She's got the devil's eyes
Wolfbane does not disappoint, taking the dangling tendril she had left for him, launching into an explanation of what had brought him to Taiga. She is familiar enough with all that had happened that following the thread of his thoughts is simple enough. Truthfully though, it is more than a bare explanation she is seeking.
Though she gives Wolfbane her silent attention, she keeps a nearly invisible eye on the young girl standing at her father’s side. Though she tries quite mightily to maintain an evenly pleasant expression, she is young yet, and does not quite succeed. Of anyone else, she could perhaps understand the most about what the girl experienced in her visions. Though Heartfire had never been overly bothered, she knows just how shocking it can be to learn exactly what lies out there. Few realize it, but it is exactly this that had molded Heartfire into the woman she is today. Exactly this that had plaited the mask she so often wears and steeled the walls she keeps so firmly about her emotions.
Should the girl choose to follow in her great grandmother’s footsteps, she would no doubt soon come to learn those same things. The world is neither kind nor good at the very heart of it. Perhaps Heartfire seems cold and callous to some, but she is only the product of what she has learned.
When Wolfbane professes it is not in his blood to bow, Heartfire’s head tilts slightly, but she makes no move to say anything. As he continues, she considers him much more closely, her blue eyes sharp, until Eyas draws her attention by interrupting her father. The youth does not have the same restraint nor discretion as Wolfbane, the heat of her emotions bubbling to the surface as she fires rapid accusations at him.
The cool expression on Heartfire’s features changes slightly as she considers Eyas more openly now, a more discerning note hovering about her. She knows pain and she knows rage. She knows how unwillingly it coils inside as it waits for release. All of that, she can see in young Eyas as she reaches her limit.
Silence falls heavily as she spits her last accusatory question at her father, grief still evident behind the anger in her small features. Perhaps it is Wolfbane’s place to comfort his child, but Heartfire has a feeling it isn’t comfort she seeks.
“The dead aren’t gone,” Heartfire says after what seems an eternal moment of silence. Her eyes are fixed sharply on the girl’s face as she says something that would no doubt draw a hiccup through her tirade. “You just need to find the right pair of eyes.”
She’s not certain the girl would appreciate her advice, but unfortunately she had never been much of one for the softer emotions. Wolfbane could no doubt do more for Eyas’ grief than Heartfire could ever hope to. Still, with Eyas’ accusations ringing in her ears, the blue and white mare turns her gaze back to her grandson. Perhaps Wolfbane had not meant to cause upset or ruffle feathers, but he had. She had always seen the long game so clearly, but it seems Wolfbane still has his sights focused on the short.
“It is possible,” she continues, her words reflecting a much cooler version of Eyas’, “to demonstrate respect without bowing beneath the thumb of another.” She eyes him hard for a moment then. “Do you think, all those years I lingered in Nerine and did not rule her, that I was bending and scraping before each succession of rulers? I think you forget Wolfbane, that true power does not come from a crown.”
and they'll cut you like a weapon