Isolation was very much a part of Vesper’s life, and for much of her life it failed to bother her. She was born to a single mother, wandering lonely paths, rarely coming across strangers to talk to. Her sister and she had played in isolation from each other, other than those short periods where they curled close for warmth and safety during the harsher days.
And then her mother had died, and her father had taken Sparrow away, and Vesper had been isolated once more. She had traveled without kith or kin to keep her company. It wasn’t until she had joined up with the small band of wolves and met Juniper that she’d found a connection—a red string tying the girls’ hearts together. Ves had protected her and run with her, had tumbled in the long grass near the bank of a stream with her, but in the end, isolation had found her once again. A snap of her jaws, a pressure against a screaming throat: she had taken out a tyrant, and none would follow her, not even June.
Even now she was isolated, no matter how many friendly faces she’d come across in Nova Scotia. She was by herself because life sucked, and while for much of her life it failed to bother her—
Vesper was a little lonely.
It was difficult standing still in a world of rumors and factions and whatever dark creatures were lurking in ’Souls. The pack wolves were patrolling and gathering information, the loners flitting around trying to avoid conflict. She barely saw a face more than twice, and while normally she didn’t mind being on her own, today she was feeling down.
The small tawny wolf yawned then let her breath out in a heavy sigh, resting her chin on the arm of the couch she’d curled up on. It had been thrown out on the sidewalk sometime before the demise of mankind, reasonably sturdy despite being attacked by rodents over the years. Her large ears turned occasionally in a façade of alertness, but honestly, she wouldn’t notice someone getting murdered more than ten yards from where she’d curled up. Of course, she wouldn’t admit this to anyone, least of all herself.
The city was cool today; autumnal winds coasted leisurely across the cracked pavement, flattening the tufts of grass and whistling through cars and gaps between buildings. The heat of summer was no more than a memory, and it seemed like forever since she’d arrived in Nova Scotia. Still, there seemed to be little change in her life since then, and the static nature of the world only depressed her more.
When the wind blew at her face, she blinked rapidly then ducked her muzzle between her forelegs, blue eyes closing. She looked like a little fox huddled up against a blizzard rather than a scarred loner on a couch, but right now she didn’t care. She simply kept her head hunched and hoped for sleep to take her.
