08-28-2009, 06:48 PM
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| http://digital-bonsai.com/katew/rp/kae/kae_fall.jpg); background-position:top center; background-repeat:no-repeat; background-position:fixed; padding-top:240px; padding-left:15px; padding-right:15px; padding-bottom:10px;"> My turn to apologize. D: The silver hybrid was not much of a deep thinker; her mind was often jagged, disjointed, and difficult to follow. She was capable of delving into deeper subjects, of course, it was simply something her mind did not often wander to. The coyote generally kept her mind as occupied as possible, caught up in the present—but for her efforts, when she ceased to give her brain something to chew on, her head wandered into the past. The present wasn't nearly as blood-stained and dark, and for Kaena there was a strange mix of contentment and boredom in this. On one hand, it was good to have vanquished her nemesis at long last. It was good to return to this place knowing devils and demons were long dead, left to rot in that other, burned place. On the other, there was that restless sense of needing some goal, the idea that she required something to rally against. Maybe it was that lack of purpose which she was missing here. Still, the coyote woman did not believe she was young enough to incite riots and war anymore. She was nearing on ten years of age, and her body might not survive the rigors of war anymore—and surely she could not afford to engage in another four-year-long personal war between herself and another creature. There was only room enough for one of those in a lifetime, and the silver hybrid had wasted far too much of her precious time with Salvaged Eternity. The deed was done, vengeance for Zulifer exacted years after his death. The coyote woman did not think of him as often as she did in the past; it seemed with time, all wounds to the heart healed. There were other dead presences to concern her, anyway—too many after the years she'd spent on this earth. The coyote wearing clothes remained expressionless, carefully neutral. Kaena found him rather fascinating; he seemed to be a stoic animal, carved of stone. If she hadn't heard him speak or seen him move, she might have believed him to be a statue placed in the tree. He commented on her family, and she nodded almost vigorously. "I have many children, and grandchildren," she said, marveling at the word. "I wouldn't have ever thought it possible. When I was young, I was the only Lykoi left," the coyote added, silently tacking on, and I wanted it to stay that way. The silver hybrid no longer thought like that—the children which had come from her body were the greatest gifts the men in her lives had ever given her, each of them unique and lovely in his or her own way. Even Vitium and Andrezej, the traitors to their own blood, were still loved in some strange, distant way by the Lykoi matron. It was the absolute truth; if Vitium had been anything but her son when he had saved that strange wolf's life and proclaimed himself against the Lykoi and Inferni, she would have killed him. Kaena was not a merciful creature, and when the crown of Inferni sat atop her skull, if it was possible, there was even less tolerance in her bones. The ashen coyote understood what he meant, almost—when she was young, reckless and ruthless, she would not have wanted anyone to hold any attachment to her. When she had first come to this place—or the other, burned place; they were virtually the same in Kaena's mind, since they were none too far from each other anyway and many of the same canines and family names had migrated here anyway—she had fought mindlessly, chasing after death each day. Back then, Kaena couldn't have imagined living so long, and she had been convinced she would die every day, so for any creature to have formed attachment to her would have been a recipe for loss and heartache. "You know what's best for yourself, I would think," she said, adding that same eerie, scarred smile. "But sometimes others can surprise us," she said. The silver hybrid wasn't so crass as to suggest Onus should run out and start breeding rampantly or engage in a lifelong search for his family, no—but maybe if he accidentally came across family of his own, he would like them. Family was good to have—if they were good to you, anyway. Love was also strange in that way—for all her fury where wolves were concerned, she had loved more wolves than she had coyotes. |