Ridahne gave a bitter laugh. "Oh, if I had a drop of rain for every time I thought about that since, I'd have myself an ocean. Why must those of us who work hard to do what is right be kicked and scorned for doing it? But something I've learned since is that it matters to the law, at least, how we do what we do." She paused, then said, "Do you remember Mark, back in Greyrock? You and I both knew he was a crooked bastard and there was something deeply wrong with him. You knew it because of the Seed, but I knew it down in my bones. You didn't see this part, since I'd sent you away. But that whole tavern was full of people. And that sleaze bag wouldn't leave me alone, he kept asking questions. I wanted to cut off his hand right then and there. But I knew that if I did, the whole town would try and string me up. But there's a custom in most places, human lands included, that if someone else draws steel on you, you're allowed to finish the fight. So I waited. And, I'll admit, I baited him a little. I made him so jumpy, like at any moment I'd swing out my blade and cut off his head. I had my hand on the hilt, I was on the balls of my feet, every muscle tense, but never once did I pull out my own blade, not until he showed his first. As soon as he did, I ended him and his cronies, but I guarantee you the constable and the barkeep and everyone else would have been much more upset than they were if I'd started it. The end result was the same, but I didn't start the fight, so they let us leave." 

Idly, she prodded the fresh tattoo under the bandages with a gentle fingertip and grimaced a little. She seemed satisfied by whatever she discovered and said, "I imagine it would have gone differently if you'd gotten the elders on your side first. And for me, if I'd have worked with the Sols, telling them what I knew, in time they would have found her guilty and executed her. They would have asked an eija-alihn to do it. Probably me. Ironic, no? But at the time, the Sols had no way of confirming or denying my accusations. But they could confirm what I'd done. They, like me, had limited time in which to act, so they acted on what they knew. Not that it would have changed much--I'd subverted the law regardless, and there was a better way to do it instead. But," she sighed, "None of that accounts for other circumstances. Like the fact that the dog was probably in terrible shape and near death, or the fact that any delay on my end would mean the death of an innocent woman and the destruction of a family." Ridahne shrugged. "That's the price you pay for society. Society requires order, on the whole. Or else we'd all be killing Sols and stealing dogs for whatever reasons we could tell ourselves to justify it."