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It seemed the sun only came out sporadically, both in the sky and in her heart. Cercelee bargained with both the weather and the universe to give her a small break, but so far it had come to naught. Slay’s presence lifted some of the weight, but she found little time to devote completely to him and she was beginning to feel the strain of that too. Tensions were high, perhaps as high as they had been during the war with Inferni even. She knew she was not the only one to feel it. Still the pups were missing, yet family members perhaps none too welcome by their relatives appeared one after another. Ade and Sankor searching for Alexey, Coli’s returning turning Haku’s life upside momentarily, Dutch, the brother Ril’o had mentioned with distaste, and now the icing on the cake: Sabeen. Cercelee had seen the women only at the pack meeting, and she couldn’t decide what she felt about the lady, but she was sure Svara would helpfully give her own opinion if asked. Cercelee didn’t need to ask.
The onslaught of appearances was strange, and Cercelee spent some time musing on the irony of the situation. The pups, so cherished to most the pack gone, while brother, sister, mother waltz into the pack and back into the lives of some who had wished to forget them. Was there anyone Cercelee had written off? Adrastos maybe, but it wasn’t the same. He had never been a tormentor, he did not have some secret to expose to her pack, and unlike the Koios there wasn’t anything left to salvage from their relationship. No, he was just a failed father, and Cer imagined him to be a broken old man. If he found his way to her, it would be no different than admitting a stranger, she knew nothing about him except his name.
Her mind, as she wandered further about the packlands, turned to a more pleasant idea. Perhaps, whatever force that was pulling forth family from the shadows would pull back Lisi and Tuki, dead as they were. They would be welcomed. The fanciful dream floated before her, asking to be grasped and Cercelee paid little heed to where she was going until she ran straight into the girl. Turning round a tree and she ran into the girl, without having seen her, heard her, or even smelt her first. Embarrassed, Cercelee bowed her head, and began to mutter an apology, but the words were forgotten at the sight of her covered eyes.
“Svara? What’s that on your face? What are you playing at?”
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