Crazy. The insults just kept stacking up.

"Me! What's wrong with you!" What kind of Queen stole wolves and separated families and ruined lives?! But he held his tongue, tired from the exertion of trying to escape after they'd first arrived and the ensuing panic attack. All of his bravery had been spent in that howl, that warning to his mother to stay as far away from this accursed land as possible. His ears folded back and his tail tucked up between his hind legs as he withdrew from her venomous words, her promise that if he ran she would hunt him and his mother down. And he took that threat quite literally - perhaps this land was still a place of cannibals after all.

Only when she turned her back did he dare to lift his lips in a silent snarl, seething at the predicament he was in. He bared his teeth at her retreating form, wishing he could fight back against her, knowing that it would be pointless. Everlast had never taught him how to fight, not properly anyways, and what little Zeus had tried to teach him before he vanished from their lives had already been forgotten. Demi-god or not, a wolf needed training to know how to fight.

Nike very nearly sat down on the spot, to wait there for the next three weeks in protest of her terrible treatment of him until he was allowed to leave. He would not put Everlast in danger by running, but that didn't mean he had to listen to what Aster told him to do! But it wasn't long before he felt the rumble of his stomach remind him of the hunger that had sent him out looking for Everlast's berries that morning. He lowered his head, tired and feeling exposed out here in the open. Maybe a den and a meal wouldn't be the worst thing to come of all this.

And then an idea occurred to him - he could horde as much meat as possible during his stay, letting some spoil and go to waste to spite Aster, but saving some to take back to his mother when this was all over. His tail loosened from his belly now that he was alone, and began to wave back and forth at his terrible idea. He would repay her for this. "I'll show you," he whispered heatedly under his breath, turning and trotting off in the direction she'd indicated.