In the weighty, eternal, seconds-long stillness that followed her show of bravado, the stranger only spread his hands in a gesture of peace and stepped closer. His quiet power engulfed her like an ocean, driving her ears to flatten against the bulk of her deadlocks as she was instantly overwhelmed. She was an infant, she realized, standing in defiance against a giant.

How ridiculous her bravado had been, she chided herself... how utterly infinitesimal…

But then, as his flattering words lapsed back into silence, she remastered herself and replied in her native tongue as well, with a voice full of smoke and silver, “If peaceful you are, then so shall I be.” And she proved the truth of her word, immediately, by disarming herself.

Wotan rejoined her, then, and his familiarity instantly calmed her. She reached up to stroke his feathers in tacit appreciation, and he cawed at her as soothingly as his gravelly voice would allow. Together, they continued to watch the stranger before them, both tentatively curious to see what would happen next. With her free hand, though, Jarilo reached behind her to touch the tree she stood in front of, as if she were worried it would disappear. And maybe she was.

After all, only fools forgot their escape routes.

However, neither she nor Wotan had presence of mind to perceive the other stranger at all--that mysterious, watcher in the woods.