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One of Bast'ion's daughters had returned to the family den, and while Yhe had been told that she was expected to help watch over them... she hadn't taken to the task very well. Bast'ion had brought home a pretty trophy, but that didn't mean she was a useful one. Yhe had a variety of skills. She simply lacked the desire to put them to use for someone she loathed. Around Bast'ion she was always uneasy. For some reason, she just couldn't predict what he would do, and there was something unsettling and dangerous about that. Yhe did her best to avoid Bast'ion and his family, but living so close to him meant interactions were inevitable.

She did not look forward to it.

Seeing Bast'ion's daughter with some scrapes and bruises gave Yhe a pause. She did not know the child well enough to know if the injuries were accidental or purposeful. The adolescent didn't seem to be upset over anything, so Yhe might as well leave her alone. She just didn't want to potentially deal with Bast'ion inquiring why she was allowing his daughters to walk around looking like they'd been beaten.

"You're quite popular with the boys," Yhe told the younger lioness with a curious arch of her brow. While Ledz was growing into a beautiful lioness, Yhe owned her beauty. She carried herself as if she was directly descended from royalty. There was normally a grace, an almost sing-song tone to her voice. Her steps were dainty but purposeful. It was obvious Bast'ion had captured her for beauty alone, because Yhe had not proven to have any other skills.

Yhe knew she'd likely be an unwelcome presence, so she didn't press the girl into explaining how she had come to be in such a sore state.

"I could ask you the same question," Yhe replied with a gentle, but amused expression. It was difficult for her to discern the young female's skills when she always seemed to come home with a new scratch. But, perhaps the fact that she was not greatly harmed was indicitive of her skill level when it came to fighting. Yhe had been in the pride long enough to know that these lions prided themselves on their ability to fight and win. Even the females were expected to be strong, even if it wasn't on the battlefield. Though, that wasn't to say Yhe had encountered a few female reavers.

"But, to answer you - I am not." The lioness sat down in front of the younger female, tail curled around her feet. Even her posture was elegant, tall and straight without seeming stiff. They definitely were nothing alike, but that did not have to be a barrier between them. Yhe was starved for decent company. She lived with a male who had seriously wronged her, and right now she could not bring herself to see him in any sort of positive light.


This pride was an enemy to her, but she did hold out the hope that there'd be some spark of decency and kindness within the pride's borders. "I was very good at running and hiding. I suppose it's easier out there where there are no boundaries. I think perhaps you are far better at sparring than I am."

Yhe did not quite hear what it was that Ledz muttered, but she at the very least could take an appropriate guess at it. The pride's females were all unusually strong willed and skilled fighters. Rogue females knew how to fight and take care of themselves, but the Stormborn's seemed to take it all a step further. Even the leader of this pride was female, and she had gotten to that point purely by fighting her way to the top. If that was not a testament to a female's strength, she did not know what was.

But Yhe wasn't like that. She had not been raised as a warrior, and she had never posessed any desire to fight her way through life. There was a healer in her soul, a soother of emotional pain even more than physical suffering. That part was locked away now behind her own pain and torment. It was unclear if she could ever reclaim what bits of her the shock of being captured had ushered away.

"Now you just flatter me. Growing up, I had a large family. My father was gone, but I had quite a few brothers. There was safety in numbers, and if I did not have the strength to fight alone, together we all did..." The expression on her face turned soft, somber as memories and emotions came flooding back to the front of her thoughts. "Over time... everyone split apart. I lost track of a few of my siblings, until it was just my mother and myself left. By then, all I knew was how to avoid confrontation, not face it head on."

She paused, then, wondering why she would expose so much to the daughter of her captor. Yhe really was lonely. "I was on my way back from seeing my brother when I was taken here. I hope my mother is well... loneliness is a terrible companion."

"I can agree with that statement," Yhe answered, the shell of sadness tightening in around her without mercy. Yhe had never met her father, but it had always seemed to impact her mother greatly that he was absent. She was sure Na'an never intended to show it, but her mother had always carried that weight of grief upon her shoulders. It was a burden she bore in silence, and Yhe had never figured out the right way to help her. All of her siblings had been driven away from it. One of her brother's could not stand the comparison made between himself and his father, and had fled rather than deal with all the heavy emotions.

Of course, her brother's life had only gotten worse from there. It made Yhe wonder if they were a cursed family, tangled up in a vicious cycle of pain and suffering. Grief was their fated company. They all were, in the end, abandoned by each other. Yhe had been the last sibling standing, and that loneliness had tore at her deeply. But, she had to be there for her mother. Yhe had been so afraid of what would happen to her if she left. Now she had no chioce - Na'an was on her own just as much as her daughter was.

"They are." She had more to say, but the words suddenly were choked. It took all of Yhe's willpower to hold back her tears and keep up the facade of calm acceptance. This was her fate, no amount of grief would change the position she had found herself in. She took a few seconds, calming herself, steadying her breath and her words. "It is a beautiful thought, anyways. This is the first time I've been separated from my entire family, and while we weren't perfect... far from it really. Anyways, while we weren't perfect, I love them. I hope they are well without me." She had always been the weak link of the family, hadn't she?

Yhe did not know how that thought really sat with her.

Yhe was surprised by the suggestion, not that it was a terrible one, but she did not expect anyone to want to walk with her anywhere. Sure, Bast'ion might have, but she couldn't trust his intent. She did not know her captor well enough. His daughter, surprisingly enough, was easier to understand. There was a purity to her, Yhe realized. The kindness was uncesseary, and yet seemed to be so freely given.

Whatever distraction the little trip would provide, Yhe was thankful for it. Left alone to her own thoughts, she would inevitably tear herself up. There was no healing to be found in solitude. At least the walk would distract her, and perhaps Bast'ion's daughters would prove to be far more considerate than their father. At least this one seemed to listen to her when she needed to be heard the most. She was relieved that she had someone to talk to, someone who didn't mind the weight or burden of her words.

"Okay," she agreed softly, and standing up, she followed Ledz towards the ocean. The most talkative lioness, for now, had grown eerily quiet in the wake of her emotions.