She had not had a chance to have a moment alone with Eisukuro Hogai, not recently at least, not since they had come here. And even before that, their normal rendezvouses had been disrupted by all of the war plans. There had been freshly caught slaves that needed brain washed, all in order to spy various packs of Blossom Forest. And why? Well, that was the question, wasn’t it? Yes, everyone was acutely aware that Shae‘s first born needed to be found and put down, so that another line could claim the throne. This so called Tiresias had ruined everything so far, and all without even raising so much as a single digit on his paw, without so much as crossing into the land of his forebearers. The one assassin that they had sent had thought that he had found the prince, but without a head, there was no proof, and without proof, there was nothing. And even then, even with the heir‘s head, it would all rely upon the testimony of a single figure - hers and Ainae‘s father, Beiro. After all, he was the only one who had been in Cold Summers for the battle, the only one who had seen all of Shae’s pups, the only one who could identify the body. It was on his testimony that they knew that the firstborn, Tiresias, was blind - Beiro had learned that from the reports that Eerie had given to everyone. Eerie, the betrayer, and even now, all these years later, the thought of her made Yayoi‘s spine bristle with hatred, with anger… And yes, with sadness. Eerie have chosen the worst of times to change her allegiance - just when Farant and his troop were about to win, she had changed her loyalty, and had killed Fatalia. Fatalia, of course, being Yayoi’s and Ainae‘s mother. If that had not happened, Fatalia would have returned to the battle, and that one extra body would have changed at all. Not one, but two - Fatalia and Eerie. Together, they would have beaten the others, changed the course of it all. Instead, the exiles and their allies had won, and it was Farant’s pride but that had brought them all down - he had not thought that he needed the full force of his army to win… And so, they had been beaten, outnumbered. Beiro had been the only one to survive, and he saw it as an opportunity for his daughters - for he was a bastard of the dead king, and now had a claim to the throne. But his one mistake was that he thought Fatalia had killed the pups, and had only discovered afterward that she had not. But that is a tangent for a different time…

Yayoi had struggled to find time to spend with her lover - after all, their relationship existed only in dark tunnels, in secrecy, for Ainae would never accept the loyalty they held to each other. She expected her subjects to be loyal to her first, above all… And that certainly had been true in Yayoi‘s case… that is, until her love for Eisukuro had grown. And with it, unbeknownst to Kuro, Yayoi‘s belly had grown too. She had used it in her ploy to infiltrate Kalgalath‘s pack, to gain his trust, to get close to his queen and finally kidnap her. And then Yayoi had hidden the pups away in the nursery, giving them names but telling no one that they were hers. She had had to, of course, raise them a few weeks on her own so that no one would take note of her swollen mammaries, and so they knew her well enough to love her - it was a better puphood than any other royal kalak had ever had. And it was safer for them that way… For they would have been competition in the future against Ainae‘s own offspring. And the one other varg that she wished to tell, she could not. For how could she tell Eisukuro of their existence, when at every turn there was her sister, or a spy? And that had set about placing a seed of doubt in her mind, one that would eventually flourish into something more… But for now it would simply fester. From it sprouted questions - why were they infiltrating this pack when they simply needed to find and kill a single wolf? Ainae had said that she wanted to also find the other kalaks, to bring them to her and have them be loyal to her… But they were either exiles or the offspring of exiles… So what did it matter? And then there had been the matter of taking a pack… Yayoi had gone along with Ainae to the battlegrounds, prepared for the fight that had never come, but why did they have to claim a pack at all? Was not the plan to eventually return home? Was not the plan to eventually leave this place for good, at most placing a relative upon the throne? Was not Ainae‘s goal to rule Faraway?

The Zaba shook her head and bit the inside of her cheek, refocusing her thoughts upon her mate, her lover. She had arranged with him, at last, a meeting under the pretense of exploration of this new land. Ainae of course had thought it was a glorious idea, giving Yayoi the chance to perhaps find out where Tiresias was… but instead of the pair of them being able to set out from Mona Toforan together, Ainae had disrupted the plans by instead requesting Yayoi‘s companionship the night before. Yayoi had not been able to say no - she never could, lest Ainae suspect something was off. It was strange, perhaps, to others the relationship that two sisters shared - one of love and jealousy, one where affection went beyond into something more primal, more sexual… Yet here among the kalaks, incest was not something that was frowned upon. Rather, it was praised, if only to ensure the purity of a line. And so, Yayoi had gone to her sister, spent the night in varying intimate embraces, until she had been released by the dawn and left the pack. They had chosen to meet at the caverns that were a few days south of the pack, and though Yayoi was disappointed that she had not run into Eisukuro earlier on her travels, she was glad that at least they would be able to spend some time together, especially so that she could at last tell him of their children.

She had reached the caves mid noon the day before, having traveled straight through the few days journey that it took to reach this place. Adrenaline and excitement had carried her this far, but when she reached it, the exhaustion that had been compounding within her muscles swiftly over took her, and the sleep that she so desperately needed swept over her. It did not matter thought she laid upon jutted rock and pebbled ground, nor did it matter that there was an incessant drip, drip, dripping coming from deeper in the caves and echoing all around her - she slept soundly through the rest of the day and the night, awaking only when the light violated her eyes, breaking through the thin skin of her eyelids. They fluttered open, but only for a moment only as she heard approaching foot falls. A smile curled over her lips, and she pulled herself to her paws, looking about for her mate.

“It took you long enough, Eisukuro. Now then…”

She and her seafoam green pools finally found the source of the nearly silent steps, but it was not who she imagined. It was, indeed, another kalak… But this one was all white, marred only by a few spots of a yellow as bright as the sun. No, wait, there was something else. A hard stare crossed her features, immediately forming to a mask unreadable by others and she studied the creature in front of her. Its sides looked odd… The hair disrupted by… Something. And that’s when she realized, this creature had wings like a bat or a bird would… Was this another of the mutants of this land? She slowly released another grin, only this one turned into a sneer instead of a façade happiness and joy.

“Well hello there… You are quite the unique and odd one. Tell me, who are you? More than that… What are you? Which clan do you hail from?”

The hazy visage of the other did not pass by her without notice… Was this the missing heir, having been transformed into something… Unnatural?