Now we’re both casualties in this

Marembo just sat and watched, his gaze traveling from cerndyr to Rexanna, shifting to and fro. She was worried, just as the small polecat was, but he wasn’t suffering from rapid thoughts and overcoming a nightmare like Thranduil had. All the polecat could do was be a voice of reason, watching and waiting as things unfolded before his eyes. All he could do was sit there beside his new friend, watching and waiting, knowing full well that Rexanna – at least when she wasn’t vulnerable and pregnant – could handle herself. Yet, the creature didn’t know this man like Rexanna thought she did. All he had were the memories to sift through, to learn from and figure out what exactly the gilded woman imagined the Laurelin to be.

Rexanna continued to keep her head level, watching as Thranduil’s hide twitched with her touch and he pulled away. She should’ve expected it, to be honest. But there was just something about this encounter that screamed unexpected, and all the Basin’s Thief was trying to do was roll with it. Her head retreated back toward her pale chest, marred with a dark and haunting “C” in stark contrast to her light pelt. Perhaps he would notice, perhaps he wouldn’t. Rexanna always remembered, and as far as she was concerned, Thranduil wouldn’t do something so terrible to another person. Would he?

Still the words slipped from her lips, her gaze searching for his earthen tones as they darkened. He was beginning to be more like himself, part of her was glad, but part of her continued to worry. After witnessing something like that, she knew that it wasn’t something that could be completely hidden and forgotten about. She had tried many years with Calstron, and failed every time. And so, perhaps she had a bit of an attachment to him, unknowing of what the words meant that slipped from his lips in his slumber, but knowing that it more than likely wasn’t something he wanted known.

The gilded mare didn’t even move when Thranduil’s legs struck out, lifting himself from her and granting space between them. Her exotic striped head just swiveled, eyes still watching his body for any signs that something was still wrong. His voice had grown darker, angrier, not as broken as the words that slipped his lips beforehand as he told her that she shouldn’t worry about him.

She wanted to laugh at him.
But she knew it wasn’t the right time. So instead, she let the silence grow again as she lifted herself off the earthen floor, head lifting high against her smaller stature of the Laurelin. She stepped back slightly toward Marembo and Haldir, granting him more space before flicking her dual toned tail against her hocks, splattering water across the ground she had laid upon. Her ears perked, tipping toward the gilded man as her eyes sought his. A frown finding her face before she was able to speak. “I shouldn’t, you’re right.” She began, her tone not defeated this time, not afraid, but strong. “But I do.” She paused, a bit of silence overcoming the cave once again.

“I’m really nothing to you, and so you think I shouldn’t worry. After all, I hardly even know you. But I worried anyway. I worried when there was a herd meeting called and you were gone. I wanted to know what happened to you.” She paused, her head lifting higher as her eyes narrowed on the figure of the Laurelin. “I might be nothing to you, Thranduil, just another face you’ve met and recruited for the Basin. But to me you’re so much more than that. You were the first face I saw when I had spent the last year of my life running from a nightmare. You were the one that offered me a home, where I would no longer have to hide who I was and what had happened to me. Before I stumbled into Helovia, Cal’s soldiers were on my heels, ready to take me back to that psychotic prince. As far as I’m concerned, you saved my life.” Perhaps it was a bit too much information, but he needed to understand why she cared for him. Honesty laced her voice and dripped with strength. “Everyone has nightmares. Everyone has something they’re trying to run from or with they could go back and accomplish. Life is unfair, it’s a shit show at best. We’re all just trying to fix all the terrible things we’ve had to endure.” She added in, shooting a glance toward Haldir before her next set of words. “Had things been different, I would’ve stayed and tried to prevent Calstron from burning down my home, killing everyone I had ever known. I would’ve stayed and taken the punishment I probably deserved. Perhaps my first born child would still be alive. But that’s all in the past, and we can’t change that.” Her gaze narrowed again on the gilded man. "I worry about you because you changed my life."

"Talk."

Every kiss and every word—

They were bullets spraying hazardly from lips.

Rexanna