Aponi could hear the teasing in her mother's voice but she shook her head, a small humorless smile painting her maw, "Fragile? Oh mother don't you see, I'm not fragile, I have become just like you; cold. You taught me how to keep everyone out, not to need anyone, a lesson I've learned well." The near yearling chuckled now, realizing just how true those words were, just how much she had learned from Naira. The once stoic voice was replaced with something colder, something harder, it was laced with resentment, "I learned a lot from you when you thought I wasn't watching, pride, how to lead a pack, a lot of valuable lessons for a child to learn. Despite this I never learned the one thing that a mother is supposed to teach her daughters; how to care about someone." Blue eyes stared into gold as she laid the truth bare for her mother to see what her indifference had done to her. It had changed both her daughters; made Nova reserved and cautious to speak, made Aponi proud to a fault, built a wall around her children that no one would be able to conquer, not even herself.

When her mother brought up Pa it was the first time during this meeting that Aponi felt a sliver of guilt. Her stomach twisted at the thought of the man who had told her stories before bed worrying about her, he already had aged so much. It had shocked the former princess how much grey had appeared in her Pa's fur while she had been lost, how slow and stiff his movements had become. The icy eyes dropped to the ground now as the girl hung her head almost shameful of what she was about to say, "Tell Pa that I will miss him dearly and that I wish he wouldn't worry, but that I'm not going to be coming back to the Keep." Silver head lifted as Aponi felt as if a weight had been lifted off of her, the decision was made and as far as she could tell it would be final. The fae wanted nothing more than to never walk the ground of those woods again.