Eithne hadn't expected him to punch her in the face. Suddenly she was on the ground and holding her face with both hands, her sword was in the dirt and all she could do was hold it, not giving him the pleasure of a groan, or a whimper of pain. It did hurt, a lot more than it should have hurt. A few inches to the left and he would have broken her nose. Maybe she shouldn't have kicked him so hard, but he hadn't been expecting that, had he. Both of them were still then, and he was crouched in front of her. Eithne glared over her hands at him. He'd wanted her to be honest and honest she'd been. There was nothing else she could be. No more ignoring the obvious and living outside of them.
She'd just have to be more careful.
The only thing he wanted to say was that he'd punched her in the face, still stunned by it. There were many times they'd ended up in fist fights, normally it was with a more childish anger on her part, or his part for that matter. Normally both of them didn't go right for their faces, but, well last time.. She'd most definitely left him a good bruise in his face, and he'd left her with some over her ribs. Always her ribs. This time she didn't know what to say. It wasn't as if she expected him never to do that again, but right at that moment. Didn't see it coming at all.
Something about the fact that he'd touched her at all without it being a blade was unsettling and exciting at once.
Eithne scowled more, listening to him. But gradually her face softened, even as she tried to force herself not to let it happen. She couldn't avoid being honest with him right now, even if that meant not scowling at him for punching her. He'd said exactly what she wanted him to say. That he'd never tell her she didn't belong because she did belong. Of course, when he added onto it she laughed. She couldn't help it. Eithne shook her head mostly to break eye contact. She couldn't stop looking at him, she needed to. "I won't kick you again unless you deserve it, that's the only promise I can make about that." She turned her head again, this time finding his eyes.
She felt better, immensely better. Even if her face ached, even if her arms would ache tomorrow, or her face would bruise. In a way she felt like Oisea never happened and they were fine. She knew that wasn't true, she knew nothing could be the same after that. But maybe that's what needed to happen. Eithne didn't want to focus on it too much for fear of everything returning to how it was if she thought of it too much. "I can't believe I didn't see that coming." She rolled her eyes up into her head. She should have seen it coming. She dropped back onto her back and put her hands over her face to hide the smile that was escaping when there was no room to smile at such a time. Hatharida was a ruin behind them, she shouldn't have felt as good as she did.
Just as quickly as it came, it was gone, and she could remove her hands and sit back up to face him. She wished Hasna wasn't there, then maybe there could be more honesty from the both of them, verbally at least. There were things she'd held back, she wondered if it was the same for him. But now that the silence was broken, and she felt better, and he wasn't being cruel.. Maybe that left the door open for more honesty the next time they were alone. That was of course, when they weren't buried in work.
There was a long stretch of silence there, between them. She just watched him, and he was just watching her. Her voice was softer now, not amused, or angry. "What do you want?"