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"There is no one who loves pain itself, who seeks after it and wants to have it, simply because it is pain..."

She was usually not hard for others to read, at least the ones she trusted enough to know her thoughts. In political positions, she found it usually paid to remain more neutral and hard to read until your mind was made up. Otherwise, others liked to jump to conclusions about your actions in the future. But with Beltane, she was free to just react per usual. Beltane's sudden words of a child-snake at the borders peaked her interest. She pricked her ears, eyes twinkling with intrigue as she leaned toward the other wolf. "What do you think he was seeking? Seems I have been neglecting parts of the borders to have missed his scent. I'll get on that." She said with a nod. She wanted no chinks in the armor of Iromar so she was glad to have Beltane on her side to let her know when there were gaps that needed to be filled.

She was interested in what Beltane thought, though. Even if she didn't talk to the child, Avery was sure she had her own hunches of what the child was after. She always had that way of knowing things. Beltane's eyes grew distant for a moment as if lost in thought so Avery leaned back, giving her time to think and let her mind wander. She didn't mind that Beltane wasn't always so "present" during their conversations. If anything, it allowed her to relax, but never completely. She often let her gaze wander during these brief times, ever aware of their surroundings in case she needed to defend her pack mate and friend, for she would not hesitate to take someone down who thought to harm Beltane during one of these vulnerable moments. No, Beltane was safe in Iromar and Avery would work to keep it so.

Though, she seemed to catch Beltane's attention again when she spoke of fighting herself as an opponent. It seemed the concept was new to her pack mate. Avery watched as the female laid down, tilting her head and narrowing her eyes before asking if that was how it was done. Avery smirked and nodded. "In a way, yes. If you continue to fight the same way, you will one day be defeated because you will become predictable. If you teach someone to spar with their own shadow, then they must learn to counter their own moves effectively and to move more instinctively than logically. The movements become more like an art than a tactic. It becomes nature to dodge and twist and attack. It's how I learned best, anyway." She wondered how far Beltane would go with this interest. She'd never seen her so interested in combat before.