She was distraught, she knew Pine was angry, that she wanted her pound of flesh for her member, but she never expected something like this. Her paws looked so bad, and her face… her face maybe Zelda could have understood, could have maybe looked past to some degree, or maybe even just somehow draining her, but all three seemed incredibly extreme. She did her best to mend the flesh as best she could. Her ears pinned against her head, not knowing her apologies might not have been understood, but she knew she could have changed things. All of this felt an awful lot like her fault. If she hadn’t blindly trusted Diveen when they had took her, and pursued it, if she hadn’t taken so long to get the answers, been more firm with Pine perhaps that she understood that this wasn’t better. Her body shook, placing a little more aloe on before placing some Old man’s beard lichen on it to keep it from getting infected.

Starfall spoke then, but she couldn’t bring herself to wretch her eyes from the soft rise and fall of the female’s sides and chest, convinced that at any moment it could be her last. Pine’s words rung in her ears, that too much blood had been shed in Iromar, but something told Zelda that her ending that she would hate to shed more didn’t seem entirely true… She had thought Pine a kind and just wolfess, she wanted to take her home from Aranak, a murderer, a heartless wolf who didn’t care about even his own family, who made excuses for killing a child. Pine was still better, she knew that, but this… this wasn’t a good start to her leadership. Perhaps Iromar was simply cursed to have rulers with a taste for blood... This wasn’t a good way to use her newfound power gained as an alpha. Zelda would be sure to mention it… she wouldn’t take such disregard of her warning, her words, laying down. She had high hopes for Pine, that she would be everything and more that Iromar needed to get a fresh lease on life, especially with Zelda’s cousin at her side. Now Zelda just felt empty.

Her mother had come then, relieving her mostly, more calm and gentle. Her warning and slight scolding received a numb, silent response where she just looked over the female and what had been done. Her mind could only go to how she had asked Pine to show mercy… and if this was her opinion of mercy she wasn’t sure about anything that she knew about the moor wolfess anymore. Pine was both right and wrong about one thing, there was never only one outcome, but this outcome was worse than that that Zelda could have imagined. Her mother’s words only brought mild relief. Starfall was right in some ways. His anger justified and surely only more fueled by the bond he was forced to have with the silver and black wolfess. His last words though cut Zelda like a warm knife through butter.

”Th-they…. Enjoyed it?” She stammered meekly tears welling up in her eyes again, this wasn’t what she had hoped for… wanted. She had asked one thing of Pine and that was mercy! She thought they were friends enough that she would have respected that wish, but this brash action spoke louder than any words Zelda ever could have heard from the small wolfess. Who could… enjoy this though? Who but someone so twisted and insane that surely all reality was skewed and darkened. They killed their prey with more mercy than what Arace received.

”Nothing you are saying is wrong, if you hadn’t been there, she would have died. Slowly, either by bleeding or starving, or something or someone else could have come along. The night beasts at the very least could have found her. Ended it. No… no mercy, which was the only thing I had asked Pine to give until we figured everything out at least, was the only thing I asked, for you if no one else. I can’t imagine what you must be feeling… I’m so sorry, Starfall. I will not let this go, I have no love for Arace, but I do for life, and I found out that Diveen, had nothing to do with this… All of this is of someone else’s doing. Maybe you can try to figure out the name of who sent her. All I know now is that a wolf of Diveen acted on their own to cause this, and I was too late to tell Pine and spare Arace all of this, or most of it.”

Again Zelda understood if they wanted their pound of flesh… she got it, but what had happened, what this was… had gone too far. If Pine expected Zelda to be happy that she at least spared her life, looking at her paws, her condition, if Starfall hadn’t come by she would have died. Not by Pine’s paws, or her packs but she still would have been the root of it. Starfall was right though… would she be able to walk? Survive on her own even? Her paws broken as they were would she even be able to creep up on prey to feed herself anymore.

She sees the wolfess stirr and her body tenses slightly. Arace… still was a bad wolf, she wondered if there was any shred of gratitude for what they were doing for her, any level of understanding that by no means Taviora didn’t have to do this. Zelda could only hope she did, hope that once she was better, maybe she could get more answers, and finally get to the root of the problem that was sparked between the two packs. The mystery wolf that had stolen Arace that lived in Diveen.

”We will help you carry her to your den…. I figure.. That’s where you would want her for now?” She asked tilting her head slightly. ”I will have guards there, to protect her from others and others from her. I know in her condition she’s not going anywhere any time soon. When she recovers more I would like to try and talk to her though, or if you can ask her who sent her from Diveen and tell me, I just want the information. I want to figure out why this is happening. I hope you can understand, and I am sorry to still… put you through all this.” After that, when or if she recovered, Zelda would then reevaluate her threat to those here in Taviora. For now Starfall could keep her close, watch her. Zelda knew it would be quite some time before she would be any problem to them again. She might have been making a mistake. Maybe she couldn’t be saved, but she had to try and be sure.