Layers of confusion upon anger upon dismay froze the fox-boy into complete shock. She wasn’t even joking? Deny it? Why was she asking such mystifying questions in the first place? Yet, in the seconds that passed he watched her stance evolve in ferocity and he stumbled back; frightened. Bright, blue eyes were still as wide as saucepans, a red ear was flicked backwards and the other forward as he tried to figure out what he should do now. What could he do? She believed him to be a demon on all counts and all he could do was deny it, hoping she would believe him. It wasn’t like he could rip open his chest and tear out his beating heart, the very same organ his accuser had, to prove his innocence of being a hellion of Lucifer. He couldn’t pluck his soul from the very essence of his being and lay it before her, naked, to be judged. The fox-boy would have to dare to deny it and deny it again until the strange impasse they had reached came to a climax. Though he hoped she might see sense, that he was just a horse and the devil she spoke of didn’t exist. That perhaps everything might calm down and he might know who she was, why she thought  him a devil and if she needed help traversing across Helovia.

“I am no demon, I swear” he pleaded again, still not entirely sure what it was about him that made her think in such a scary manner. Yet, when she uttered her last words to him he felt his heart twist in a strange kind of anger, a hurt kind of anger, one that clasped around his throat and robbed him of a quick reply. Death? Enslavement? He cast a gaze to the foxes upon his rump only to see their disturbed beady eyes burning into the mare and the tense way they still guarded their hoarded treasure of acorns. “Stupid” uttered Inari as Ríona echoed “not a brute” spitting it into Sacre’s mind and he grimaced at his situation.

Encompassed by anger and sorrow, his expression grew steely as he returned to regard the mare who threw such lies at him before preparing herself for a death that would not come—not from him.

“I will not kill you. I will never kill you” his teeth grit and his body was tense as he tried to control the emotions this stranger had set upon him… Even if he did want to kill her, was she really so content with just dying. Why did she offer her precious life so easily to him? “They are not enslaved, they are my friends, they have names and we live together” he explained more, maybe she had never heard of a bonded creature, not many did who entered Helovia for the first time, but to think he would enslave them?! He swallowed—it was just a misunderstanding, right?

He stood rigidly still as she travelled forwards, allowing her to come towards him, hoping that a closer inspection might reveal how normal he was and how delightfully demon-free he felt.

“I came to see if you needed help, a home or a herd to live in” the fox-boy turned on his own offensive, hoping that revealing his true intentions for coming here before her would convince her that he was no demon and was, in fact, offering an extension of friendship. “I mean you no harm, I promise—“ he pleaded with every promise he made “I am a healer of the Worlds Edge, my name is Sacre and I am no demon” he stressed.

Lastly, his brows were furrowed as he gazed at the painted bone collector in deep confusion, “you accuse me without knowing me, why? Why do I anger you?” he asked, his voice growing softer in hope of an answer.