiting long in the pause, "I wanted to be with Jupiter." She started, maybe not an ideal quick start, but there were many details spared that were unimportant to Hattori, "He told me I trespassed. I didn't know." Her trespassing was one of the biggest law, common sense things that came with the life of a wolf, but she had honestly forgotten, or ignored that what she had done was wrong. But she honestly didn't think she was doing anything worth maiming, killing, or imprisoning her. "Jupiter wouldn't let me go. I was put in a pit, the Alpha let me go after the summer." Viper didn't understand the dimension of time, but she knew when it was hot and when it was cold, though years were beyond her, "He told me he'd only let me go if I never told anyone."

"Speech"

Jupiter was not a name the Shogun was familiar with, but the details weren't entirely important. He listened, his blinking slow and spaced out as she admitted she'd wanted to be with the man and had trespassed in pursuit of her desires. It said a lot about her level of maturity, that she'd stumbled in blind without even thinking about the consequences and look at where it had landed her. Quite literally in a pit, where she'd remained for a whole season, from the sounds of it. Hattori pursed dark lips in thought, a thoughtful glaze overtaking the blankness of his stare as he considered it all.

Other than breaking her word, Hattori did not think anything would come of this. Lighting would not strike her down for lying and Hattori would not punish her for past crimes. Her mistakes were her own and whilst completely ridiculous and emotion driven in his eyes, what was done was done. As he looked ahead he noticed the tide was coming in, slowly but surely inching its way up the beach. They did not need to move, it would not reach this far.

"So...you wish to punish him for denying you?" Hattori could not understand her goal here or what she wanted, it was a mystery to him.

Viper didn't really notice the tide as it was coming in, but honestly she wouldn't have minded if it caught up to them. She was never one to shy from dirt, or ocean water in this instance.

When Hattori asked her if she wanted to punish Jupiter, she didn't respond immediately. She had never really thought of it that way, at least to the fact of denying her. Maybe it was some of the reason, but she had never thought of that until now. After all, she didn't really know about relationships until being with Chimera, or at least what her own instincts were telling her now that she was in the middle of Chimera and the others. "I don't know." She replied, a little hesitantly, "I jus' wanted to show him... I'm... worth something." It may have been a little deeper than it was intended, and she caught on to her own emotion in her voice but didn't go back on what she said.

She stood, ready to leave Hattori to the rest of his day, but waited to see if he had anything else to say before she even spoke to excuse herself.

"Speech"

Her problems were not Hattori's to fix, nor did he think it was something Viper would be interested in regardless. If nothing, he had given her something to think about, thoughts to fill the space in moments of quiet and reflection. Hattori did not know if meeting Jupiter again would do the Samurai any good, perhaps more distance would help her heal, only time would tell.

He watched her as she got to her paws and made no move to demand she stay. As far as Hattori was concerned no woman- or man, or whatever pronoun they preferred to use- needed another's approval as proof of their worth. But such a sentiment was not the sort that could be taught through conversation, it needed to be learned and accepted naturally. Whether Viper took steps in that direction was entirely up to her.

"You are dismissed." Hattori told her, giving her the nudge she needed to be on her way.