So much had changed in the past few weeks and had been set into motion. Yayoi had gone from the northernmost aspect of the Compass and – despite being the full blood sister to the empress – essentially only a bodyguard, to becoming the new ruler of Mona Toforan. The promotion of course had come with some terms – since her sister had given it to her, the threat of it being taken away was real. Once upon a time, Yayoi Miyako would have not been nervous about this at all, pouring all of trust into Ainae. But after the recent events, mainly with the murder of their own father, Yayoi had her doubts as to whether the throne here in Blossom Forest was secure and permanent… or if it was more temporary. Perhaps it was the change that was going on internally for Yayoi that gave her this vision – her love for Eisukuro and their pup hidden in the nursery back in Faraway – and her clearer site. Always had Ainae declared that the path forward was with a completely new way, one in which they celebrated their people instead of destroying them. Since the beginning, since maned wolves first infiltrated the terra of Blossom Forest, they had always had the reputation of ruthlessness, of cruelty. They killed their own, they manipulated everyone, they could not be trusted. This was even the way that they thought of themselves, but the purpose now was instead to raise their people up, not tear them now. But Ainae… she was unstable. The common people were safe, but those closest to her weren’t. That meant Eisukuro, Cyra… even Yayoi herself.

At any rate, Ainae was gone now – left to take the throne she had stolen from their father, that he in turn had essentially stolen from his father. And Yayoi? She was left to pick up the pieces of everything Ainae Jozuko had left – a half-formed pack with stunned new members. Ones that Yayoi herself had recruited but whom had expected a powerful, stable pack. With Ainae’s destruction of her father, Yayoi would have to work twice as hard to provide them with all that she had promised them. That was why she had put into motion with The Scientist the plan that she had – their wonderous and yet terrible plant needed to be experimented with further. Perhaps its rules would be different than it had been back in Faraway, and if it was, they needed to discover exactly what it could do, how it would affect the magically mutated wolves of this place. And so as the new Queen, the first plan she had made had been to introduce the plant to each pack as a seeming olive branch, to see if its inhabitants would begin to react, and already they had had a single positive match, and by the King of Crith-Thalmhainn himself no less. As soon as a new fissure of magic erupted from the lands, they had the plan of force feeding him the plant and seeing exactly how he mutated. If they had any sort of luck, it would show something unique and new. Something that would excite The Scientist…

And with one pack checked off, with one pack completed, all she had to do now was wait. Yayoi Miyako was hesitant to trust the wolves that now served her – after all, they had all too recently been loyal first and foremost to Ainae Jozuko, not to Yayoi. But if they were to ever find a way to move forward and to evolve, she would need to give them a chance to gain her trust, and so she had left the wolves of her pack in charge of the task, not herself. So she spent this free time doing something she had previously had the rare amount of time to do – relax. Or so she had planned to do up until about three seconds ago when she had set her sights on the maned wolf in front of her. She stood out against the remnant snow like a sore thumb, her coat bright russet against the stark ivory. Without a moment of hesitation, Yayoi trotted up to her.

“If I may say so, I would say that you are a stranger to these lands – you smell of pack life, but no pack of these lands. But kalak are not the majority here… you should take care where you travel alone. There are… interesting things in this place that you will find unique, perhaps terrifying, but definitely nothing you have ever seen before. If you are looking for safety, a place to belong, perhaps I should stay and talk with you more. My name is Yayoi Miyako, and I rule Mona Toforan.” Yayoi moved her head from side to side, making sure that the unique silver tattoos on her face would not be missed even as she tapped the rock beneath her paws with her hard platinum claws.

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