The silver hybrid wandered outside of Inferni's territory again, heading for the woods again. She did not travel south; there was still some lingering remnant of fear there. There was no body—he was not dead. And now he would be after her blood, she was almost sure of it. So she headed south, keeping more to the furthest edges of the Dampwoods, since she hardly wished to encounter Haku Soul again. There was no reason for a repeat of their last meeting, not so soon after it. Not while her wounds were still healing. The chunk he'd taken from her shoulder had scabbed over a few weeks ago, and the hybrid woman had been soaking herself in the sea like mad, applying Naniko's herbs to her neck every night before she slept and every morning when she arose. Without those helpful plants, the hybrid woman figured that wound would have taken twice as long to heal, maybe more.



    Most of her other nicks and scratches had already healed, and there was a new pink scar on her face, crossing the crescent scar Salvaged had so lovingly placed on her cheek. Now it was an x-shape, the smaller, newer scar delivered by Haku slicing down the absolute center of the older wound. The hybrid woman did not care; her old wounds and marks were lovely to her. The coyote woman knew most would consider her scars ugly, but generally, those were the types of canines she would not have associated with anyway—the kind of wolf who lived a sheltered, fluffy little life. Those types had no idea what hardship was, and they viewed her scars as damage done to her face. In reality, they were symbols, evidence of everything she had endured in her lifetime.



    There was a familiar scent on the wind, though the coyote could not place it at first. It made her muzzle wrinkle, and she cocked her head, halting her stride completely, her foot falling to the earth. She crouched down, bent at the knees, balancing herself with her good arm. The coyote woman inhaled deeply, still vexed as to who it was she was scenting on the wind. It was someone very familiar, that much was certain. Kaena could not help but begin to track the scent trail, laced with fear. If this was someone she knew, perhaps she could help. The hybrid woman remained hunched over, walking in her two-legged form as though she had four. Her digitigrade legs allowed this easily, though now the limp was even more pronounced.



    Annoyed, the hybrid woman began to shift, fluidly bypassing her Secui form for her Lupus, completing the shift quickly and effortlessly. Kaena had been shifting a long time, and though it had been quite strange at first, the hybrid woman became accustomed to it easily enough. When she had four legs, the going became much easier, naturally, and she trotted forward quickly, her grizzled head darting this way and that as she peered around, trying to determine the source of the scent. The woman actually circled the tree where the other coyote hid once before stopping, perplexed as to the strength of the scent without an obvious source. Grumbling to herself, the coyote almost walked away before her golden eye fell on russet red fur, cleverly hidden beneath some underbrush. "Who's in there?" she asked, still unable to attach a face to the scent.