Thought tripped their way through Asavvi's mind all the way back to the Falls. She wasn't certain how she could have deceived herself so entirely in the nature of her new home, building it in her mind as some perfect haven, based on what? Vague mentions from her childhood? Her desire to go anywhere but the Throat? The hidden Realm of the earth god itself had been what it purported to be, but Asavvi was disappointed in the people it housed. Somehow she knew it was unfair to hold the Czarina to some unspecified standard of nonviolence, it was wrong to hold the world to the standard. But again and again her mind slammed shut the doors and windows of compromise. Was it because her captors had ripped them all out? Asavvi's thoughts and opinions could not be separated from the ones that had so expertly shaped and inserted, not even by her, but flickers of feeling contradicted both again and again.

Violence was wrong. Those her perpetrated such acts were bad. Her parents were bad violent people. Still, Asavvi felt love for them.

The Mountain That Knows used violence to...what? Prove a point? Regain property? Asavvi wan't entirely sure but neither were right. Still, Asavvi wanted to talk to her, to learn from her.

And flickers of feelings only begot more feelings.

Confusion, discontent, apprehension, longing, all the things that sprung from her inability to understand why the world operated the way it did. The torrent of confused emotions swirling in her heart would not lay quiet despite how hard she tried to silence them. She was quickly discovering she didn't much like emotion as a general concept and even less as a reality that she was forced to contend with. Emotions were too unbiddable, too unpredictable, a source of conflict and of hurt. 

She listened to Isopia's announcement from the shade of the trees. It was definitely a change that stemmed from the confrontation in the Edge, and the girl approved of it even as she wondered why the Czarina wouldn't call the warriors and disband them all together. Stealing was distasteful, but nowhere near as much as using physical force as a means to an end. 

When it appeared no one else was stepping forward to claim the leader's attention, the girls tried to steel herself again intimidation. The mare's size and might was nothing to her status as a demigoddess, her leadership position, even the depth of her wisdom as Asavvi had seen it (most recent happening notwithstanding). Be bold. she told herself, even knowing she'd always been a coward.

The slender frame that stepped forward did not tremble despite her fear. The girl had always been a creature of slow and deliberate motion, and gentle mover, and that practice did not fail her now. She stopped before Isopia and inclined her head politely before looking up with guarded eyes. "My lady," Came the quiet voice. It shook ever so slightly; the limit reached on maintaining her outward composure. "It may be impertinent, I know, but I feel I must ask: Is violence not worse than thievery? Is it right to ban the latter if we still condone challenges and designate warriors?"