Muttonhawk

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Tzirret sniffed, not ready to say anything just yet. However, he held a little hope in his eyes after hearing what Peiter said.

Sabine answered Peiter without much pause for thought. "I would have a reason to be angry at you. Even once I had calmed down I would wish that you would understand why I was angry." Sabine glanced to Tzirret and was glad to see that he appeared to be listening. She continued answering Peiter, "I am not sure whether there would be anything that would make it up to me except understanding and promising to be better in the future. Ma'tanza could be different, though." Sabine turned her head to Tzirret and gave an encouraging look. "What do you think Ma'tanza would like you to do, Tzirret?"

With the attention back on him, Tzirret looked down at the back of his hands on his lap again. After another sniff - it sounding like he was clearing up now - he gave a quiet answer. "It depends. She...probably just does not want Tzirret to try and lie to her to make him look better. If he tells her that he never wants to lie to her, or hurt her...maybe." Tzirret let out the rest of his breath, "But it might be too late. She probably hates Tzirret now. He has failed."

"I do not think she has decided to forsake you Tzirret," Sabine said with a smile.

Tzirret lifted his upper lip in disgust. "How does Sabine know?" he spat.

The answer was simple on Sabine's lips, "How hurt would you have to be in order to forsake Ma'tanza?"

In response, Tzirret stayed silent and softened his expression. Sabine raised her brow and looked to Peiter again. If there was anything more he wanted to add, now was the time, but it was getting to the point where Tzirret was close to hearing all he needed to.

---

Though Gallus' breath had quickened, it could not be heard over the murmur of the meeting room and the creak of the doors as he made his entrance. He scanned the room quickly and located Ri'vashi and Meesei in short order, returning Ri'vashi's nod with a smile.

Gallus made his way between Meesei and Ri'vashi and addressed them both as well as he could. "Afternoon," he began, "Sorry I'm a bit late. I had some personal errands to run. What's the mood like? Is the news going to be good?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

It's all good. I've been studying.

I'm afraid I don't remember the names of any werevultures, you'll have to look back and use ctrl-f a bit. Sorry.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

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.

---

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.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

While Peiter's uncertainty was understandable, Sabine answered him in a voice that made it sound like the solution was trivial. "Then just go in treating him as an equal. If he does not want your help, I am sure he'll say so."

Sabine felt as though they were spending too much time analysing. She looked impatient as she peered through the doorway again. "Come," Sabine whispered to Peiter, gently tugging on his hand as she walked into the room carefully.

Tzirret did not seem to respond, crying as he was.

"Tzirret?" Sabine asked softly.

"What?!" Tzirret blurted into his hands accusingly.

Sabine hesitated, but continued. "I am sorry if I treated you as if you were too young to be capable. We...just saw you running in rashly into a very dangerous situation for anyone. We needed to tell you."

There was no response from Tzirret except more quiet crying.

Sabine turned to Peiter worriedly. It didn't appear as though Tzirret was angry enough at them to tell them to leave, at least.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

There we go. All done. G'night!

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Tzirret lifted his head just enough to watch Ma'tanza as she walked out of the room. He didn't come up with anything else to say by the time she was out of earshot. Instead, he ran a hand down one side of his face and slowly got up. With his head still hung forward, he began to pace out of the door.

Sabine parted the way for Tzirret as she had done for Ma'tanza when she left. "Tzirret..." she began to say but Tzirret gave her no attention.

There was a stop in Tzirret's steps when he reached Gallus. He slowly raised his head up to him with as neutral an expression as he could hold. "Gallus, may this one stay away when the stronghold is attacked?"

Gallus regarded Tzirret just as neutrally. He did not hesitate in his answer. "Done."

"Thank you," Tzirret responded, lowering his head again. Without another word, he stepped despondently back into the bedroom and sat down with his head in his hands. He did not seem to be bothered by anyone watching as he began to sob as silently as he could into his palms.

Even with all the time to think, Sabine had not done anything more yet. Looking lost, she turned to Gallus, who remained leaned up against the wall for some reason. "Are you going to do anything?" she asked.

Gallus raised an eyebrow and looked at Peiter and Sabine in turn. "Are you?"

A few more seconds passed before Sabine decided to turn to Peiter. "I think they will be able to work things out later but..." Sabine glanced into the room and then back to Peiter. She angled her head towards Tzirret. "He is...hurt. I think he needs his brother."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

I have some study I need to focus on. I'll be a little while longer.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

He was only twelve before the timeskip. If he isn't 16 by now, he'll be turning 16 soon. It's not really a huge issue though.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Huh, I was under the impression that Ma'tanza was like 15 or 16 years old. I didn't know she was a few years older than Tzirret. How old is she exactly?

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Tzirret shook his head slowly and wiped his fingers to the bridge of his nose until it no longer held grasp and fell into his lap. "No," he said after a moment. He had a hint of demand in his voice.

At this point, Tzirret caught himself in his blubbering and wiped his eyes on one arm. With his next breath, he raised his reddened eyes to Ma'tanza with a small measure of defiance. "Ma'tanza, Tzirret wanted to agree to go out fighting so that he would not be treated as an incapable child by his packmates, not by you." Tzirret was trying his best to keep his voice level, but he was nervous enough speaking with confrontation that his voice was still shaking, "Ma'tanza treats this one with respect despite his anxiety." Tzirret's mouth hinged open and closed while he tried to find more words, "He just wanted the same from his pack." Tzirret sighed and raised his hands facing one another, "But...if Ma'tanza is still..." Tzirret closed his eyes and restrained the volume of his voice, "...worried..." He opened his eyes again and looked at Ma'tanza's face with a pleading expression, "...if Ma'tanza is worried enough to be this upset, then this one can ask to stay out of the battle. He is sorry that he was not more considerate." Tzirret waved one hand across himself and looked down again. "He won't try to do something stupid like this any more."

Sabine glanced to Peiter when he took her hand. She at first assumed that he wanted to move away from the argument, but he simply looked worried. Sabine reciprocated his grasp and looked back in the room. Sabine curled her lips and had to restrain herself from stepping in at this point. She wanted to take part of the blame for driving Tzirret to make some of his decisions, but he did not want to risk inflaming Ma'tanza by trying to rescue Tzirret. He still had to have his apology accepted first.