She was another long while in silence, making no more sound than the crunch of gravel underfoot. The surf swallowed the sound while waves rolled. A few speckled gulls took wing when the vampir pair drew too close.

"I wouldn't be here if you hadn't made that clear." She spoke slowly, half-haltingly, "I wouldn't have called you by wolf again. Hell's teeth, I wouldn't have left you in one piece in that madness. I..."

She shook her head, silver hand freed from its mate, mechanically jointed fingers working through the black of her short-shorn hair. "Brucolac, I've fucked up in my time. To horrifically devastating degrees. I'm not the sort of hypocrite who'll look you in the eye unfeelingly. There's not a soul that's perfect, and that some of us accomplish great things out of imperfection is... somehow more meaningful, I think. What matters is to acknowledge your mess, and to fucking mop it up. You're doing that. As far as I can tell, doing the damned best you can. Given... given everything." She made a vaguely all-encompassing motion.

"I respect that."