the firestarters always get the burns
and the good guys never get the girl
Lepis' face is thunder, but what for, Ilma does not fathom. The girl still thinks she has every right to be angry, while whatever Ilma has done is exactly the same she did to her - Hyaline and Ilma had reacted equally angry, but for some reason the Loessian mare refuses to see this. Yet, being angry is tiring Ilma, and - like she told Castile before - she can be forgiving if that means her soul stays whole.
Though the perlino-navy mare is making that very hard on her at the moment.
So all Ilma displays is sadness, with a tight pinch of disappointment shimmering behind her eyes; all these words for the continuing of a fight and the ending with yet another threat won't get them any closer to a deal. Perhaps it is a more genuine threat this time even, but Lepis should know that the white mare will not drag her by force even if she were indeed capable; though it is the law of the lands that the girl returns with her. But all she can think of is a tired look. She shakes her head lightly to indicate she's not going to have the same discussion over and over again, and looks at the male, Castile indeed, and nods at him in a slightly solemn greeting. You found my niece, he says, and she looks briefly at Lepis, then back at Castile again. Though she does not say it aloud, knowing it would be probably something else that Lepis would likely add to her already overly long "list of why Ilma sucks", it is clear that she does not see any likeness in the two.
Before she can answer the painted male's question however, Lepis interrupts her. Talking about a 'perfectly friendly' steal, Ilma's brows raise sky-high, and then again blinks and softly shakes her head at the continued blatant rant. Stalking, huh? And how did she think she would contact her child or mate in this forest?
Her ears swivel at the misplaced accusations, but she addresses the stallion instead of the girl, to explain his question hopefully better than she did. "Lepis' steal did not appear to be perfectly friendly at all, as she was trying to hold me in Loess for a whole year and made no notion of it being friendly. Such a steal on a neutral sanctuary violates our very core and everything we stand for, especially when she tried a second time in response of our closing the borders. Apparently, closing our borders to Loessians is now the same as a threat of war." Her head shakes as she looks at the young mare to address her instead. "I'm returning the favour, in hopes that you understand how we felt about it. By the looks of it, you now feel as we did. I also have children to care for, Lepis. That I not birthed Ember myself this season or that Tähti has been reborn as a newborn last winter instead of being just a year younger than you, does not grant you permission to just tear me away from them for a year and expect me to magically understand that it was supposed to be perfectly friendly." She takes a deep breath before she continues, face back to neutral. "My steal will be as friendly as yours - in this case that means I will talk to you about an agreement on your return as soon as you are ready. But as long as you appear not to be ready to talk without it growing into another argument, then yes, I am refusing to negotiate with someone on heated terms."
Lepis seems to want to ignore her though, and with a snort she sidesteps, although she does not move forward. Ears backwards but not lowered, she appears to just casually stand there for a moment. With one last look to Castile in hopes he understands now what is going on, she walks a few paces away from the two of them, back towards the clearing she had landed in, and takes a mouthful of grass. Surely none of them have anything to say to her at the moment. Lepis is acting like a child, and if Castile wishes to talk to his niece then that's fine, but she somehow doubts he wishes to come between them.
Though if he did, perhaps he'd be the mediator they needed.
@[Lepis] @[Castile]