Elohim wouldn't let his guard down. At least, not immediately. Even if Lamia appeared non-threatening, Elohim had met enough wolves to know that such looks could be deceiving. In fact, they were often deceiving. Esther would learn it in due time, though Elohim hoped she wouldn't have to. Had he become an idealist? Thinking that such a world could exist? It made him groan inwardly, and he couldn't help but be somewhat thankful that Lamia had answered Esther's question herself. It kept Esther preoccupied, which meant she'd not be as aware of Elohim's tension. Let him be the one to feel it, not her.

Esther had no response, for she had to digest Lamia's words carefully. Instead, she nodded slowly with narrowed eyes, as if she understood...Yet, truly, she did not. Yes, and no? Or yes, but no? Learned things...innate things...Esther had yet to learn the complexities of such things, and the subtle differences that could separete 'natural' from 'learned.' Lamia would likely see the feign, the fake knowing, but Esther didn't mind. She was, after all, busy rolling the words around in her mind, trying to find the right angle to understand them from. Elohim offered her a glance, but the one she gave him in response let him know that she was fine, and that her silence was not out of fear or agitation.

"Neither," Elohim echoed back to her with a tilted head. The word was sharp and his lips taut, pulled back into a tight grin somewhere between amused and frustrated. It was a good answer, but not the answer he had wanted. It was the kind of answer he might have given, and he suddenly understood why Natiya and even Aster often wanted to take his head clean off his shoulders.

Lamia went on though, and Elohim was surprised. His brows rose, an expression matched by Esther. Esther had leaned in eagerly again, all too excited to listen to the woman's words, while Elohim foudn himself sharing the sentiment. "Realization does not always come with acceptance, as I'm sure you know." Elohim doubted that Matianak, or anybody of her shared blood, would have accepted a child turning away from them. That was, after all, the very reason that Natiya had to hide for so long. They could be furious, and they could realize things, but seldom did they seem capable of accepting.

Elohim had not been able to interject before Esther, who had been all too excited at the prospect of both family and her ability to know the answer to something. "Nati-" But she had been cut off the moment the word had tried to leave her mouth. Elohim had reached down, grabbing his daughter's muzzle gently between his teeth as his eyes watched Lamia, sharper and more aflame than they had been before. His hackles had instinctively bristled, his ears having flattened back against his skull. It was difficult to keep one's composure under such circumstances, as far as Elohim was concerned. The very utterance of Natiya's name could begin a vicious, unstoppable cycle, and Elohim was all too aware of that. In an instant, he understood that if it came down to it, he would kill Lamia. If some part of her betrayed wicked intentions, Elohim knew he could do it.

Esther, though, had other plants. She shook free from her father's grip and bit him squarely on the leg, her puppy-sharp teeth forcing him to jerk his leg away. "She is unknown to me, father. I do not fear the unknown - I answer it." It was spoken with unearned confidence, sne she straightened up, chest puffed and tail arched. Elohim watched her closely, feeling acid in the back of his throat. "The unknown are not the same as those things you do not understand." His voice was terse, spoken through his teeth.

But he tried to compose himself, nonetheless. He straightened, calmed himself, and breathed in deeply. "I'm sure you understand the circumstances surrounding this child and myself better now," he offered after a moment of tense silence. "You are kin, by blood at least. This child is no prize, no thing, however."