Gent's pale eyes searched his company's features, trying to discern if he truly did comprehend the gravity of the king's warning. It was worth considering how very different his reaction might have been if the children had never been born, or even if Tokino had survived to claim them as his own. It had been them as well as Raela that had changed him, and which instilled such caution within him. As a yearling, he might've found Gunnar's admission fascinating, and certainly would've wanted to other man to stay with him and become a part of the pack. Now, this seemed almost impossible. Certainly, at this exact juncture of their conversation, Gent couldn't imagine keeping such a wolf around, and it was all because he had three very precious lives to consider. Lives that he would not allow to be exposed to even the smallest of risks.




Gunnar continued onward, complimenting the king and it had to be wondered if he was perhaps trying to appease him into forgetting what had been disclosed, a very impossible feat. Regardless his ears cupped forward, lapping up each and every word as was the requirement if any soul wanted to fully understand what the beige man meant. He wanted allies, and something in Gent, perhaps that dormant danger-flirting yearling still alive in the back of his mind, wanted to take up this offer.



"I don't find 'free' to be very appealing," he admitted, perhaps the truest and most constant piece of his nature. "but your conversation is a different story."



He needed to know this man better, and in a way that only time could supply. If Gunnar was willing to remain in the area, or at least visit him frequently enough, a friendship could be forged and in time, perhaps he could bring the odd-spoken wolf into the pack, if that was something he then desired.



"Come," he commanded once again. "Let's finish our walk. Tell me about your experiments."

Words seemed to pass so easily through this other man's mouth, and Gent had to wonder how much of it could be trusted. Yet as twisted and convoluted as his statements were, Gunnar was paradoxically simple. As much as he tried to root out a veil, the timber King could not come to any other conclusion than the plain fact that this man brought forth nothing but the truth. Genuine to his core, despite all this darkness that lingered in his smile and his past alike. Flags had been raised, and yet Gent was prompted to ignore them all by something far more deeply-rooted within him than this family man he had so swiftly been molded into. Gunnar's unabashed shadows spoke to the fledgling tendrils that still existed within the Lieris heir.




He listened with great intent to Gunnar's excited recounting, wanting very much to know the man and his past deeply. As gruesome as it was, Gent saw the utility of it. He was not a killer in the sense that he pursued violence and bloodshed, yet he was not naive nor so honor bound as many thought him to be. Truly, it was only his word to @Raela that had kept him at bay some several times. Physical was natural, and violence was what all arguments would come down to when words were not enough. Given the unreasonable nature of most nowadays, Gent very much valued his strength and the training given to him by his father, for one day he would have to forsake his promise to keep what was his. It was unavoidable, a fact of nature, and he would not look away from it.



Having a man who had reaped the knowledge of such dirty but handy work at his disposal could be a great boon, and Gent was not fond of the idea of passing up the opportunity that was so feverishly knocking upon his door. Thus he asked questions, and continued to soak in all that was told to him, and they walked for quite some time in the throes of conversation until finally his duties as alpha pulled him elsewhere.

/exit