Iopah couldn't meet Enoki's bright gaze. Now that she understood this woman to be Kele's sister, she was recognizing him in her every gesture. The amber gaze was remembered too well to be returned without a burning sense of guilt. How many combined hours had Kele stared her down, silently willing her to understand? In all those hours Iopah had glared defiantly back, refusing the explanation he had to offer. She'd wanted to leave, he wanted to stay, for a reason she still didn't understand. It didn't matter that she'd been right in that battle, when he died she had lost the war anyways. She couldn't meet those amber eyes again.
Enoki was saying something again in the same soft pleading tone that had been ignored earlier, however this time Iopah listened. The conversation went around her, but she did not turn to follow it. She was still standing partway between Koda and Enoki, and she saw the amber eyes fix on the male behind her. Enoki may as well have asked for the sky, and now she was begging and pleading for something Iopah would fall short of. Her ears did not swerve to catch a reply, a telling gesture in and of itself. She did not need permission, the Woodland wolf had already made up her mind. She'd already let one Ashrelle sibling down. Whatever this woman was to her now, it wasn't enemy. But where to start, what to say?
"The day he came to live with-- " No, that was more lie than truth and certainly Enoki knew it. Iopah flattened her ears further in guilt and pushed out, "I remember the day my parents took him. My brother and sister were gone, exploring without me. He was by himself and I," Her sentence broke off and she swallowed repeatedly, looking down. "I didn't know what my mother and father had done and I... I just walked up to him, like he should know me, and started trying to play. We learned to hunt together. I was closer to him than my siblings." Iopah knew how this would sound. Koda was still behind her and while she wanted to go to him, something kept her frozen. Somehow she was letting him down by saying this. "He saved my life once. One night the hounds found us and chased us up the mountain. It was after the famine had started and we were weak. Everyone else made it over the rock bank. My sister and I tried, but we couldn't. Kele turned to come back for me and Rose ran at the dogs. They were still ripping her apart while Kele dragged me over the bank." She stopped, swaying slightly. There were more things she had to say. Enoki needed enough to know her brother. But it hurt to remember these things, and her mind was stuck spinning in the dark past.
Her feet moved on their own. She turned without a sound and crept toward Koda. He couldn't protect her from this conversation, but just being next to him helped. It always did. Once Iopah was where she belonged, the Woodland wolf leveled an expectant gaze on the Ashrelle woman. No doubt she had more questions.