grasped so delicate by one's eye

[Tayui Aston]

Location: foot of Halcyon Mountain, a few kilometres west of Anathema
Time: late afternoon
Form: lupus

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[/html]They needed a home. Tayui was completely certain of this fact; so much so that she knew it rang deep in her bones. It wasn’t just a home for Tayui and Anu alone, either: Anu’s son, Oak, was one of the displaced members now in need of a home. Tayui didn’t know if he would cling to his mother like Claudius had, or, if like her son too, he would strike out on his own path. Either way, she knew that she and Anu needed somewhere and if she could help it, maybe she could find the right pack for Oak too, regardless of whether it was with them. She just wanted to help.

She’d set out to find her own path. She passed many known packs along the way: Cour des Miracles, where Anu’s other son lived; Cercatori d’Arte, a pack that was relatively new, but still somewhat unknown to Tayui; Casa di Cavalieri, where she had recovered from her wounds under Jazper and Regner’s care; Anathema, her old home and one to which she did not think she could return; and Inferni, the clan she could not join, but would—if she could. As she ventured farther north, skirting along the borders of The Dampwoods and Halcyon Mountain, she noticed that she scent of another pack had faded. Before, she’d caught traces of the scent around these parts: the scent of Ichika no Ho-en. She wondered if another pack had fallen.

That was certainly disappointing. There were no more that she knew of aside from Salsola, and she could never venture any farther west than here lest she be discovered. If Eris found her, Tayui suspected that she would kill her. Letting that disgusting pet cat eat Eris’ child hadn’t been enough: now she had gone and personally attacked the leader. Tayui knew there was a certain point when she could not go back.

She tried not to let this weigh too heavily on her mind. She knew her cause had been just, but her methods had been questionable at best. She had tasted her vengeance and was sated; but now she paid the price. She sighed when she realized she had been pacing back and forth in a loop, letting her anxieties take physical form. As always, for long journeys such as these, she was comfortable in her lupus form. But now, it seemed as though she would never shake this feeling of anxiety.[html]

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