Silence stretched like an eternity in the wake of her awkwardly fumbled question. On one hand, Kohelet knew that this likely meant he was truly considering it rather than offering an empty platitude. On the other, the silence was painful. It was one thing to wait and wonder what his feelings on the matter were and something quite different to have lifted her insecurities into the light for his inspection.

Kohelet knew that the majority of the blame for the fallout from that day rested solely on her shoulders. If she had come forward sooner to speak with Fell about who Kolfinna was and what she meant to Solomon, about why her presence in the Bay would cause more problems than good even if Kolfinna eventually came to look at the black stallion with anything other than dislike, things might have gone different. Hell, if she'd even bothered to go to her father, to give him warning of what was to come so that Fell and Solomon might have had a chance to work things out prior to the Peak coming back for one of their own, without the audience of half the damn herd, things might have ended differently.

But she hadn't done those things. She had hidden behind her worries, buried her head in the sand, and told herself that it would all work out without her.

It hadn't of course. The relationship between the Bay and the Cove was now strained, as was her own relationship with her sire. She had severed any potential for friendships and driven a wedge between herself and her own family. All of it was her own fault, of her own doing, but that didn't make it less painful to bear.

When the shake of Fell's head finally comes, she accepts it with a sad smile, but finds that it does not offer the absolution she craves. She, who has lived the vast majority of her life with softness and kindness first, can look at that moment and see only the violence of it. Why then, had she looked to her fierce, wild lover and expected to see the censure she deserved?

Silent, she nods, but does not ask more. With careful, practiced grace, she folds up her fears and tucks them back into place, and then resumes grooming the other half of her heart.