Fortunately, Peiter's worries were unfounded. Tzirret kept his head bowed and his ears back, but lowered his tear-covered hands back into his lap. He spoke in saddened groans, "Tzirret never wanted to manipulate Ma'tanza. He never wanted to do any of those things she said." He shook his head lightly, "He just wanted to be brave like everyone else. Everything went wrong."

Sabine exchanged a glance with Peiter and stepped to sit beside Tzirret, placing a hand on his shoulder. She spoke just as softly as before, "It may hurt now but it is not too late to fix things."

Though Tzirret did not lift his head, the strain on the side of his face spoke of more sadness and frustration. "How?" He pleaded, "Ma'tanza thinks that Tzirret is a snivelling liar now! My pack is still going to treat me like a runt and I-"

"Tzirret, no," Sabine tried to speak over him.

"-There is no point in even-"

"Wait." Sabine said a bit more firmly. It seemed to quieten Tzirret, at least for a moment. "Tzirret, did you know that my nickname in my pack used to be Runt?" Sabine took her hand from Tzirret's shoulder and regarded him with a serious expression.

Tzirret gave Sabine a sad sideways glance, but hinted curiosity.

"I was very anxious. I was also small. Smaller and more anxious than you." Sabine explained. She readjusted herself in her seat such that she was further from Tzirret, but facing him more directly. "Do you know how that changed?"

Tzirret's eyes searched the floor in confusion but found no answer.

"I did not go into a battle or complain to myself." Sabine bowed her head forward, "I told my pack how I felt and whenever they treated me wrong I would tell them."

Though he no longer seemed to be sobbing, Tzirret looked to the ground and sighed. He didn't need to be told the entire story about how Sabine's confidence and healing came from a long journey through Black Marsh to ritualistically commune with a Hist tree. It was enough to hear that he would simply have to start taking more initiative. Again.

"That is one thing." Sabine said, with a small, triumphant smile. "As for Ma'tanza...well..." Sabine thought for a moment, blinking a couple of times. "You know her better than us but...Peiter?" Sabine turned her eyes to Peiter. "If I was angry at you because of something that you did not mean to do, what would you do?"

Tzirret made the effort to lift his head slightly to look up at Peiter, revealing his glum face that was still recovering from his crying.

At this point, Gallus poked his head into the room. He was almost completely unnoticed until he spoke. "Excuse me, kids. I have to get to the war room. I will catch up with you all in turn to see how this has turned out afterwards, alright?" He had a wide smile, as if he was glad about the eventualities so far. He pulled back and disappeared without any further communication.

[hr]
The whole drama with Tzirret's attempts at proving bravery had caused Gallus to lose track of time. He would have liked to stay around for a while to help, but as it stood, he was already late for the meeting with the scouting party. He strode so briskly through the halls that he was on the very edge of breaking into a jog. As he reached the doors of the meeting room, he hoped that he didn't keep everyone waiting for too long.