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When Tayui had recognized her loneliness, she had begun to weep. It had been more because she recognized that loneliness was a luxury. When you knew your time alone would end and that soon, you would see someone else, it was a luxury. But when you did not know how long the solitude would last, then it became a curse. Now she realized that all the times she had spent cooped up in her den were luxuries she could no longer afford. Without the promise of a family waiting for her, her isolation was no longer a breath of fresh air, but a constricting fog that burned her insides.
Ironically, while Tayui had been pondering the meaning of loneliness and crying over her abandonment, another canine managed to hear her. Tayui had been so lost in her own thoughts that she had not heard the other female approach; when the woman called her name, Tayui flinched and whipped her head around to see who had found her.
She frowned, trying to place the scent and the appearance, but found no home for either one. This was someone new: a stranger or passerby. Forgetting about her sobs, Tayui wondered how the other female had found her. The arctic luperci considered replying with a common yes, fine, but could not bring herself to do it. She could not lie anymore. Not now, not again.
“No, not really,” she replied at last. While Tayui would have had good reason to lie to this stranger, she did not have the heart. She wanted a connection or some semblance of reassurance from someone. She needed someone, anyone, to talk to.