WC: 411
“Oh, I should have explained that better,” she replied sheepishly, adding a small chuckle in for good effect. “The name didn't have anything to do with it as far as I know. But luperci just disappeared with no word. Sometimes they would return with explanations — they left to search for a family member, or they were kidnapped, or had simply decided life in the pack wasn't for them. But they vanished so abruptly; families were torn apart. Sometimes when they returned, they forgot things behind,” she noted. She remembered how Conri Church had returned without a leg, and later it seemed, without a soul, if the murdered he committed were anything to go by. And how Shaeniire had returned with her memory in tact (finally), and how her return had such joyous consequences for Tayui, and caused such mourning for Fatin. Tayui knew Fatin had forgiven her for that, but she still thought about it.
She supposed this must sound horribly shocking to someone from somewhere so different. While Tayui saw many of the AniWayan traditions as quaint or strange, she supposed Nayati would view their culture in a similar way. Although Dawali had warned Tayui there would be strong consequences for single mothers (or, more specifically, mothers without a mate), no harm had come to Tayui yet. Of course, Tayui was not foolish enough to think that this was not because anyone had gossipped about her. If they had, either Dawali had dealt with them in his gentle, but nonetheless firm way, or simply had never heard of it. But given the small number of 'true' AniWayans in the pack, Tayui doubted it even happened. In 'Souls and Bleeding Souls, things like this happened. There wasn't a rhyme or a reason to it; it was just how life was. And at the same time, Tayui didn't know if it was bad spirits, as Nayati thought, that plagued them. It was canine nature, perhaps, or the way they had grown. The luperci that inhabited the lands made the decisions themselves. Certainly, Tayui acknowledged the existence of ghosts, but spirits? That seemed almost far-fetched to her. Although Tayui liked to think she was completely in control of her own actions, she didn't know if spirits or feelings external to her own could influence her like that. In fact, the idea slightly disturbed her. Perhaps she wasn't as 'spiritual' as she thought she was. This thought, too, weighed heavily on the woman's mind.
Table by Kate!
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