(365) For Ink!
Levent is by Sie!
It felt strange to head this far north again. While he had ventured into the woods before, stealing toys and necessities for his children from abandoned cabins, it had been a long time since Levent had wandered freely beyond Halifax. For much of that time, he had been a loner—an exotic merchant dropped into a new land, hunting in the forests and gaining as much intelligence as he could from the Nova Scotia locals. He’d had no responsibilities, only a whimsical will that covered up a dark and burning hunger for that thing he looked for.
Now, the Turk needed to come to terms with the consequences of that hunger, as well as re-bond with his friend. He had left Cercatori d’Arte under the guise of exercising the horse he’d traded for in Vinátta, the beautiful but occasionally ill-tempered paint mare. He knew that the others in the pack would help take care of Hotaru, although every day spent away from his children had him longing to see them again, see how they got a little bigger and brighter every day, even as wriggling nurslings.
“I know you’re thinking about them,” came a murmur from the side. The wolf glanced at the white tomcat balanced in the saddle, while tightening his hold on Mai’s lead rope. He shook his head and kept walking, the horse plodding somewhat complacently on the loamy ground. Frowning, the feline changed the subject. “So what do you expect to do, mate? Find the bag and convince her to stop mauling people?”
Levent scowled, and Wilson fell silent, flattening his ears and digging his claws into the leather of the saddle. Sensing the tension, Mai snorted and aimed a nip at the luperci, who scolded her in low speech more roughly than usual. This wasn’t exactly how the trip was supposed to go; he wanted to ease the awkwardness between himself and the cat rather than enable it. Still, there was too much on his mind for this to be a simple jaunt, and he knew he had to fix that somehow—whether through confronting the problems or lazily distracting himself from them.
He prayed for the latter to come.
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