Up until this day she had always felt there were at least two warriors in the camp that she could trust, that would act with fairness, and that would consider the points of an issue before jumping to a conclusion based on hearsay. Now it seemed, she was down to just one, and the loss of the other was a pain she would bear in silence. That she had done something that disappointed him, had caused her to feel disappointed in herself and she had accepted the punishment given without complaint knowing that she should have been more careful - more aware of the limits that he had imposed, and why he had imposed them. She had accepted her fate even though she had felt at the time, that there was more to his anger than just the deed she had done unintentionally. Something unspoken that she could not put her finger on..At least until tonight. It wasn't so much how he had treated her daughter at the fires...She knew that there would be no warm welcome from the others of the camp..it was to be expected. She knew that they would drill Sorrel, and poke at her and insinuate that she would never have a place among the tribe. She could tolerate that. She could even tolerate him calling her a dweller and a stranger. She had kept her silence for the most part while it was happening. She had only spoken when asked a question directly, and kept her mouth shut even while he had said all the hurtful things that could possibly come to his mind to her daughter. During it all she felt there had to be something more than just disappointment in her failing to remember to stay inside the herds, that fueled the barrage and it wasn't till he brought up the talk she had had at the fire with a certain prospect that the answer revealed itself. It was the prospect. He had come right out and said the woman thought Kaeli didn't like her, and Kaeli couldn't understand what she had done to give the woman that impression. She treated her just like all the other prospects in the camp, giving her no more and no less attention, and acting around her just as she acted around the others. In terms of how Kaeli treated her, she would have thought the woman would have been relieved that Kaeli didn't come at her with a barrage of questions about why she thought she should be allowed at the fires, and what she thought she had to offer the tribe. Kaeli rarely did this, and in the only two conversations she had ever had with the woman, she had offered up varied opinions to be taken for whatever value the woman chose to find in them. Whether she liked or disliked what ideas Kaeli put forth, was to Kaeli , a moot point. If she didn't want to consider them she didn't have to - they were just ideas. Kaeli had gone to the main fire to work, not to teach the woman anything, and she had not gone out of her way to start the conversation in the first place. As far as whether she liked or disliked the woman..well she hadn't given it much thought..She treated the woman just as she treated the other prospects and it came to Kaeli that this might be more the problem than anything she had said in a conversation. She treated her like a prospect. And like she did with the other prospects, she greeted her like one. This explanation came to her like a lightening bolt. It made more sense than anything else Kaeli could come up with as to why the woman thought Kaeli didn't like her. Prospects were normally proud of being granted the chance to earn their place. They didn't mind being what they were, or being called prospect. This one apparently didn't like it. There had been talk, talk that Kaeli had largely ignored. But, taking everything she had heard, and everything that was happening now, she had to believe that it all was connected. Now that she had satisfactorily put things into a perspective she could understand, she let that go to think on what the next couple days were going to bring. The next day was going to bring some answers. If Sorrel was allowed to take her place as a prospect all would end well and Kaeli would go on with her life and just make sure that she kept herself away from the main fires when the woman was there. That was easy enough to do - she had her own fire to sit by and she could still see those people that she wanted to see without even having to go near the central fire. But, if Sorrel ended up dead or collared as a result of the things that were brought out tonight, that had nothing to do with her, Kaeli would not be able to live with herself, or trust the people that were supposed to be her family and this was an unsettling thought at the very least. All in all this day had had only one shining point to it and that was being able to see her daughter for what could very well be the last time. She had lost a friend that she had trusted almost as much as her mate, someone she thought of as a brother, and even if her daughter was allowed to prospect, Kaeli would never have the same trust for the man again and it was a sad thought. He hadn't come to her privately to speak about her talks with the woman, he had already made up his mind and plotted his course. Kaeli knew that it had never occurred to him to question what possibly reason Kaeli would have to dislike the prospect. He had chosen who he wanted to believe and burned a bridge because of it. She wished her mate was here to help her understand all of this, and she was certain that had he been, things would have been handled much differently. The thought that he may never get to meet the daughter he had swore to raise as his own was deeply depressing to Kaeli. When reshaka brought out the twins to nurse Kaeli held them for a while and had her take them back. She was too upset to want to spend any time with them and she didn't want them to pick up on her distress. After she made sure that Sorrel was covered and sleeping, she sat for a long time just looking at the night, then she would get up and pace.