It is a wonder at all that Natiya was left in such isolation without being found out. Whether Eden knew or cared, she had no clue, but after so much time, she didn’t care about his machinations. All she knew was he left her alone or he didn’t know and that was for the best. Eden was a shifty wolf; any wolf who could control her father and dance with her brother was crafty. She had not danced or controlled, nay, she had been the controlled. She had been swallowed up by his shadow, spit out, crunched, churned, turned inside out.

Had Natiya ever really been Natiya?

Elohim recognized Natiya for what she was: half. Did that make Blackthorne her other half? She couldn’t rightly tell. In the past she might have adamantly agreed. As a pup, she had always followed in the pawprints of Blackthorne. It had seemed the correct thing to do. Submit. He was dominant, she was subordinate. Yet the time away from him, the fear of him left her reflective. She both loved and feared her brother. She didn’t hate him, not really. How could one hate their flesh and blood? She had learned things from him. How to fight enough to stay alive, how to survive, how to listen and twist things.

It was that training and those instincts that caught the faint sound of a sigh. Natiya froze, ears straining forward, heart pounding within her chest. Had they been waiting on her? Blinking her owlish eyes hard she opens her jaws, taking a slow, deep inhale that she hopes is silent before taking a quiet step forward. Aburptly Elohim appears over the ledge and she jerks a bit, startled before taking a half step back. She had met him once or twice in passing, having lived here as a pup, though they never were in the same circles. Did Elohim even HAVE a circle? She vaguely recalled hearing about him travelling around all the time, though she had never inquired.

”Elohim,” she breathes quietly, an answer to his implied question, watching as his eyes slide past and towards the island then back to her. A defensive tilt to her head as she takes another half step back. Bolt? Stay? Elohim was a mystery to her. Was he crafty like Eden? An exploding star of violence like Blackthorne? Really, she didn’t know many wolves and hadn’t spoken to one in what seemed a long, long time.

She could do this. She could distract him enough to slip away if need be. So Natiya tries her skills, soft face relaxing and offering a sheepish smile, small though it was. Her lyrical voice is as pure as it has ever been. ”Yes.” If Blackthorne was here, he would crow at Elohim at how he could’ve slipped in at night and ripped their throats out. That didn’t seem a wise or prudent thing to say. Being quiet would just incite curiosity so she had to have the right amount of talk. ”I was leaving though, now that things are… quiet. Aren’t they?” Throw a question back at him, make him explain, detract from herself. Yes, she could do this.