07-15-2009, 09:19 PM
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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;"> Naturally, the hybrid woman was ignorant to any personal goings-on between Jezebel and Gabriel; her son had not spoken of such things to her. Then again, why would he? It was not as if he needed or wanted Kaena's approval, and certainly, she couldn't have objected to anyone her son claimed to love, even if she had been a full-blooded wolf. The hybrid was far beyond controlling her second eldest litter; they were nearly four years of age, clearly past the point of adulthood. Still, if they sought her, she would be here for them, regardless of the past—even for Vitium. Surely they couldn't meet on Inferni's territory, but maybe the elder hybrid would dare to meet her traitorous son on neutral grounds—so long as she had an ally lurking somewhere behind her, in hiding and waiting to strike if Vitium decided to attack. Such a thought chilled the gray hybrid, and she wondered if her son was capable of a betrayal of that magnitude. The darker coyote spoke, and Kae grinned. Valkyrie was a distant relative to the silver-white hybrid—kind of. The de le Poer youth was the child of Ryan, who was Anselm's daughter, and Anselm de le Poer was something of a cousin to Gabriel and probably Ahren as well. Though Kaena shared no direct blood with any of these canines, there was surely a connection between them, forged at first between Kaena and Ahren. The Lykoi woman had a fair amount of respect for the de le Poer family anyway, and even if Valkyrie hadn't been an Inferni coyote, had she introduced herself with surname, the Lykoi woman would have been perfectly pleasant. She was curious about her very small granddaughter, as well—she did not know Zana at all, aside from their brief, awkward meeting on the borders. The hybrid matron was troubled by this; her other grandchildren had been relatively accepting of the hybrid matron, as most of them were too young to have remembered her anyway. Zana, especially—the coyote was just nine or ten months of age by now, far too young to recall Kaena's departure from Inferni and the Aquila position, yet she had showed the most discontent with the elder wolf's return. It was something to think about, anyway, until Kaena actually encountered the girl in a more comfortable setting. She was elusive, however, and the Inferni matron hadn't seen hide nor hair of the cinnamon girl since her acceptance at the border more than a month ago. Her name had inspired recognition in the darker clan member, and the coyote nodded. Surely this was how she was most well known; her children and grandchildren had done well to propagate not only the Lykoi surname but the legend of its founder through the coyote clan and even to distant, faraway lands such as the place where Jezebel and Gabriel had met. Kaena wondered if the stories exceeded or exagerated her in any way; surely most of her children saw her in a better light than the rest of the world. Jezebel's next revelation interested Kaena, and her gold-yellow eye surveyed Jezebel with a new intrigue and new question lurking deep in her violent skull. "You knew Gabriel when he was younger?" she asked, her curiosity clearly piqued. "I'm sorry to say he was never very specific when speaking of the Scintilla war," she said, her tone certainly reflecting the apology. Her son had spoken of the war only once to her—explaining why it had occurred and the basics of what had happened—but it had surely been a long time, and she did not know why her son had been drawn to this place in the first place. Jezebel certainly could reveal shades of Gabriel's history his mother had not realized before. Jezebel was pretty and petite, her features all the tapering, slender looks of coyote—but for all her beauty, she was still quite obviously a deadly woman. The Lykoi woman grinned, and she figured Jezebel probably meant the eye and all of her scars—surely they made the Veritas easily identifiable. There weren't many creatures walking the earth that looked like she did. No, she hadn't participated in warfare during her youth or been indoctrinated with religion or some other burning cause in her chest; still, the scars alone were proof enough of her ability to survive. "What was it like for you?" the hybrid asked suddenly, content to laze around for a long few moments before they undertook the seemingly gargantuan task of moving the deer's still viable meat to the caves for others to finish; both of the coyotes appeared quite full and content, and the hybrid had no problem catching up and learning a bit about her new clanmate while she digested. |