07-26-2009, 04:53 AM
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| http://digital-bonsai.com/katew/rp/kae/kae_jaws.jpg); background-position:top center; background-repeat:no-repeat; background-position:fixed; padding-top:221px; padding-left:25px; padding-right:25px; padding-bottom:10px;"> The coyote eyed Anselm, her damaged gaze falling on his bloodied red one. He was not so far off from Gabriel's dead father, though Ahren certainly did not have coyote blood. Still, that quarter of a coyote was muted in Anselm, and he was easily passable for a wolf. She supposed he liked it that way; he seemed like the type for surreptitious action and he had spoken of going to pay the other packs a visit. Again, the grizzled hybrid was glad Anselm was on their side. It could have just as easily gone the other way, especially if the Inferni that had traveled over the mountain was a weaker clan. It would seem Anselm was not the type of creature who would align himself with a struggling group. He had done well to choose Inferni, the only clan that had survived the trek from their prior home. There was special distinction in that. The hybrid smiled that same toothy smile, and wondered just how much spare time Anselm had. She was the keeper of Inferni's knowledge, by the length of her tenancy and designated rank of Veritas. The gray hybrid was determined to live up to that; Inferni's story would not die with her. Again she yearned to find a coyote with the power to write; she had met Giggle and knew he was capable, but she had not seen him since their first meeting. Besides, she didn't know him well enough to ask him to undertake such a gargantuan task. "I led Inferni twice. The first time, I took over after Zarah departed," she said, pausing. She wasn't sure how to characterize her own departure—she surely didn't want to rehash the details of her first viable pregnancy and Zulifer over again. "I guess you could say I was too distraught to lead," she continued, supposing it would have to do. There was no avoiding questions when it came to history; her personal life had directly interacted with her clan life. It had caused her to go mad and leave. "Zarah's adopted son, Arlo, took over after that. I suppose there just weren't many coyotes after we gathered the first batch up, because by the time the wolves had their vengeance on Arlo, it was just Kesho left in Inferni. Kidorah Talik rebuilt us," she explained. She hadn't been here to see the specifics of ruin during Arlo's rule. The silver canine supposed Arlo was not specifically to blame for the clan's downfall; Kaena hadn't exactly given him a stable place to stand after her sudden departure. And as often as she'd begrudged Kidorah for placating the wolves, the elder woman would not deny credit where it was due. Certainly, if it weren't for that coyote woman and her eventual co-rank and successor, Segodi, Inferni would be nothing more than dust by now. One coal-powdered shoulder shrugged, and she swung her head to look at him, wondering if he'd want to know more. He hadn't expressed the same eagerness Halo had in learning the clan's history, and that was fine by her. At least she had given him a foundation upon which to stand, and he could always find her later if he had a few hours to burn. Instead, she listened to him, wondering what it was like to grow up in such a place. Killing children surely wasn't beyond the gray female, though she had avowed only to do so in times of war anymore. Like that Aremys kid. No, he hadn't needed to die, but it was war, and Kaena and her brood had been looking to inflict as much terror and anguish on Aremys as possible. Kaena had always been the type to dwell in history; her mind was just a long, bloody trail of memories, long-dead and long-gone faces with half a name or no name at all attached. She did not feel as though she had seen too much, however; if that was true, she certainly would have wandered off of a cliff by now. The world was wide and an even longer, possibly more brutal future stretched forward in front of her. Anselm had discussed his history rather neutrally, displaying little overt emotion or feeling as he discussed his origins. "You're a stronger man for it," she said, very simply. It was true, and it held for almost everything in life: whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger. There was an off-white smile across her scarred features for a moment, and she focused on the earliest part of his speech. "If there wasn't chaos where we were from, we wouldn't have ended up where we are. If your homelands hadn't been swept into a resource war, you would have stayed there. Maybe you wandered a bit while you're young, but if it was good and peaceful that place would be home, not Inferni," she rambled, unable to translate the thought in her head to verbal communication. At least Inferni was good. Even if it wasn't paradise rediscovered here, the coyote clan provided a stable home for the hybrids and coyotes who otherwise would stand alone or in tiny family groups against the wolves. |