The sun's harsh rays burnt on even as Fiammetta's focus turned outward, her body stiffening at the shock of sound that assaulted her ears. She growled under her breath and tracked the watery path of the duck with annoyance before turning her gaze inland towards the forest, searching for the imposter she sensed hid just out of sight. Her tail came up over her back defiantly and she lifted her head, her broken body standing out starkly against the blue haze of the river. Only when the wind changed, and the scent of the stranger reached her nostrils did she visibly relax, although she still remained on her guard. He came around a bend in the river on her right, and she was slightly amused at the surprise that washed over his face as he took her in, clearly not having expected to meet her again. Still, he did not let shock hold him in its clutches for long, and he approached her with friendly reserve, clearly not too sure of his reception. He need not have worried though, for the white female had not forgotten what he had done for her that accursed night, and she offered him the briefest of nods until he paused at a polite distance for conversation. She had heard him call out when he was some distance away, reassuring her of his identity, and asked her in his strange, halting manner how she was. She shut her fiery eye, appearing to put deep thought into her reply, “I'm good, I think, depending on what your version of good means. I look like a hideous beast, but I am battle-fit.”

She grinned sardonically, indulging herself in her new-found love of dry sarcasm, before speaking again, the tiniest sliver of something like concern glowing in her conciousness, “And how, pray tell are you? I know you were always a desert dog, did you leave for the mountains like the others who came this way before you?” She was naturally curious, a trait she couldn't seem to shake, and she listened for his reply with more gusto than she had initially intended, her head cocking to one side. Slightly sheepish, she turned away from him once more to stare out across the river and into the shadows of the forest beyond, mind churning. Ever since her meeting with the monochrome male, he had been running through her mind. Something about him had struck a chord with her, and she knew that somehow he was supposed to fit in with her plans, she just didn't know yet in what manner that was. Still, her faith in the fire was strong enough that she fought off her impatience and waited for an answer, knowing it would come when it was ready. In the meantime, she supposed some conversation wouldn't go amiss, and her feminine voice broke through the silence like a knife through butter, although she did not turn to face Atlas, “I've been returning here everyday, hoping that black cur would show up, but alas it seems that she is too afraid of me when I'm not half-dead. Most wolves are now.”

She turned so that Atlas would just be able to see the ruined side of her face, taking in the fleshy eye socket, naked, fissured scar-tissue and jowless jaws, her mouth upturned in a permanent grin. She wouldn't be able to see his reaction, but she imagined it would be as sincere and innocent as she remembered it. How carefree he had looked to her, how unequipped to deal with the savagery of the world, just as she had been before the fire had blessed and Tobias had plundered her. Sometimes she longed for that innocence again, but mostly she felt contentment, secure in the knowledge that her future lay just within her reach.


Fiammetta - Female - No Home - No Family - 5YO - 28 inches, 32 pounds