Silence floated like driftwood for a brief moment. Her pink eyes traveled between each of the mercenaries, patient for them to form questions that were not immediately on the surface of their minds. Meanwhile, she observed their demeanors and took carefully consideration in their scents. Zharko was intent on her, his eyes dangerously focused. He thought deeply and kept things deeply. Having just been reunited with her blood debt, Grimoire knew little of his motivations. She expected to learn of them soon. When no questions came, Segin impatiently spoke into the silence. Grimoire stood, and said,

"I will speak with you first Brindle, then the Gold Hood, and lastly Red Eyes."

Grimoire did not wish her relationship with Zharko to be known. Often mothers had been made helpless with her young’s neck between fangs… and she wished her adopted boy to reach that point of her heart, if that functioned. As it was, Grimoire knew she would let his neck snap in pursuit of her goals. She stepped across the cold stone and toward a secluded corridor of the cave and waited patiently for Segin to follow her. She met with him, and later Dirge… and finally, she was ready to address Zharko.

She emerged with Dirge and waited patiently for him to leave the grotto. Then, her shimmering gaze found her boy’s. Grimoire gestured for him to follow. She took him to a new cavern so that if Segin or Dirge returned to eves drop, they wouldn’t be able to return to the same spot and would be forced to search for them. Grimoire settled onto her hindquarters in the new nook and turned a curious stare to Zharko. She hummed in careful thought,

"What does a mother provide that I have not?"

Her eyes rolled in thought and she tapped her nails softly on the solid floor. Mothers were nurturers, pup delivers, protectors of the future, and den-makers. A complicated job to be sure, to be sure. The glimmer of an idea lit in her mind; it was just question… but she felt it would reveal the payment she could give Zharko for his assistance. She asked in nearly innocent curiosity as her eyes cycled back to him,

"Do you wish to have a home, Zharko?"