Post by Therdde on Dec 26, 2009 9:52:29 GMT -5
Note: Although, strictly speaking, the scene that preceded this one was not canon, this one is. That scene can be read here: meadowmuck.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=mixup&action=display&thread=1172
Characters:
Kein - Male Cougar
Maul - Female Juvenile Cougar
Qaletaqa - Male Cougar
- Pine Grove -
What his daughter says would cut him to his very core, were it not for... There's the sound of large paws on the dry pine needles, and the scent of Qale in the area becomes a bit stronger. He's near here, and the Amaranth chieftain bares his teeth and gives a nearly-silent growl. Right under his nose, Qaletaqa has been seducing his daughter. His very /young/ daughter. It could have been almost anyone else, and Kein would not be so easily brought to violence as he is by the thought of this. He digs his claws into the ground, rather desiring to feel flesh and blood beneath them. He does not move, though. He doesn't look at Maul, now, rather staring over her head, to where he imagines he heard those paw steps, but there is no sign of the other male yet.
Maul isn't sure what she expected her father's reaction to be, but the quiet growl, the lack of speech... That's all a bit scary. A part of her has always felt she would push him too far, some day. He's not the same as when... And all her pushing has been is an attempt to get him to *be* the same again, instead of this... this very scary creature before her. Frightened or not, though, the young girl stands her ground, unaware of who is behind her, just out of sight in the trees. She can guess, though, why her Kein is not looking directly at her, and it is unacceptable. "If you hurt him, I will *never* forgive you!"
Walking forward to try to find out just what is going on ranks high on the list of things Qale realizes he should have thought twice about when he comes into proper view, behind and to Maul's left. While Maul might find her father only a little scary, Qaletaqa is downright terrified of the expression that he now sees on Kein's face. He forgets to run. It's not bravery, nor even a logical thought that tells him running is a stupid thing to do. He simply forgets, his paws rooted to the floor as he slowly tries to suss out what is happening. This isn't entirely true - he's pretty sure he knows what's happening, he's just trying really hard to figure out a situation in which he doesn't end up dying. He can't. The young cougar is pretty sure he should say something as he stares hard at Kein, not sparing Maul a glance.
It's not hard for Kein to remain in place when Qale comes into sight. Every muscle in his body is so very tense with anger that every single move he makes, from the twitch of a whisker to his deeply inhaled breaths, followed by the low, rasping growl as he exhales, is very deliberate. Oh, how easy it is for him to see Chesmu when he looks at Qaletaqa. How DARE he?! "Anyone else. Anyone else, Qaletaqa, and I would have let you live. Why?" Maul is too young. Much, much too young, and... Dammit, he /warned/ Qaletaqa against doing anything that could remind her of anything unpleasant. Seducing her qualifies. Does he even hear what his daughter says? Not really. Why would he? He has completely failed to recognize that she's growing up, that she might have had something, or everything, to do with this. If he has missed that, it would be easy for her to miss something so obvious as her speaking.
Maul keeps her eyes on her father when he responds to her... Or rather, when he doesn't respond to her. She has plenty of anger of her own, but it is replaced, momentarily, by confusion. It's not unusual for her to talk to unseen creatures, but for her father to be doing so... The young girl looks behind her, and the sight of Qale brings her, as usual, joy. This time, though, the joy is mixed with fear that this could all go very, very wrong. Moving so that she is more directly between Kein and Qale, as though her father couldn't just jump, or even just step, over her to get to the other male, she says, "You *can't* hurt him, Kein!" Didn't he hear her, before? He *can't*!
Qaletaqa is used to running away from anything and everything, but the situation is so surprising that he isn't quite sure what to do. His whole body flinches visibly at Kein's tone, his ears flattening, back arching a little as he cowers down to the ground. Wide, terrified eyes under a creased brow. Like Kein, he doesn't notice Maul - he doesn't dare stop watching the Chieftain, not when he's so tense. Not when the slightest acknowledgment of Maul being anywhere near them would probably result in death. This is so wrong! And Qale doesn't dare pretend anymore that he isn't sure what's happening, feigning ignorance could just as easily incur Kein's wrath. When he finds his voice at last, it is hoarse and quiet. "K-Kein, this...you've got this all wrong, I didn't do...a-anything..."
Of course he would deny it. Denying it doesn't help Kein's mood any, though. It's a lie. Of course it is. Maul would never... She's had too many bad experiences, and... Kein has always, /always/ been of the opinion that there could be no way Maul, Maulisho, whoever she is, could possibly be interested in romance. In anything that would lead to... "She's a CHILD, Qaletaqa. I don't care if you haven't..." Have they? Is that much a lie too? If Qale has done that to Maul, then no punishment Kein could impose on Qaletaqa would be harsh enough. "I don't care if you haven't physically mated with her yet. You've gone way too far, this time." Oh, if Kein acts this way to everyone his young daughters get crushes on... They will certainly never find a male willing to stick around.
This is *not* acceptable! If only she were larger... Maul doesn't *want* to fight, to be strong, but in this instance, it would beat being unable to do anything as her father seems intent on killing Qaletaqa, even if only by giving the younger male a heart attack, so far. "KEIN!" The girl, unhappy with being ignored, screams her father's name as loud as she can, desperate to get her father's attention off of Qale and on to her. "You *don't* hurt him!" Statements very much like that one have not worked in the past few moments, but perhaps if she repeats them often enough, they will do some good.
Even in the tension of the moment, Qaletaqa can't stop the look of disgust that crosses his face. How could Kein even think that he'd--well, of course, he's Maul's father. Before he can reply, he flinches a second time at the shrill shriek that comes from Maul, and for the first time glances quickly at her. Gone too far? Qaletaqa frowns as he looks back at Kein. He should have known this whole situation was too good to last. He swallows a few times, and his voice comes a little clearer now. "Y-you won't listen," he says to Kein, still low to the ground. "I-I've done n-nothing, and you'll k-kill me..." Why is the world so unfair to him? What can he possibly do to make Kein believe that there is nothing going on between him and Maul? Maul, who is as far from a partner as he could ever imagine.
Why hasn't Kein attacked already? Really, as much as Qaletaqa wants to explain it, Kein wants it explained. The simplest explanation, the true explanation, doesn't even begin to occur to him, and anything else... No matter how innocent their relationship is, it simply isn't innocent enough for Kein's liking. Not if Maul... Kein is silent for a moment, just breathing and looking at Qale. Yes. He would find it very, very satisfying to tear Qaletaqa apart. That satisfaction would be very temporary, though, and then Maul... Kein looks at his daughter for a moment. He wants to tell her to go home, but it's obvious enough that she has no intention of listening to him, and he does not need to add to this... He does, however, finally step forward, to place himself between Qale and his young daughter. Fine. He won't hurt, or kill, Qale. Not while Maul is here, anyway. But he'll be damned if he's going to let the two near each other. Without looking to Qale, again, he says, darkly, "You deserve nothing less than death. She is a /child/." Today is, apparently, the day for cougars to be repeating themselves, as well as the day for Kein to misunderstand everything. When Qale says he's done nothing, Kein only hears that he hasn't acted on whatever has happened between Maul and Qale, yet. With all of Maul's assertions that Qale means more to her than her own father, Kein imagines several months of a budding, illicit relationship.
Shrieking worked. It's about time *something* did! At least, it kind of worked. Kein moves closer to Qaletaqa, and that's not good, but his movements are slow, and that has to be... well, better than it *could* be, anyway. Maul watches her father closely, to make sure that Kein isn't going to hurt Qaletaqa, but she doesn't move to defeat her father's plan to place himself between her and Qale. She has made a long-time hobby of pushing him just as far as she thinks she can, without him snapping, and they've probably already gone past that point. At least she thinks she has done something to stop the bloodshed that had certainly been coming. And now, that done, Maul says, "He doesn't hurt me, Kein. He's *nice*." Who *does* hurt Maul? That would be a harder question for Maul to answer. But it isn't Qale, so there's no reason for Kein to be angry.
Qaletaqa has heard that statement directed at him before, when he was far younger, but never in a situation like this. He's also been accused of chasing females, as every - or most - hot-blooded young male cougars do. But this is just overwhelming. He takes a few steps back away as Kein shifts between him and Maul, and her protestations get to him. He isn't lying. She isn't lying, either - well, it's been a long time since he was mean to her. His heart nearly quails at how close he is to death, but young Qale, resentful Qale, the Qale that he thought had moved on since he came to Kein's lands, chooses the worst possible time to resurface. "I /know/ she's a c-child!" he says suddenly, frantically, his tone a combination of fear and frustration and his words coming as fast as he dares. "I-I-I wouldn't even think of her like that! I mean, she's-she's-look at her! She's y-your daughter, she's j-just a cub, she's a sh--" Qale trails off, more out of luck than anything conscious. He doesn't, for the moment, think on what he's just said. He just hopes it's enough.
Damn her. Of course, she doesn't remember telling him that she once thought Azriel was nice, too. She once thought Azriel was her friend. She once thought Chesmu was her friend. Actually, she /twice/ thought Chesmu was her friend. He betrayed her both times. She is /not/ an acceptable judge of character, not when it comes to males. Especially males who are not her family. Granted, Kein would have never believed that Qale would do anything like them. Anything like... The chieftain stares at Qaletaqa for a moment. He used to believe he could tell when others were lying. If this is a lie, then it's a convincing one. Does he dare risk believing Qale, when the cost of being wrong could be so high? "If I catch you anywhere near her when she's without an escort, I will not hesitate to kill you." There is still plenty of anger in Kein. Anger, and doubt. Perhaps his decree will change, sometime in the future. Likely not. He is not yet running Qale off, though. Not tearing into his flesh. Yet.
And all of a sudden, Maul is made into a liar, because *that* hurts. It hurts a lot more than she would ever admit. Look at her. Just look at her. She tries so very hard, sometimes, to just be like everyone else. She thought it was working, too. Sure, she has slipped, sometimes. Like when she had to tell Qale about his mother. But he was her friend, and even then, he never... But just look at her. And even if it wasn't for all of her oddities, Qale says it. She's /Kein's/ daughter, and with statements like the one that comes from Kein, who could ever want to be friends with her? She doesn't argue, now. She's too busy trying to remember how to breath.
"F-fine by me," Qaletaqa agrees quickly. He doesn't mind, not now. He didn't for a moment imagine that this could have resulted in his being allowed to stay - males have run him off for much less than thinking he was seducing their young daughters. If that's the price he has to pay until Kein calms down, until Maul grows up, or forever, then fine. If it means he doesn't have to go traveling again, alone, until the end of his days. And in his guarded relief, he hasn't realized Maul's reaction to his innocent statement about her age, and her gender. Even with Kein's talk of an escort, he can't see the two of them spending any significant time together, not after this.
If he cared at all about being really fair to Qale, Kein would stress to his daughter what the cost of her disobeying his wishes would be now. Perhaps he would do that even if he just cared about being fair to Maul. He doesn't, though. If he catches Maul and Qale together with no one else near, he will kill Qaletaqa, slowly and painfully. Even if it is Maul who seeks out Qale, and no matter what Maul says. It would be only the second time he has ever killed anything for any reason other than food, but he would do it without hesitation. Kein continues to look at Qale for a moment. Before he says anything else to the other male, though, he turns to face Maul, intending to take his daughter back to the cave and leave her with her mother.
Maul doesn't give him the chance. As soon as she's certain that her throat is not going to close up on her after all, she takes off, and definitely not back towards the cave. He could stress whatever he wants. The hurt little girl does not plan on spending any time near Kein *or* Qale in the near future. Really, she doesn't plan on spending any time near anyone in the near future. She wants more than anything to be completely alone, right now. To be able to nurse her emotional wounds in private.
Qaletaqa releases a breath that he's fully aware he's been holding for far too long - his lungs are starting to burn a little - but that same breath catches when Maul takes off. He thinks it's from her father's ultimatum. The poor girl is probably upset that Kein has effectively forbidden her from coming near him, the very unfortunate object of her childish affections. He feels bad about it, sure, but for now he's just concerned about keeping his own hide in one piece and attached to his body. He makes sure, after a moment, that his face is set in a neutral expression. Kein doesn't need to see him caring about Maul, even if he does just a little. Kein. Now he's alone with Kein. Oh, how he hopes Maul's presence wasn't the only thing holding the Chieftain back.
It was, in the beginning. Now, he is bound by his own word. He may not be the most pleasant male in the world, but he holds himself tightly to his own code of honor. He always has. It's what holds him apart from males like the former chieftain of Amaranth. Like his father. Kein doesn't even look at Qale again. It may be a while before he can do so without becoming enraged. He only remains standing where he is for a moment because he can't decide whether he should follow after his daughter. Finally, he decides against it. There is only a very slim chance any interaction between Kein and Maul could go well, right now, so he continues to the south. He will have to let Nayeli and Sweet Rain know of the new restrictions on Qaletaqa, if no one else. Maybe after doing so, he'll go and look for Maul.
Characters:
Kein - Male Cougar
Maul - Female Juvenile Cougar
Qaletaqa - Male Cougar
- Pine Grove -
What his daughter says would cut him to his very core, were it not for... There's the sound of large paws on the dry pine needles, and the scent of Qale in the area becomes a bit stronger. He's near here, and the Amaranth chieftain bares his teeth and gives a nearly-silent growl. Right under his nose, Qaletaqa has been seducing his daughter. His very /young/ daughter. It could have been almost anyone else, and Kein would not be so easily brought to violence as he is by the thought of this. He digs his claws into the ground, rather desiring to feel flesh and blood beneath them. He does not move, though. He doesn't look at Maul, now, rather staring over her head, to where he imagines he heard those paw steps, but there is no sign of the other male yet.
Maul isn't sure what she expected her father's reaction to be, but the quiet growl, the lack of speech... That's all a bit scary. A part of her has always felt she would push him too far, some day. He's not the same as when... And all her pushing has been is an attempt to get him to *be* the same again, instead of this... this very scary creature before her. Frightened or not, though, the young girl stands her ground, unaware of who is behind her, just out of sight in the trees. She can guess, though, why her Kein is not looking directly at her, and it is unacceptable. "If you hurt him, I will *never* forgive you!"
Walking forward to try to find out just what is going on ranks high on the list of things Qale realizes he should have thought twice about when he comes into proper view, behind and to Maul's left. While Maul might find her father only a little scary, Qaletaqa is downright terrified of the expression that he now sees on Kein's face. He forgets to run. It's not bravery, nor even a logical thought that tells him running is a stupid thing to do. He simply forgets, his paws rooted to the floor as he slowly tries to suss out what is happening. This isn't entirely true - he's pretty sure he knows what's happening, he's just trying really hard to figure out a situation in which he doesn't end up dying. He can't. The young cougar is pretty sure he should say something as he stares hard at Kein, not sparing Maul a glance.
It's not hard for Kein to remain in place when Qale comes into sight. Every muscle in his body is so very tense with anger that every single move he makes, from the twitch of a whisker to his deeply inhaled breaths, followed by the low, rasping growl as he exhales, is very deliberate. Oh, how easy it is for him to see Chesmu when he looks at Qaletaqa. How DARE he?! "Anyone else. Anyone else, Qaletaqa, and I would have let you live. Why?" Maul is too young. Much, much too young, and... Dammit, he /warned/ Qaletaqa against doing anything that could remind her of anything unpleasant. Seducing her qualifies. Does he even hear what his daughter says? Not really. Why would he? He has completely failed to recognize that she's growing up, that she might have had something, or everything, to do with this. If he has missed that, it would be easy for her to miss something so obvious as her speaking.
Maul keeps her eyes on her father when he responds to her... Or rather, when he doesn't respond to her. She has plenty of anger of her own, but it is replaced, momentarily, by confusion. It's not unusual for her to talk to unseen creatures, but for her father to be doing so... The young girl looks behind her, and the sight of Qale brings her, as usual, joy. This time, though, the joy is mixed with fear that this could all go very, very wrong. Moving so that she is more directly between Kein and Qale, as though her father couldn't just jump, or even just step, over her to get to the other male, she says, "You *can't* hurt him, Kein!" Didn't he hear her, before? He *can't*!
Qaletaqa is used to running away from anything and everything, but the situation is so surprising that he isn't quite sure what to do. His whole body flinches visibly at Kein's tone, his ears flattening, back arching a little as he cowers down to the ground. Wide, terrified eyes under a creased brow. Like Kein, he doesn't notice Maul - he doesn't dare stop watching the Chieftain, not when he's so tense. Not when the slightest acknowledgment of Maul being anywhere near them would probably result in death. This is so wrong! And Qale doesn't dare pretend anymore that he isn't sure what's happening, feigning ignorance could just as easily incur Kein's wrath. When he finds his voice at last, it is hoarse and quiet. "K-Kein, this...you've got this all wrong, I didn't do...a-anything..."
Of course he would deny it. Denying it doesn't help Kein's mood any, though. It's a lie. Of course it is. Maul would never... She's had too many bad experiences, and... Kein has always, /always/ been of the opinion that there could be no way Maul, Maulisho, whoever she is, could possibly be interested in romance. In anything that would lead to... "She's a CHILD, Qaletaqa. I don't care if you haven't..." Have they? Is that much a lie too? If Qale has done that to Maul, then no punishment Kein could impose on Qaletaqa would be harsh enough. "I don't care if you haven't physically mated with her yet. You've gone way too far, this time." Oh, if Kein acts this way to everyone his young daughters get crushes on... They will certainly never find a male willing to stick around.
This is *not* acceptable! If only she were larger... Maul doesn't *want* to fight, to be strong, but in this instance, it would beat being unable to do anything as her father seems intent on killing Qaletaqa, even if only by giving the younger male a heart attack, so far. "KEIN!" The girl, unhappy with being ignored, screams her father's name as loud as she can, desperate to get her father's attention off of Qale and on to her. "You *don't* hurt him!" Statements very much like that one have not worked in the past few moments, but perhaps if she repeats them often enough, they will do some good.
Even in the tension of the moment, Qaletaqa can't stop the look of disgust that crosses his face. How could Kein even think that he'd--well, of course, he's Maul's father. Before he can reply, he flinches a second time at the shrill shriek that comes from Maul, and for the first time glances quickly at her. Gone too far? Qaletaqa frowns as he looks back at Kein. He should have known this whole situation was too good to last. He swallows a few times, and his voice comes a little clearer now. "Y-you won't listen," he says to Kein, still low to the ground. "I-I've done n-nothing, and you'll k-kill me..." Why is the world so unfair to him? What can he possibly do to make Kein believe that there is nothing going on between him and Maul? Maul, who is as far from a partner as he could ever imagine.
Why hasn't Kein attacked already? Really, as much as Qaletaqa wants to explain it, Kein wants it explained. The simplest explanation, the true explanation, doesn't even begin to occur to him, and anything else... No matter how innocent their relationship is, it simply isn't innocent enough for Kein's liking. Not if Maul... Kein is silent for a moment, just breathing and looking at Qale. Yes. He would find it very, very satisfying to tear Qaletaqa apart. That satisfaction would be very temporary, though, and then Maul... Kein looks at his daughter for a moment. He wants to tell her to go home, but it's obvious enough that she has no intention of listening to him, and he does not need to add to this... He does, however, finally step forward, to place himself between Qale and his young daughter. Fine. He won't hurt, or kill, Qale. Not while Maul is here, anyway. But he'll be damned if he's going to let the two near each other. Without looking to Qale, again, he says, darkly, "You deserve nothing less than death. She is a /child/." Today is, apparently, the day for cougars to be repeating themselves, as well as the day for Kein to misunderstand everything. When Qale says he's done nothing, Kein only hears that he hasn't acted on whatever has happened between Maul and Qale, yet. With all of Maul's assertions that Qale means more to her than her own father, Kein imagines several months of a budding, illicit relationship.
Shrieking worked. It's about time *something* did! At least, it kind of worked. Kein moves closer to Qaletaqa, and that's not good, but his movements are slow, and that has to be... well, better than it *could* be, anyway. Maul watches her father closely, to make sure that Kein isn't going to hurt Qaletaqa, but she doesn't move to defeat her father's plan to place himself between her and Qale. She has made a long-time hobby of pushing him just as far as she thinks she can, without him snapping, and they've probably already gone past that point. At least she thinks she has done something to stop the bloodshed that had certainly been coming. And now, that done, Maul says, "He doesn't hurt me, Kein. He's *nice*." Who *does* hurt Maul? That would be a harder question for Maul to answer. But it isn't Qale, so there's no reason for Kein to be angry.
Qaletaqa has heard that statement directed at him before, when he was far younger, but never in a situation like this. He's also been accused of chasing females, as every - or most - hot-blooded young male cougars do. But this is just overwhelming. He takes a few steps back away as Kein shifts between him and Maul, and her protestations get to him. He isn't lying. She isn't lying, either - well, it's been a long time since he was mean to her. His heart nearly quails at how close he is to death, but young Qale, resentful Qale, the Qale that he thought had moved on since he came to Kein's lands, chooses the worst possible time to resurface. "I /know/ she's a c-child!" he says suddenly, frantically, his tone a combination of fear and frustration and his words coming as fast as he dares. "I-I-I wouldn't even think of her like that! I mean, she's-she's-look at her! She's y-your daughter, she's j-just a cub, she's a sh--" Qale trails off, more out of luck than anything conscious. He doesn't, for the moment, think on what he's just said. He just hopes it's enough.
Damn her. Of course, she doesn't remember telling him that she once thought Azriel was nice, too. She once thought Azriel was her friend. She once thought Chesmu was her friend. Actually, she /twice/ thought Chesmu was her friend. He betrayed her both times. She is /not/ an acceptable judge of character, not when it comes to males. Especially males who are not her family. Granted, Kein would have never believed that Qale would do anything like them. Anything like... The chieftain stares at Qaletaqa for a moment. He used to believe he could tell when others were lying. If this is a lie, then it's a convincing one. Does he dare risk believing Qale, when the cost of being wrong could be so high? "If I catch you anywhere near her when she's without an escort, I will not hesitate to kill you." There is still plenty of anger in Kein. Anger, and doubt. Perhaps his decree will change, sometime in the future. Likely not. He is not yet running Qale off, though. Not tearing into his flesh. Yet.
And all of a sudden, Maul is made into a liar, because *that* hurts. It hurts a lot more than she would ever admit. Look at her. Just look at her. She tries so very hard, sometimes, to just be like everyone else. She thought it was working, too. Sure, she has slipped, sometimes. Like when she had to tell Qale about his mother. But he was her friend, and even then, he never... But just look at her. And even if it wasn't for all of her oddities, Qale says it. She's /Kein's/ daughter, and with statements like the one that comes from Kein, who could ever want to be friends with her? She doesn't argue, now. She's too busy trying to remember how to breath.
"F-fine by me," Qaletaqa agrees quickly. He doesn't mind, not now. He didn't for a moment imagine that this could have resulted in his being allowed to stay - males have run him off for much less than thinking he was seducing their young daughters. If that's the price he has to pay until Kein calms down, until Maul grows up, or forever, then fine. If it means he doesn't have to go traveling again, alone, until the end of his days. And in his guarded relief, he hasn't realized Maul's reaction to his innocent statement about her age, and her gender. Even with Kein's talk of an escort, he can't see the two of them spending any significant time together, not after this.
If he cared at all about being really fair to Qale, Kein would stress to his daughter what the cost of her disobeying his wishes would be now. Perhaps he would do that even if he just cared about being fair to Maul. He doesn't, though. If he catches Maul and Qale together with no one else near, he will kill Qaletaqa, slowly and painfully. Even if it is Maul who seeks out Qale, and no matter what Maul says. It would be only the second time he has ever killed anything for any reason other than food, but he would do it without hesitation. Kein continues to look at Qale for a moment. Before he says anything else to the other male, though, he turns to face Maul, intending to take his daughter back to the cave and leave her with her mother.
Maul doesn't give him the chance. As soon as she's certain that her throat is not going to close up on her after all, she takes off, and definitely not back towards the cave. He could stress whatever he wants. The hurt little girl does not plan on spending any time near Kein *or* Qale in the near future. Really, she doesn't plan on spending any time near anyone in the near future. She wants more than anything to be completely alone, right now. To be able to nurse her emotional wounds in private.
Qaletaqa releases a breath that he's fully aware he's been holding for far too long - his lungs are starting to burn a little - but that same breath catches when Maul takes off. He thinks it's from her father's ultimatum. The poor girl is probably upset that Kein has effectively forbidden her from coming near him, the very unfortunate object of her childish affections. He feels bad about it, sure, but for now he's just concerned about keeping his own hide in one piece and attached to his body. He makes sure, after a moment, that his face is set in a neutral expression. Kein doesn't need to see him caring about Maul, even if he does just a little. Kein. Now he's alone with Kein. Oh, how he hopes Maul's presence wasn't the only thing holding the Chieftain back.
It was, in the beginning. Now, he is bound by his own word. He may not be the most pleasant male in the world, but he holds himself tightly to his own code of honor. He always has. It's what holds him apart from males like the former chieftain of Amaranth. Like his father. Kein doesn't even look at Qale again. It may be a while before he can do so without becoming enraged. He only remains standing where he is for a moment because he can't decide whether he should follow after his daughter. Finally, he decides against it. There is only a very slim chance any interaction between Kein and Maul could go well, right now, so he continues to the south. He will have to let Nayeli and Sweet Rain know of the new restrictions on Qaletaqa, if no one else. Maybe after doing so, he'll go and look for Maul.