---
Silence…. Not empty. The kind of silence that meant someone was counting to ten and running out of patience halfway.
"Kai," she said at last, very evenly.
He winced. He knew that tone. He had heard a version of it from Luna when he had tried to tell her she did not need to stay up all night over his sick warriors. He had heard it from Akayoroi when he had suggested she did not need to risk her own brood in a raid.
"Tell me who attacked you," Ikea said, the evenness cracking around the edges. "Yes, I did not tell you much about me. Yes, I did not ask much about you either. We only shared one night together. Technically. But you are… sometimes important to me. I hold power here. Especially in the surrounding forest. The desert is a different matter, but my name, my title earn respect from everyone with sense. Tell me about your enemies."
"I do not doubt you," Kai said quietly. "I know you are not just a woman who appears in caves to ruin my focus."
