The other stops his wild motion and listens with apparent intent, but it is not enough. When the red one gives only his name and not an answer, Knox feels impatience rise within him.

{Cem:} Wait. A name is enough.
Soothed, remembering himself, Knox thinks the words: a name is the being of a beast.

The barrage of questions is enough to almost send him reeling back into something like rage, but Huric bites his descendant's tongue. He nods sagely and dumbly all at once, listening to Lotherarius with the patience of a well fed cat. They are intelligent questions, and they show the mark of a well exercised mind; they are ones Knox himself would ask. However this does not endear Knox to their insistence, for in this case he must answer each and everyone.

Huric smiles, appearing as sympathetic as he would in life. The masks are so useful, such well-used tricks. "That is a good question. For all I know I'm inviting a savage into the place I call home, aren't I?" His gaze is steady and unbroken, but there is a trace of warm humor. "Consider the fact that you came here to have been a test. You handled the shock of blindness well. You went quietly, which proves you have the good sense to know when you're at a disadvantage it's best to wait and see if the situation improves before trying to strike. When you could see again you did not trust me blindly. You have rage and power, strength, but the intelligence to control it well enough. And you're curious..." Knox's own thoughts win over now, and he smiles. "In this herd, such curiousity and strength are valuable things. Curiousity leads to knowledge, strength translates to protection. You have proven yourself to have the potential to serve this herd with either," he adds. Knox's heart, so long cold, begins to beat just the slightest bit faster. This isn't impatience, though, it's something he's not felt for some time.

It's excitement. The suspicion that he might win.

"However you choose to answer this proposition, know that I will use your name well, Lotherarius, the hunter says coolly, using the red-winged's word choice to endear himself to him. Huric has faded but lingers still, present enough to intervene should his descendant become too snappish.


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