spend all my time amongst the animals

[Kaena Lykoi]

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The coyote woman was often given to wandering, though these days she mostly kept to Inferni's territory. She had to be here; it was her responsibility now, though the weight of the clan did not fall on her shoulders as heavily as it did Gabriel's. He bore the brunt of the clan's heaviness, he was the head and heart and strong spine that held them all together, and she was his support. She preferred it this way, it felt right this way. Again the notion that all was circular crept into her head; she had ended up right back where she started, and it was a good, familiar feeling to be here.      The hybrid woman was finally intimately comfortable with the coyote's territory. She had been here since early June, the hot beginnings of a summer that had fizzled out and rained through most of July and August. Though it did not seem like such a long time, the hybrid woman realized it was nearly October now, and October meant her fifth month back among Inferni's ranks. October also inched her closer to her birthday, when she would be a decade old. That thought struck her, and she stopped in her tracks, pondering the realization. Ten years was a long time, and she did not know of any canines as old as she was, certainly not older. She had never met anyone who had survived so long in all her life, and here she was, ten years old and still stalking the earth.      Snorting, she shook the thoughts from her head and inhaled sharply, scenting a familiar canine on the breeze. She hadn't hardly seen Hezekiah since finding him on the borders, and she'd wondered after him for the past few days, though recent business had kept her refreshingly occupied. There was no sense of boredom to be had when one was head assistant in keeping after the clan. Now was a good time; there was nothing to occupy her time other than to catch up with clanmembers and see if they'd recovered any of their lost head thus far. Picking up the pace, she headed forward. He was difficult to spot for some time, but as the hybrid came closer she saw his head, extended above the edge of the waving grass.      Again, she remarked at his deep tan coat, the darker browns that were rarer among their golden and red coyotes. Even she was an anomaly with her grey, most of them seemed to run toward the fiery end of the coyote spectrum. Still, their coats made little difference in the big picture, since they were both coyotes. Well, Kaena was not really a coyote, was she? No, she was a hybrid—but she had lived as a coyote for most of her life, and she considered herself a coyote, and that was good enough for her. Hezekiah did not have to consider himself anything, he simply was a coyote and that was all there was to it. Still, defection was possible no matter how pureblood someone was; Zuli had proven that to her.      Smiling at the younger creature, the coyote nodded her head in greeting, choosing to settle down some feet away from him, her body turned in the same direction but angled at him slightly, her head still turned toward him, curiously looking over him. His signs of injury had decreased, but the most grievious of his wounds had been to his head, and it was not so obvious to tell when such injuries were cured. "How are you feeling?" she inquired, falling silent thereafter. Their surroundings were serene, and the coyote hoped she was not shattering his tranquility by intruding.

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