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The sounds of the footfalls were unfamiliar in their lightness. They were not the soft pattering of the old crone Nehalennia, nor the heavier steps of the great mountain dog Ansui. They did not even sound much like the ghostly steps of the strange canine he sometimes hear and smelt but never saw. For a long while Pripyat hung back in the hall, up against the wall and merely listened to the pattern the feet made on the floor. Four feet, so the creature was unshifted, and curious. The being went from one space to another, pausing now and then, as if to investigating everything he came across. Pripyat barely had to guess to what kind of creature such footfalls belonged to, and when the smoky man finally stopped listening and started looking, what he found only confirmed his guess.
Pripyat knew who the child belonged to, though he spoke less and less often to Jace and Temo. The son of Jefferson was sure to know all that went on in Ichika, although he withdrew more and more into himself and into the Abbey. Pripyat knew that Noah had left, and with him some of the last lingering Phoenix Valley members, but Pripyat found it did not bother him as much as it might have. They were Ichikans now, and perhaps such a title did not suit Noah as the tattered man had hoped it would. Not all were meant for such a life, so secure and safe and sagely. Some would leave, but others would come, and still others would be born and it were these who would be the true Ichikans. Pripyat had no doubt of this as he approached the young boy.
"Namaste." Though the voice was quiet on such holy grounds, it was firm and sincere, holding more meaning in that single greeting than in most monologues he heard from the others. If the others knew what they meant when they said the greeting, Pripyat did not, but he hopes that the boy could sense the meaning behind the message. The man did not question why the boy was there, or where else he should be, because Pripyat was sure that there was no place better for the boy. Instead he only noted how the boy's head was turned and his ears alert as if listening for some words spoken by another being. "Did you hear something?"
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