"It may not matter to you but it matters to me!" Winny shot back, knowing that she should be trying to placate him. He could still hurt her, and what would happen to him? Probably just a slap on the wrist by Management, or getting kicked out of the Cirque, never to return. Surely there was no actual death sentence in place for those who broke that rule. "When you've been on the run for your entire life, you don't trust easily! And you literally eat people. I wanted to be your friend, yes, so I drank with you and went in your river and made you chocolate-covered bacon, but I didn't know whether it was safe to tell you what I was."
He paced, she raised her hands, trying to placate him somehow. "I was scared. I was disoriented from the move. I just wanted to be somewhere that smelled safe, so I came here. I'd like to be part of your herd but I know I went about it all wrong. I'm sorry." She wasn't sorry for hiding what she was, but she was sorry for breaching the territory of his herd without asking for permission.