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Tayui flicked her ears forward, back, and then forward again when Jefferson spoke, not sure how to react. Of course he was better off dead, but Tayui would have liked to have been the one to put him in the ground. Of course, Jefferson didn’t need to know that, so she just nodded in response. She didn’t try to hide her look of disgust, or whatever look she had, so she found it was just easier to nod. She could tell from his expression – and obviously his words – that he had not been very close to Haku.[/html]
When Jefferson mentioned Ceres, Tayui nodded again. She remembered Ceres, but only vaguely as the mother of Laika, whom she had thought she had accidentally murdered at one point. It had not in fact been Laika and she had not in fact killed anyone, but meeting the devil that was Bloodbane Wolff did that to most. She realized now how erroneous her assumption had been, but recalled the fear and panic she had felt at the time. For Ceres, however, that was the only memory she had of the wolf – discussing the event with Fly and deciding to venture to Clouded Tears to inform Ceres of her daughters’ death. Somehow, something had happened to stop the journey, or perhaps they had found out. Whatever it was, they had never actually gone to Ceres and Tayui had never actually met her. But she still recognized the name and it still evoked a slight sense of dread to this day.
Tayui nodded when Jefferson revealed his heritage. He was the son of Acid and Colibri; that made sense, somehow. Acid had been some sort of coyote mix, and now that she thought about it, she supposed it would make sense that an arctic wolf (at least, that’s what she suspected Colibri was) and a part-coyote could produce a child that resembled Jefferson. He had a bit of the Soul family hiding underneath his scars.
She was not, however, sure what to think about the other information he provided. Why wouldn’t Colibri recognize him? Why would it be better if they did not meet? What was so horrible that he had to hide from her, his own mother? She knew if Attila came to her with tales of a sordid deed she knew she would still help him, no matter how horrible it had been. If only her mother had been there to help her through the time she had thought she had killed someone, then perhaps she would not have spent so much time her first year in Jaded Shadows lost and confused.
She wished she could say the past was past and gone, but obviously, it was not. Not with her and Jefferson discussing old tales such as these.
She didn’t know what to say to his doubts about his mother, so she chose to respond to his question instead. Maybe it was weak, but it was certainly the easier path to take.
“No,” she replied, “I was a leader of Shadowed Sun at the time. But Haku would have been right. Now that you mention it, I remember when I met Colibri after the fire, she mentioned Haku to me, but said they parted ways.” She paused, but continued. “Either way, I haven’t seen Colibri since then. I told her she could find me on Halcyon Mountain when Shadowed Sun was still a pack there, but… I didn’t hear much else from her.”