She had no idea who it was that was coming near her, but she expected another rainbow. Would not most wolves simply move on, leaving a sobbing, wallowing heap of a femme to wallow by her lonesome? In her mind, only the rainbows themselves were truly good, were truly capable of empathy. So often back home, they have been recruited to visit the dying and the ill, so as to douse them with a healthy dose of the best type of medicine - comfort and peace, a feeling of serenity so that either their immune system‘s could jolt back and fight off infection, or allow them to slip peacefully away into the ethereal plane of the gods for their eternal rest. It was sad… Very sad to see them slip away, but it at least had made her feel helpful. So she put her own feelings aside and had delved into community service at every opportunity, wishing only to better the lives of those she surrounded herself with. And so her own ideas - and of course those of her sister - were what she thought of and applied to all of the rainbows, all of them as a whole - as truly good creatures of the gods. But when she thought of other wolves, she thought of war, of fear … Of the reason that the rainbows themselves were created, and of why they had had to have guards created for them in the first place.

And because of that, she was shocked and truly a bit confused when the other varg stopped, the paw falls ceasing. It had caused her to inhale sharply and clench the delicate abdominal muscles surrounding her lithe frame as she tried to stop the sobs. Her lungs burned for air, but she did not release her breath until she felt that her body had stopped trembling. Even then, as she wiped at the tears that streamed down her face, she knew that she would not be able to hide the telltale signs of a pathetic princess. The delicate hairs upon her facade were darkened by the saltine drops, but more than that, her eyes were bloodshot, her lids swollen, and of course, there was a quivering lower lip… Zawyne blinked rapidly, trying to clear the remnants from the surface of her cornea so that she could see clearly, but even through the hazes she knew it was no rainbow standing before her - where were the bright colors, the sense of calm? No… This one was a dark figure, a mortal. And just as her pools cleared up enough to allow her access to her vision, her nose too clogged with the snot that had accumulated after a desperate cry to be of any use identifying him by smell, she realize that it was Archangel. His role in all of this, his position amongst the rainbows, was confusing to say the very least. He had been bonded to Vera, not by magic nor blood, but by something… Unremarkable. Something normal. Friendship? Or perhaps a debt unpaid? Zawyne was not truly sure, and she could not figure out why he would stick around the rest of the rainbows despite their mourning, why he would still guard them. Sadness and loneliness swept over her - she had never had a friend in her life, aside from her sister - not a one. She thought that her guards had been her friends, but she knew now that the ones in her old world have been merely doing their duty, and Duma?… Well he had merely been using her. Harsh words came to her lips, ones poisoned with grief, and she barely manage to bite her tongue and stop them, but still the lay echoed in her mind- Why are you still here when it is so obvious that you failed to keep us safe? She knew that it was not his fault that Vera had died, vampires were strong, and he was no Tempest. She regretted the thought as soon as she had had it, but she could not take back its creation. Instead, she literally did bite her tongue and yelped, focusing on the pain and focusing on his words which were sympathetic despite their gruffness.

‘Why are you crying?’

“Why do you think I’m crying?” The response came unbidden to her lips, and she bit her tongue again, resulting in yet another yelp. All that Archangel was trying to do was to be kind, and here she was being a snarky brat. She knew that Losa would be ashamed of her, and to be honest she was a bit ashamed of herself. She shook her head and dropped his gaze, instead staring at one of her paws as she started to draw circles with it in the soft top layer of the dirt. “I’m sad because I miss Vera, and I’m sad because I miss Fallon, and my parents, and the others. I miss my home… and I’m crying because I can’t cry the rest of the time… I can’t let anyone else see me cry because I’m supposed to be their princess, I am supposed to be strong for them. I’m supposed to bear their grief and troubles, and not the opposite way around.” Zawyne wiped at her nose and sniffled, wishing all of the sadness would go away. But she realized that she did feel a bit relieved having told someone of her troubles. And suddenly, she became very shy - here she was, blabbing her secrets to almost entire stranger.

“How did… How did you and Vera meet up? I mean… Why did you want to stay with her and protect her?”

⁂Here^I_{am a}Commoner⁂Teen⁂