Here with you

Mort’s shout had calmed her down. If it was inside, it had to be… She closed the door and put the spear back where it belonged, casually walking back to the living room, where she found… Mort standing on a couch. She frowned. “You’re a vampire,” she calmly stated, as if this was news for him. “And you’re seeking refuge from an animal. That got inside through a window. On a couch.” Every word was spoken slowly, in the calmest of tones. She nodded a bit to herself and blinked a few times, as if that was going to make her grasp on the situation any better. “I think it will be quite capable of climbing a couch,” she went on, raising a brow. She looked around, but the creature was nowhere to be found. If it wasn’t who she thought it was, they might be in a bit of trouble. Though he had said it was not human and a monster would not fit through a window, thank the Mother.

---

‘Well. In my defence… It caught me off guard,’ he told her and Lexa pressed her lips together, but that couldn’t help her from laughing at him. “Truly,” she said, in between laughter. “I am impressed.” Kidding. She wasn’t. Amused? Definitely. Impressed? Less so. She felt like she might be the hero if it came to those two and if they ever actually met a monster, she might be the one needing to save him, rather than the other way around. An interesting discovery. Good for her ego, that was sure.

And it seemed that she had been right. A huge cat came walking in. His steps slow, his body low to the ground, as he worked his way to Lexa and pressed his head against her leg. She immediately put her hand on his head as he walked around her in a circle, to sit down at the side of her feet, squinting his eyes at the stranger as he kept making the same, soft purring noise. He disliked strangers in general, but tended to accept them once he had found out that they meant no harm to his owner.

“This is Saggitarius. My cat.”

---

Saggitarius. Lexa remembered the day she found him, when he was but a few weeks old. She had held him up in the air by his fur and he had made the cutest noises, screaming for his dead mother. He was the only one still alive and if it had been up to the poachers, he would have not lived through that night either. She had needed to fight multiple off at once, causing her to get seriously hurt at the time. She had been lucky that doctor Breck had managed to patch her up as he had always done. The scars on her side were still visible, but she lived the day. And she got a pet in return.

Mort told her that it was not a cat. She shrugged and walked back to the couch, to take place on it and tap her hand on the empty spot next to her while she raised a brow at Mort. “I found him when he was but a cub. Poachers killed his mother and I took him in,” she told him. “He’s been living with me since. He won’t do anything,” she decided to reassure the vampire. Meanwhile Saggitarius made his way further into the living room, taking place on a pelt on the floor, slowly moving his tail as he stared at the vampire.

---

The vampire sat down and she turned a bit again, so she would be facing him instead. Her eyes were fixed on him as he seemed distracted by the big cat still, who seemed to be enjoying the warmth more than anything. The creature was used to living around people now, always walking back and forth between the Heart and the Watch, being fed by different villagers around the country. He was a friendly creature, though Lexa sometimes worried that he was too friendly. It would only take one poacher… Hence why she had been training him to keep distance, to stop approaching strangers. Luckily, as he got older, it seemed he grew more weary of strangers anyhow, ignoring those he had cuddled before.

‘Why couldn’t it be a cute duckling though?’ Meet Mort: the vampire who jokes when he gets uncomfortable. Lexa sighed. “Because they would not make a good guard… cat,” she told him, shrugging. “He is not fully grown yet, but a child of about nine months old now if I remember correctly,” she went on. A child who weighed more than she did, but still. He was young. His behavior would change over time and it might eventually get to the point where she needed to stop him from entering Mother’s Heart. She was aware of that, but for now… he was good.

“You were scared of my cat,” she said. She bit her lip in an effort to not laugh again. “Truly everything about you screams that you’re a good guy, doesn’t it?” she went on, shaking her head lightly. Such a typical goodie two-shoes. Scared of a predator while he was the scarier predator. Not wanting to hurt anyone. But the thing that showed it most, was that he had actually gone on his knees today, as if he had done any wrong.

---

“Well,” Lexa started, when Mort told her he was glad Saggy had not found him here by himself. “He would definitely make an effort to rip an intruder apart,” she noted. After all, he was her guardian pet. Why would he not? An uninvited intruder was never welcome, especially in the Watch. He knew that the Heart was open to everyone with good intentions and only tended to intrude when chaos was about to unfold. The slowly approaching mountain lion tended to easily solve some quarrels. Not just because they feared the beast: but because they feared what would happen if its owner found out they hurt it.

Mort changed position and asked her how she could still say that, which made her frown. She did not quite understand. “Nothing happened,” she told him, after a minute or two in silence. “It could have. Absolutely,” she went on, pausing for a few seconds again before continuing. “But it didn’t. So why would I not?” A faint smile appeared on her face as she asked her question. He had stopped himself from hurting her, even though it went against all of his instincts. Was that not a sign that he was not a monster?

---

‘When I said I hadn’t killed anyone, I was not lying. But it wasn’t the full truth either,’ were definitely unexpected words to hear, though maybe she should have known that it could not have been that easy. The vampire told her about how he messed up a few times and how he had not been able to end their suffering. He did not kill them, but someone else had to because of his actions. She fell quiet for a bit. It did not change her opinion on him, why would it? It was to be blamed on the curse and he clearly had trouble with it. She believed that instincts were part of nature. If Saggitarius would end up killing a child, she would not call him a monster. She would blame herself for not anticipating that it would happen. If Mort would kill a person due to his curse, he would meet the consequences. Then be expected to do better.

“You can not help what you are,” she started, carefully looking for the words. “You can make sure you are who you want to be, however,” she went on. “We all make mistakes and we all face the consequences. But that does not make you a monster.” Her gaze was fixed on his face as she spoke, her voice soft. She felt sad seeing him troubled like this, though she was unsure if her words would be of any help. After all - was she not the true killer here?

---

‘Suck it up,’ would have been a more natural response for the woman. Showing weakness, acknowledging your mental issues… It was not something the people of Vanaheim were quick to do. Mental health problems were not real, were just words whispered into the heads of the weak. If you were anxious, or filled with fear, you should be thrown to the wolves. The strong would return leading the pack, while the weak would end up dead. It was the way of her people. Simplicity, distance and survival above all. Everything else was just a waste of time. And yet, here she was. It was ironic that it had been a vampire out of all people to make her feel like an actual human being again, rather than just the Commander.

‘Damn you,’ he whispered. She had seen him rub his eyes and laughed shortly as he told her that she had almost made him cry. “All that happened today,” she spoke, falling silent for a second. Motivational speech was not her strongest point. “Is that you won,” she smiled, shaking her head a bit. She was not talking about the fight between them. “Your instincts will not define you. And because of that, you are a better man than most I know.”

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