Since the violent outburst that had bestowed her the scars she now wore, Ainaz had not shown him her fiery temper or sharp tongue. He had spent a full season drifting around her as she healed before drifting away and back to the life of a Lagoon Boss. So as she speaks to him in the same way she once had, Garmr is equal parts torn. He wants to return her tone with silken words as he'd done before, laced with a darker threat each time. To enjoy the wit of another instead of the taste of their flesh. But the poison that was in the air, that wafted from her, it kept his reasoning pinned in his mouth as if he would choke on it.


The half stride she takes nearer only makes Garmr's internal turmoil more chaotic. Its as if she dares him to do more, and in a way her words confirm it. Does he want her, or does he not? Garmr knew he had been ignoring her, more than just this season, and he assumes that is what this moment has stemmed from.


"This is not about what I want, is it?" He growls, his hooves unrooting themselves to carry him closer to the little mare. Instantly he regrets it as his wet feathered legs begin clumping with sand, but he doesn't show his instant distaste of this wretched land. "I've made my choice, time and again." Why else had she not gone free? Why else had he not sent someone else to fetch the wayward trinket. Even his father had managed to escape as Garmr chose to go after Ainaz. "It's you who has not chosen. Else we would not be standing here, wavering on what is or isn't." Garmr stopped, only a single stride separating them. She could either take it, or retreat to her freedom.


I love you her voice echoed in his mind from memory. Lies he wanted to snarl in response as they no longer stood in the Lagoon as she once again tried to leave. But just as he'd promised never to hurt her again, Garmr did not lunge forward to punish her as he would have before for this treachery.


"Take it" he snarls the command. "Take it as I have always taken what I want." Whether that was her freedom, or him, it was left to Ainaz now.