"Keep your tongue in check or I will check it for you."
The words sent a cold shiver down K'nahli's spine. Every snarled syllable oozed with a thick and potent venom that violently threatened the girl's mere well-being, a level of aggression unlike any that she had ever seen from the nuhn, something not even comparable to the outburst from their encounter previous. The girl's defiantly, fierce expression slowly slipped away as she gradually crumbled beneath his dominating anger, his words nearly falling on deaf ears as the mere toxicity of them together with his overwhelming aura had pushed her back into an offspring's realm of fear and anxiety. Her lips subtly parted in a failed attempt to speak through his anger, though whatever it was that she had tried to interrupt him with was lost forever beneath the nuhn's closing claim.
"......!?"
"If you will not answer me, I will chose you as my mate so you may feel the proper shame for your actions."
("Wh-What kind of threat is.... punishment or no, such a thing could never be permitted... could it? Could it really?").
Questions by the dozens raced through K'nahli's head as her father, K'yohko, had wittingly succeeded with his intimidation tactics, vulgar as his attempt perceivably would have been viewed.
As though the nuhn's anger wasn't an overwhelming aspect on it's own, now the girl was left doubting if such a horrendous punishment was even a possible outcome for her. Permitted or no, would he actually be capable of such a thing, for the sake of shaming her into behaving as a daughter to he... no, the Hipparion tribe should?
K'nahli turned her head away to break eye contact once again as she found herself no longer able to handle his perpetually, piercing stare. Even without looking at him she could feel those raw, amethyst eyes burning holes clear through the side of her head, causing her to resume fidgeting, her eyes unable to focus on any one spot for very long, though never straying too close back toward his. The girl's weak chest heaved a few more times with quickly-drawn breaths brought along by her swell of anxiety before finally, she eventually managed to reclaim some control of herself once again in tune with a long and deep breath taken to help soothe her restless nerves.
She had to just get it over with she thought to herself... to get out of this deplorable situation she just had to do something...
"K'mih.... she is..." the girl began, though her sentence fell far, short of completion. K'nahli halted again in her speech, her nerves and reluctance to speak clearly taking a toll on her ability to continue. Surely K'yohko was aware of that much. The girl blinked slowly a few times, gathering her thoughts together as she prepared herself for a torture far less bearable than any lashings would have proven. Despite the intensity of this moment, such a thing, her persistent state of angst, was actually not entirely bad it would seem, as a final thought crossed the girl's mind as she worked herself up, swallowing hard in a futile attempt to soothe her drying throat before continuing to speak.
"A number of moons ago.. I confided something in K'mih....something that I had her swear to secrecy..." K'nahli finally began speaking once again. Her sentences were a little, more composed now, but still saturated with hesitation, and now, a very new and strong emotion that for once, was not anger.
"..And, being that the matter somewhat involved you, I..." she trailed off, her eyes deliberately refraining from eye contact as she summoned up all of her remaining strength she had to continue speaking as her eyes searched in all directions as though they were through her memory.
"The last evening before we commenced our trip to Forgotten Springs... do you remember what happened after you had come back bloodied and injured?" she asked simply yet rhetorically. Her tone has changed slightly now as she seemed to be recalling something particularly hurtful, though it had a level of confidence that she lacked when beginning with discussing the events prior to the change of setting.
"I wanted to help you toward the tent and tend to your wounds... and in return, you.. willingly threw me aside and declared me an "idiot child"....and yet... not even ten minutes of light had been lost from the day before I then found you happily allowing K'mih tend to your injuries..." she reminded him while silently grating her teeth behind closed lips. Her anger had returned for a brief visit as she hesitantly recalled the events for her father, though it had been concealed for the most part.
"Mock me if you will but....I didn't..." she struggled to continue, changing the direction of her gaze once more as her expression contorted bitterly, the girl now feeling even more frustrated and vulnerable for having been forced to speak of her private thoughts to him like this.
"...It angered me to see you choosing her over me as though I had less worth...." she finally managed to explain with a different wording.
The girl fought against all urges to search her father's eyes for his reaction though the humiliation of having to admit such a thing was already overwhelming for the normally, solitary girl. Looking at him now could well and easily break her, and that could not happen. She needed to be strong for what came next.
"...but it is not so simple as that either..." she added with great and noticeable reluctance after what felt like an immensely, lengthy pause.
"That day prior, the day I was with K'mih.... she had brought up the topic of... coupling with a nuhn. I... lent her my ear and she told me of her feelings, that she were unready, far too nervous to even contemplate such a step in her life." K'nahli explained slowly as she recalled that day's details, now being oppressed with further guilt for having exposed her sister's feelings like this in the process of explaining herself.
"Though she feared that her mother would expect it of her sooner than she herself were willing to and so......" K'nahli trailed off again as her voice grew more fragile with anxiety. Her eyes glazed over with a thin, veil of moisture as she found herself choking even harder on her own words as they were forced out from her throat. She wanted to beg K'yohko to let her go and not have her continue any further with this charade... but she already knew that it would only be a futile effort to try and reason with him now, and pleading with the nuhn here would only make it harder for her to continue.
"...and so I told her something of myself that I thought might help ease her mind... though perhaps... no, I am certain that it was just so I no longer had to carry the burden alone to myself any longer...." she finally continued with a forced voice that so, very, nearly broke under her shattering nerves. The girl's eyes began to water even more noticeably now, holding just shy of forming actual tears as she was slowly losing the ability to completely contain herself any longer.
Though distorted, K'yohko was going to get the answer that he wanted.
"I told her that there was only one nuhn that I would consider for myself... and that I would never accept any other option... and so.. I told her that I would be happiest to never see our nuhn lose that position... even if it were not a path a daughter could take...regardless...." K'nahli blurted out with much hesitation, her eyes now turning as far away from K'yohko's unrelenting stare as she could possibly force them to.
"Un-..derstandably, K'mih was disturbed by my feelings... if you found that she had ever been behaving unusually then it were most likely on my behalf" K'nahli commenced with even more half-truths as she sought any possible means to cover the trail from K'mih's actions up until now. Though they were not lies that could easily be said in any circumstances, the situation as K'yohko had thrusted upon her had served well to help disguise her ulterior reluctance. Surely K'yohko would not know the difference... he had no reason to think otherwise.
"I.... I am not ignorant to the many wrongs that such feelings would suggest... in spite of telling her, I was and am not even hopeful that I could somehow be understood for it..." she continued with an intensifying stutter, but a subtly growing confidence for having overcome the biggest hurdle.
"...it's shameful, repulsive.... and not something that I had intended on sharing.... least of all with you...." she added with a shameful tone while very briefly managing to pass a short glance sidewards toward him before retracting it away once again.
"...And so, you are wrong father... I would not feel the shame that you think were you to choose me as you have threatened.." she added once more with a notably, greater reluctance this time. The girl deliberately shifted her body again, in part feigning an imaginary discomfort for feeling so very exposed to him now in this situation, though in a way emulating some of those insecurities that her own charade had now made her appear. The girl's face was flushed with an even brighter shade of red from the one previous. The act alone was so horrible to have to "admit" to, but it was self-catering in the sense that her embarrassment from the lie had actually made it more believable. It was a small consolation that she were grateful for. However, regardless of how well or badly K'yohko were to take this mock revelation, she would now have to carry the shame of it around for every encounter that she would have with him, small and large. Even in this moment where she could only feel anger and spite for her father, knowing that she had carved an even larger and permanent channel between them to further distance them was something discomfortingly unnerving to the young archer.
In the end, however, she was only trying to protect K'mih in the only way that she felt she could. It was a dangerous game that she were playing, but she needed to use everything that she possibly could to deter K'yohko from detecting K'mih's trail should he be in any way's suspicious.
So, now he knew. Now she could see for herself what would be made of such a situation without.
The words sent a cold shiver down K'nahli's spine. Every snarled syllable oozed with a thick and potent venom that violently threatened the girl's mere well-being, a level of aggression unlike any that she had ever seen from the nuhn, something not even comparable to the outburst from their encounter previous. The girl's defiantly, fierce expression slowly slipped away as she gradually crumbled beneath his dominating anger, his words nearly falling on deaf ears as the mere toxicity of them together with his overwhelming aura had pushed her back into an offspring's realm of fear and anxiety. Her lips subtly parted in a failed attempt to speak through his anger, though whatever it was that she had tried to interrupt him with was lost forever beneath the nuhn's closing claim.
"......!?"
"If you will not answer me, I will chose you as my mate so you may feel the proper shame for your actions."
("Wh-What kind of threat is.... punishment or no, such a thing could never be permitted... could it? Could it really?").
Questions by the dozens raced through K'nahli's head as her father, K'yohko, had wittingly succeeded with his intimidation tactics, vulgar as his attempt perceivably would have been viewed.
As though the nuhn's anger wasn't an overwhelming aspect on it's own, now the girl was left doubting if such a horrendous punishment was even a possible outcome for her. Permitted or no, would he actually be capable of such a thing, for the sake of shaming her into behaving as a daughter to he... no, the Hipparion tribe should?
K'nahli turned her head away to break eye contact once again as she found herself no longer able to handle his perpetually, piercing stare. Even without looking at him she could feel those raw, amethyst eyes burning holes clear through the side of her head, causing her to resume fidgeting, her eyes unable to focus on any one spot for very long, though never straying too close back toward his. The girl's weak chest heaved a few more times with quickly-drawn breaths brought along by her swell of anxiety before finally, she eventually managed to reclaim some control of herself once again in tune with a long and deep breath taken to help soothe her restless nerves.
She had to just get it over with she thought to herself... to get out of this deplorable situation she just had to do something...
"K'mih.... she is..." the girl began, though her sentence fell far, short of completion. K'nahli halted again in her speech, her nerves and reluctance to speak clearly taking a toll on her ability to continue. Surely K'yohko was aware of that much. The girl blinked slowly a few times, gathering her thoughts together as she prepared herself for a torture far less bearable than any lashings would have proven. Despite the intensity of this moment, such a thing, her persistent state of angst, was actually not entirely bad it would seem, as a final thought crossed the girl's mind as she worked herself up, swallowing hard in a futile attempt to soothe her drying throat before continuing to speak.
"A number of moons ago.. I confided something in K'mih....something that I had her swear to secrecy..." K'nahli finally began speaking once again. Her sentences were a little, more composed now, but still saturated with hesitation, and now, a very new and strong emotion that for once, was not anger.
"..And, being that the matter somewhat involved you, I..." she trailed off, her eyes deliberately refraining from eye contact as she summoned up all of her remaining strength she had to continue speaking as her eyes searched in all directions as though they were through her memory.
"The last evening before we commenced our trip to Forgotten Springs... do you remember what happened after you had come back bloodied and injured?" she asked simply yet rhetorically. Her tone has changed slightly now as she seemed to be recalling something particularly hurtful, though it had a level of confidence that she lacked when beginning with discussing the events prior to the change of setting.
"I wanted to help you toward the tent and tend to your wounds... and in return, you.. willingly threw me aside and declared me an "idiot child"....and yet... not even ten minutes of light had been lost from the day before I then found you happily allowing K'mih tend to your injuries..." she reminded him while silently grating her teeth behind closed lips. Her anger had returned for a brief visit as she hesitantly recalled the events for her father, though it had been concealed for the most part.
"Mock me if you will but....I didn't..." she struggled to continue, changing the direction of her gaze once more as her expression contorted bitterly, the girl now feeling even more frustrated and vulnerable for having been forced to speak of her private thoughts to him like this.
"...It angered me to see you choosing her over me as though I had less worth...." she finally managed to explain with a different wording.
The girl fought against all urges to search her father's eyes for his reaction though the humiliation of having to admit such a thing was already overwhelming for the normally, solitary girl. Looking at him now could well and easily break her, and that could not happen. She needed to be strong for what came next.
"...but it is not so simple as that either..." she added with great and noticeable reluctance after what felt like an immensely, lengthy pause.
"That day prior, the day I was with K'mih.... she had brought up the topic of... coupling with a nuhn. I... lent her my ear and she told me of her feelings, that she were unready, far too nervous to even contemplate such a step in her life." K'nahli explained slowly as she recalled that day's details, now being oppressed with further guilt for having exposed her sister's feelings like this in the process of explaining herself.
"Though she feared that her mother would expect it of her sooner than she herself were willing to and so......" K'nahli trailed off again as her voice grew more fragile with anxiety. Her eyes glazed over with a thin, veil of moisture as she found herself choking even harder on her own words as they were forced out from her throat. She wanted to beg K'yohko to let her go and not have her continue any further with this charade... but she already knew that it would only be a futile effort to try and reason with him now, and pleading with the nuhn here would only make it harder for her to continue.
"...and so I told her something of myself that I thought might help ease her mind... though perhaps... no, I am certain that it was just so I no longer had to carry the burden alone to myself any longer...." she finally continued with a forced voice that so, very, nearly broke under her shattering nerves. The girl's eyes began to water even more noticeably now, holding just shy of forming actual tears as she was slowly losing the ability to completely contain herself any longer.
Though distorted, K'yohko was going to get the answer that he wanted.
"I told her that there was only one nuhn that I would consider for myself... and that I would never accept any other option... and so.. I told her that I would be happiest to never see our nuhn lose that position... even if it were not a path a daughter could take...regardless...." K'nahli blurted out with much hesitation, her eyes now turning as far away from K'yohko's unrelenting stare as she could possibly force them to.
"Un-..derstandably, K'mih was disturbed by my feelings... if you found that she had ever been behaving unusually then it were most likely on my behalf" K'nahli commenced with even more half-truths as she sought any possible means to cover the trail from K'mih's actions up until now. Though they were not lies that could easily be said in any circumstances, the situation as K'yohko had thrusted upon her had served well to help disguise her ulterior reluctance. Surely K'yohko would not know the difference... he had no reason to think otherwise.
"I.... I am not ignorant to the many wrongs that such feelings would suggest... in spite of telling her, I was and am not even hopeful that I could somehow be understood for it..." she continued with an intensifying stutter, but a subtly growing confidence for having overcome the biggest hurdle.
"...it's shameful, repulsive.... and not something that I had intended on sharing.... least of all with you...." she added with a shameful tone while very briefly managing to pass a short glance sidewards toward him before retracting it away once again.
"...And so, you are wrong father... I would not feel the shame that you think were you to choose me as you have threatened.." she added once more with a notably, greater reluctance this time. The girl deliberately shifted her body again, in part feigning an imaginary discomfort for feeling so very exposed to him now in this situation, though in a way emulating some of those insecurities that her own charade had now made her appear. The girl's face was flushed with an even brighter shade of red from the one previous. The act alone was so horrible to have to "admit" to, but it was self-catering in the sense that her embarrassment from the lie had actually made it more believable. It was a small consolation that she were grateful for. However, regardless of how well or badly K'yohko were to take this mock revelation, she would now have to carry the shame of it around for every encounter that she would have with him, small and large. Even in this moment where she could only feel anger and spite for her father, knowing that she had carved an even larger and permanent channel between them to further distance them was something discomfortingly unnerving to the young archer.
In the end, however, she was only trying to protect K'mih in the only way that she felt she could. It was a dangerous game that she were playing, but she needed to use everything that she possibly could to deter K'yohko from detecting K'mih's trail should he be in any way's suspicious.
So, now he knew. Now she could see for herself what would be made of such a situation without.
![[Image: ecec20e41f.png]](https://puu.sh/xvMxb/ecec20e41f.png)
Characters: Andre Winter (Hy'ur) / K'nahli Yohko (Miqo'te)
