---
She answered honestly. "I can fight. And I am hungry. I can smell blood from farther than before. I can change forms now without losing my mind." Her fingers tightened once against the table edge. "But I do not know how I will react if I kill while hungry."
She told the truth. That was better than pride.
Sekhmet nodded once. "Then tonight you learn proper hunting."
The room changed. Not much but it was enough.
Lily's eyes sharpened. Vera and Vela both looked at him more closely. Bat Bat's entire face lit up again because tonight you learned sounded like trouble, and trouble was one of her favorite educational formats.
Mira leaned back slightly. "You are taking her out?"
Sekhmet replied, "Yes."
She asked, "Tonight."
He replied again, "Yes."
Mira almost smiled. "Then this is not a council. This is the distribution."
"It is both."
That was true enough.
He began assigning clearly after that.
