~The Furies did much the same. It is sometimes strange to see how fast cubs think they know how to lead others. Or even the older ones. Owen is quite certain he makes a fine alpha of the sept, when he has only just challenged to lead his own tribe.~ The Strider shakes her head. ~I suppose it is no stranger than a mule claiming a tribe eldership. But not to be desired. Garou should be less afraid to combat one another for eldership and alphaship, so long as they don't deprive the sept of a tribesmate.~

Slipping through the steam vents, the Gnawer ragabash mixes her step to some inner rhythm's beat. If she were human, she might even be humming. Assaulted by scents on all sides of recent visitors and present, Yi's ruddy colored furry self gravitates towards the pair gathered near the center. A greeting chuff ensues.

((From afar, Sepdet has a large raven's feather on a stone nearby.))

"A lot of our elders are gone," Anneka murmurs. "A lot of--" She glances over towards the russet-hued wolf, a corner of her mouth quirks up. She curls her arms about her middle again, looks to Sepdet. "I'm going to talk to her."

((Sepdet pages to the room: Laura made a cairn out of the remains of the Lone Boulder (and Nemo was going to have them cleared away altogether until he heard that.) ))

Anneka grins, then, warm enough to lend a spark to her dim eye. She reaches out, catches the other Gnawer about the middle and ends up with her face buried in her fur. "Hi," she says, muffled.

Sepdet grins tiredly at the half-moon over the ragabash now sandwiched between then. ~I was poking my nose in where I shouldn't, again,~ she says demurely. ~Your tribe, my fish-sister. It deserves someone wiser.~

Three-Blades more or less is rather flattered by the attention paid her and affectionate gestures. She wiggles, tail flagging and arcing around. Yes, yes, very glad. Met an interesting man today. Young, and works for Weaver-screen station. Something, perhaps Anneka's hug, or Sepdet's following statement, makes the tail pause in midarc. Someone wiser?

Anneka wriggles around until she's reasonably close to the ragabash, then settles back, crosslegged now. Against the wolf's side. "Renee," the half-moon murmurs, "said she's elder now. I've been thinkin' about that."

Sepdet gives Yi's muzzle a shake. ~And why haven't you challenged yourself, my friend? Not for elder. But for Fostern. You're due for a try, at the least.~

Three-Blades yips softly under the muzzleshake, pawing once at the Strider's arm. When she's released, she settles down, head cocking off to a side. It is no secret, that this no-moon has had it warming her head at night. But I feel it is good that Sees-True has stepped forward, in some ways. It would give her chances to show her ways of inspiration. She is a galliard, and one for communicating as well. The fostern issue, the ragabash decides to decline from stating.

Normally, when Kaz approaches the Caern, she comes via the Realm. For whatever reason -- perhaps it was more efficient, perhaps she's tired, who knows -- she arrives via the Umbra, this time, nearly falling into the Waterfall as she appears. "Shit," she mutters, and then looks around as if the entire area is unfamiliar.

Sepdet looks up at the single curse. ~Kaz?~ she asks, startled. More loudly, ~You heard us speaking of you. I should have spoken of you sooner.~

Three-Blades also twists in the direction of the muttered curse. Ears! Formality forgotten a moment, the newmoon's tail wags again and she barks at the galliard.

The metis drifts toward her packmate, still craning her neck to look around the Caern. "You done cleaned up," she tells Sepdet. "Looks good."

Sepdet nods. ~Needs more.~ She casts an oblique glance over the other mule. ~Always, of course. But we go into the winter with hope for spring, and that's enough.~

Not a bad job, too, Yi puts in with again a chipper whuff. And a good thing you are back, Mama Ears. She herself glances sideways at Anneka and Sepdet.

Anneka sits up, bumping back against Three-Blades as she catches a familar scent, a curse as well. A grin starts to brighten her face, catches about halfway, then crumples. She stares at Kaz.

The metis takes a few swift steps and settles next to Anneka, an arm snaking around her. "Yo, hey," she mutters to her packmate. Then she tilts a sad kind of smile at Sepdet and Yi. "Spring. Well, it's always worth /hopin'/ for, anyways."

Taken as a whole, Anneka's a fairly steady creature. For a moment though, there's none of that at all. She blinks, then hugs Kaz back. "Hey," she says, very quiet, then louder. "What happened?"

Sepdet gives Kaz a keen look and returns pointedly to her place by the basin, picking up the feather and twirling it in her hands. ~They expect it of us,~ she says under her breath.

Three-Blades twitches with a ton of questions, but keeps herself in line. Taking her time, after all, the newmoon examines Kaz's wan smile. Yes, are you going to tell us anything about your journey?

Kaz leans into Anneka slightly. "Hold on a sec, Yi, I can talk about /me/ anytime, but I dumped shit on Anneka that she din' know about. I assumed if /I/ did, everyone /else/ did, since, y'know, I been gone an' all that. Do /y'all/ know about John?"

"I've been in th'woods," Anneka says, vaguely.

Three-Blades looks at Kaz with concern. A deep concern. What about Ice-Walker? Has he come back from his rank challenge? That bad vibe again. She looks amongst the other three Garou, eyes searching their faces.

Sepdet's own eyes are startled and rapidly turning grim. ~It is bad news, then,~ she says flatly.

Kaz sighs, and shakes her head. "Salem called me. It's th' only reason I'm back, 'cause I can't..." She draws a breath in, the tension becoming clearer in her expression. "I dunno if I /can/ cope, here, yet. But John... John was one've my folks. An' no, he ain't back. He ain't gonna /be/ back. Not him. He din' make it, and I dunno /why/. I /need/ to. Somehow."

Three-Blades could feel her blood run cold. 'Not going to be back,' is the statement that penetrates her skull and sinks itself into her brain. A solitary blink is the ragabash's reaction. She's stunned, to say the very least. Not a muscle moves, and for a painfully long moment, it seems like her heart stops where it is.

Anneka draws her legs up, stops in the midst of doing so, then sits up, crosslegged. Her mouth's an even line now, but she leans back against Kaz. She drags her ruined hand through her hair.

Sepdet's hands go still. ~The challenge pack.~ She says nothing else; her face has gone rather blank.

Kaz says, grimly, "The challenge pack. So." The metis settles behind Anneka, and regards Yi steadily. "Breathe."

Three-Blades doesn't need to know how yet. Or why. The struck Gnawer sits there, still as a rock, her breathing shallow enough to be close to dead. A feeling of lightheadedness starts to run its course. She blinks again, then slowly staggers to her paws. Saying nothing, the no-moon starts to walk towards the pool at the base of the waterfall, tail limp behind her, legs moving mechanically.

Anneka slips down into lupus, sets four legs on the ground. She skews her ears back towards Kaz, lowers her muzzle down towards the earth, then looks up at the moon. She doesn't howl, not yet, but she closes her eyes, then slips off after the other wolf. Don't go. She couldn't chase her, not well.

Kaz watches Yi for a moment, and then glances at Sepdet. "Um?" Clearly, she's asking Sepdet whether she should be worried about Yi's reaction. They are, after all, packmates. As far as Kaz knows.

Sepdet comes back to herself with a visible snap, and seems to take a few seconds before she spots Yi moving off. Shoving something aside, she rises and follows as well, voice soft. ~Yi. You're going away again. We're still here.~

Kaz heaves herself to her feet a moment after Sepdet moves, and stays where she is, watching Yi intently.

Bridge-Mender drifts alongside Yi, her ears askew. Her stride's jagged, uneven, but her gaze isn't. She watches the other wolf.

Three-Blades continues to walk, oblivious to the words said behind her, eyes clouding and unblinking. She's struck hard, with her mind called out of the park. The roaring of the waterfall pounds the fact into her head. The one solely occupying her mind. The Walker Elder is gone. Then she stops. Turns. Her golden eyes, though animalistic, settle onto the three Garou distantly. He's gone, is her quiet, almost whisperlike chuff. One might have the feeling she is talking about more than the current body.

There's a pause, while Kaz watches this, and then she says, "Yeah." That one word. And no speeches. Is this actually Kaz?

Sepdet holds out a hand. ~I know.~ There is a sharpness under the words she struggles to repress. ~Don't lose yourself. This he will not want. Stay. Be angry. Rage. Don't go too.~

Bridge-Mender lowers her head, then steps closer to Three-Blades. He is. She sits down on her haunches. Please stay.

If He is gone, then I am gone. Three-Blades is no longer. The red-furred wolf wobbles in place, as if her very soul were to be sucked away onto the wind. But still, there is little indication she is thinking about John at all.

Sepdet steps around into the edge of the cold water and drops to her knees, reaches out and clamps both hands onto either side of the wolf's head, locking eyes with her. ~Three-Blades. Fox's own. Look into my eyes and see your reflection. You're right here, and John is /not/ here.~

Kaz growls, loudly, "/Fuck/ that," as she finally jerks into motion. She doesn't actually rant, however, since Sepdet seems to have things fully under control, but she comes to a halt near the two and /glares/ at Yi.

You sense Sepdet's own presence beats into Yi's mind: a fierce anger under the words at the loss, but also stern compassion. Images are thrown at Yi: herself swimming in rainbow lake, or scouting that human's trail through the woods.

The sandy-hued wolf blurs into human guise, though she remains on her haunches, not far from Sepdet and Three-Blades. Quiet, for the moment.

Three-Blades stares back into the Strider's eyes, lost in dark pools of memory. Kaz's presence, Anneka's presence, the adren's presence all shroud themselves to her senses as images flash through her mind. The ragabash at first shows no sign of reaction. Then she shivers. Twin golden amber eyes blink once, then twice, each time becoming more clear. Then, the Gnawer jerks against the hold that the Strider has on her, a violent thrash. Away! She snarls, teeth baring to some unseen plague about her. Snapping in mind and body, the ragabash splashes water as she backs up and twists. Her muzzle throws itself into the sky and belts out a long, angry, grieving howl as everything rushes and pours into her song.

Sepdet's shoulders slump. Glabro as she is, she cups her hands to her mouth and joins in with a long, keening howl, but her voice is ragged, anger choked by some other emotion.

Anneka stirs herself into glabro, her hair a crazy mane, her ruined arm odd and wolfish and twisted under tattered threads. She adds her voice to the howl, her own bright and sharp. She rocks with the force of it.

At this, Kaz falls down into Crinos and belts out a howl of her own. Long, wordless, all the emotions she's not actually speaking erupting in her posture and her howl. Grief, many times over, tension, fear, the strength of memory. Whether it's fully Yi that's howling, a Yi fully in control of herself, apparently is not something on the Galliard's mind right now.

By the steam vents, the shadowy lupine form of the Strider returned moves briskly in the direction of the center, her pace quickening by the sudden eruption of howls.

The first to crack the skies with her howl, Yi roars with anger. Full, unabated anger. Her form rises with a blur up to crinos, the howl nonstopping even as she shifts. Crying out, again and again, the question of why? The emotion behind it, the memories all fill in the details. Every loss she has suffered, every pain she has endured, all for the sake of what? The Gnawer ragabash throws this question back at Fate, fully frenzied at an intangible force, at its so bleak a humor that it would visit upon her.

The half-moon doesn't look to Kaz, to Ears, but something in the timbre of her howl draws Anneka up into the war form as well. She sets her hands on the earth, on all fours, and howls again, harsher now, rough-edged with grief. There's an answer in her howl to Yi's, a loss mirrored, an answer. For her, for her we do this, for her we die for her we live for her, and everything we fight.

Kaz's howl fades fairly quickly, comparatively, and she's left, crouched on the ground, watching Yi, eyes hard, intent. So intent is she, she fails to notice new arrivals.

The howling has gained the attention of the Child of Gaia as Alicia makes her way into the center, taking a deep, calm breath.

Sepdet hasn't spotted her tribesmate yet. Her voice drops into the eerie chords she learned from the west wind, dropping now to a deep painful resonance that echoes the old bleeding anguish and anger of this night as well as the new. But there's also a salute behind the howl. The wolf knows that death is death, and the Strider knows that the end of a journey is rest.

Three-Blades continues her wild, unchecked roars. Pity the camper that is within any hearing distance, as even the once mild-mannered asian turned into a monster and calls out for blood. Blood and answers. She remains in the water, her anguished cries competing against the waterfall, the ragabash hearing little of the others that have gathered.

Ears starts flexing her claws, open, closed, open, closed, as she watches Yi.

Path-of-Her-Own hesitates as she nears, her movement arrested by the force of the emotions in the laments of those gathered. Quietly she works in a howl of her own, meloncholy and tired, questioning the cause of these songs. The volume rises in a piercing soprano that makes it audible, though it doesn't overshadow or interrupt Yi's roaring in the least.

Upon reaching the others, Alicia folds her hands behind her, swaying a bit on the balls of her feet. She gives a quick look around, wary at first, then blows out a slow breath.

Bridge-Mender's howl grows quieter in time, her breath drawing out in notes between her long teeth. An ear cants towars Ears, her elder, though her gaze never trails from the ragabash in the pool.

Sepdet's voice finally chokes and stills as she hears an answer to an unvoiced summons. She casts around with body taut and ready to spring at something. "Ray?" she rasps softly. ~Are you a ghost or real?~

Over time, the rage of the ragabash gives out. Her last howl is but a shadow of the first, and quickly lost to the incessant, seemingly unforgivingly dull cascade of water. Three-Blades' muzzle lowers, and with ears plastered wetly against her head, turns from the unreplying sky and back to the earth. The crinos shrinks, slipping down into a human, until all that is left is just a girl with her clothing soaked through at the legs.

Ears doesn't move until Yi is done howling. Then she cracks her back, shifts back into homid, and gives Raeye a long look. Clearly, she doesn't know why Sepdet is so incredulous.

Path-of-Her-Own's expression is grim. Even for a coywolf. She eyes Yi solemnly for a moment, then approaches her elder, dipping her head. For those of keen noses, she reeks of exertion, weariness, irritation, defeat. Then you know what happened? is all she asks.

Glancing over to see Raeye's arrival, Alicia lets out a slow breath. "Oh shit." She murmurs, glancing over to Sepdet. "Tesla mentioned that one of the female battlers died alongside John.. Since Raeye is here.."

Sepdet holds her hands out to Raeye, although her eyes have fixed again on Yi as well. ~No. Only that John is gone...not how... and not what happened to the rest of you.~

Bridge-Mender slips down to the water's edge, heedless of the cold. One yellow eye watches her tribesmate, then she blurs down as well, draws in until a sandy-haired kid perches where the water meets the land. She holds a hand out. "Yi," she says, quiet and even.

Kaz swallows. "So who the /fuck/ was part of this /fucking/ pack, then? You'd think I'd know, but Jesus Christ." She's got some of her attention on Anneka and Yi; enough to be sure of them.

Alicia clears her throat as she makes her way over. "Sepdet.. Tesla said that another is dead. I know who it was." She says, bringing two and two together. "He explained to me roughly what happened."

Path-of-Her-Own licks one of Sepdet's palms before she presses herself into the theurge's welcoming arms. ~Alicia is right. Chaser died.~ There's a pause before she grates out for Kaz's as well as everyone else's benefit, ~Only Seeker, Jarred and I survived. The mission was a complete failure.~

Yi's eyes, downcast to the rippling dark water that mirrors herself up to her. Then they rise, at mention of her name. The newmoon's lips part, as if to speak, and then slip shut. It takes something to focus on Anneka's outstretched hand, and slowly hers reaches out for it. Fingertips touch, then Yi grasps the Gnawer philodox's hand with hers, clammy and cold. She walks out of the water, and then finally has a look around again. Reluctant, but she does return somehow.

Sepdet's breathing stops again at the other name. She hugs the lean black creature against herself tightly, pressing her face against the short pelt for a moment and whispering something. She allows herself that much. Then she straightens, loosens her grip, and strokes the younger Strider once with her hand as if steadying her, bracing her against the earth.

Kaz clenches a fist, and lowers herself back down into a crouch. "Fuck," she whispers.

Anneka grips Yi's hand in her own, tight, leans against her, light, when the pair step out from the water. Her shoes squish against the soft earth. At Chaser's name she glances towards the others, keeps near the ragabash.

"Kaz, yer' back. Thank Gaia." Alicia says with a loud breath as she makes her way over to the other Galliard, arms crossing over her chest. She gives the Gnawer a nudge, then looks up at her hopefully, hug?

The Gnawer philodox could feel Yi's grip tighten, and then release. Another blow, but this one less forceful. Still, the mention of Chaser and death, it still hits and the newmoon has next to nothing left. She lets go of Anneka's hand, sinking into a kneel upon the saturated ground.

Kaz, still crouched on the ground, looks up at Alicia, teeth half bared. "There are too many people fucking dying," she tells her, voice barely in control. Quite clearly, it does not look as if she can deal with a hug just now; it takes some control not to wince away from the nudge, even.

Anneka lets go when Yi does, though she draws down onto her haunches near her. She glances over towards Kaz and Alicia.

"Thats for sure sis." Kneeling down next to her, Alicia doesn't give her a hug, instead, just a sigh. "Just gotta... keep that chin up, spirits high."

Path-of-Her-Own's ears splay at the murmur, and she presses her nose against Sepdet. It takes her a moment, but she straightens up. She notes quietly, story welcome or not, ~We were careful. Chaser tracked down a lead to Seattle, but they were too powerful. Too many of them. They'd infiltrated the entire city, the building we found them in.~

Yi closes her eyes, putting herself back together at least physically, breathing regularly. "How many?" she asks, a lone question at the short synopsis.

"Chin up," Kaz mutters. "Spirits high. What/ever/. I come back here, and it's just... more." The bitterness in her voice is almost palpable. She shakes her head, and rises to her feet. "I'll whine at you later, or somethin', right now, I gotta listen t'this shit." She makes her way over to Raeye, and crouches down near the two, arms on her legs, listening.

Sepdet is fighting to put Adren back where it belongs. ~They took Seattle a while ago,~ she says quietly. ~Gaia help you, that was brave and dangerous. Do not blame yourself.~

"Its cool Kaz." Alicia says, staring at the ground some, before allowing a loud sigh to pass her lips. Shoulders rolling back, she rises up and glances about for a moment, seemingly lost. Then, she turns and starts heading back the way she came.

Anneka curls her legs up and loops her arms about them, sets her chin on her knees. Through the thicket of her sandy hair, she watches, her eyes green glass in the dark. She glances towards Yi, then back at the others.

Path-of-Her-Own backs a few steps at Kaz's words, teeth baring at no particular target before she works to recompose herself. ~I don't know,~ she answers honestly, to Yi. ~A month ago we were still scouting for leads, and I ran into one -directly- while in the city.~ The flash of teeth return, and remain as she continues. ~It was in the middle of a rave, I was unaware until after I left. Bitch left a note in my pocket, Chaser tracked down the scent and description to Seattle.~ Her hackles raise, a sharp whine rising in her throat. ~We were -careful.- Take out two, bring them back, finish the job. Go in...come out~ -- the whine rumbles into a growl -- ~Chaser led us to a building. Tenement. Seeker stayed outside to check for exits. I stayed a ways behind to make sure we weren't being followed in the building.~

Sepdet's small hand moves slowly across the back of her tribesmate, steadying herself as much as she's steadying the other.

Kaz, who uses swears like punctuation, doesn't seem to understand why Raeye bridled at her. Nor, really, does she seem to care, since she just continues listening.

A million and a dozen strategies could fly into her mind and strangle it, but Yi listens on. Helpless, perhaps. Or just a microphone, a living recorder so that she forms the picture in her mind and puts placements of the players into the picture. Her eyes don't take themselves off of the Strider with the story.

Path-of-Her-Own relaxes a fraction with Sepdet's support, licking her nose to let herself breathe. ~The trail led down the hallway from the entrance, and into the basement. I remained in the hallway as guard. I didn't see them die.~ She glances ruefully at the ground. ~John yelled, then, for Chaser to get out. Seeker joined me by the time I reached the foot of the basement stairs, just in time to see Jarred go tearing past us.~ To keep the story straight, she adds, ~Jarred saw their fate. He saw a Dancer kill them as though they were nothing but flies. He took out a different one, but fled because he was no match for her. And the fuckers were using Shroud. We almost realized that too late, and Seeker managed to hurt one of those bitches before we retreated.~ A long pause, before she stamps a paw at the floor irritably. ~We didn't even get to retrieve their bodies! They're still there, festering in that festering Wyrm cesspool!~

Anneka rolls forward as she draws her arms away from her legs, slips in a pale blur down to her lupine guise. She sits close to Yi, close enough for her side to brush the Ragabash's leg, though not quite underfoot.

Sepdet's jaw tightens. ~Hurts, but it does not matter. I've done Gatherings before for those I could not touch; it is simply harder to call their spirits for the give-away.~

Kaz's own jaw tightens. She remains silent.

Yi gives no reaction, continuing to simply listen with her eyes riveted on Path.

Path-of-Her-Own concludes abruptly, ~The three of us regrouped, and left. They trailed us for a few days, but we finally lost them and returned.~ She flicks her tail once in agreement with Sepdet. She is not so much worried with the absence of bodies as much as what those twisted hyenas would do with them. Still, she slowly remarks that their souls are at rest, at least. We can't give up on this War, not for the sacrifice they made.

Kaz bares her teeth at nothing, then shakes her head abruptly. "I have to check out my territory. Raeye, I'm sorry I'm bein' an asshole, an' I'm sorry you hadda have a couple packmates die on you. I'll try an' catch you when I'm not bein' an asshole an' talk some. Meanwhile--" She rises abruptly to her feet. "Catch y'all around."

Sepdet considers warily. ~No, we can't.~ She closes her eyes for a moment. ~A Gathering first. And there are kinfolk who will need care and protection, for I believe each of them had one. As for action to take against the defilers, I will have to refer that to the ahroun; we can't lose more.~ The slight brittleness in her voice makes the identity of the ahroun clear to those who know her well. ~Ouroboros is still not returned, and I grow wary of our vulnerability here, especially with the Pathstone back in its place.~

Yi remains still when the story closes, ending in a regroup and retreat. Blinking once, she quietly runs her hand down over her knee and wet leg. The ragabash doesn't look to Kaz, but the words do register. "See you," she says quietly, so as not to impose on what Sepdet notes about caern defenses.

Path-of-Her-Own manages a quiet whuff to Kaz, gently. Take care. To Sepdet she flicks an ear. A Gathering, yes. They deserve that much that we can offer. She notes that she, too, must away. She is in need of some time to settle in her mind.

Kaz heads out via the falls, Anneka close behind.

And then there were two. Still unmoving, Yi blinks. Her misted face carries a glitter of tears, but they do not fall. When Path has left, she continues kneeling for a moment in silent contemplation.

Sepdet rises and moves back to Yi's side. ~It is always like this,~ she says softly. ~Remember why I formed Salmon's Leap. Remember? It was this time, two years ago. The pain all but broke me. So /pointless/. But something came of it. Grieve, my dear friend. Rage. But also look ahead. The dead want us to do this, not die with them.~

Somehow, the gravelly tone of a cracked Garou tongue comes from the Gnawer. Flavored with the eastern accent still, she looks up at the Strider and says quietly, ~Is ours always the role that leads to great sadness?~ She looks back to the water, wet eyes unblinking, refusing to shed the tears.

Sepdet's eyes are compassionate. ~No. There is joy too. We see Gaia's beauty in ways that no other can. But the price is to feel loss. It is the difference between the fire that burns bright and fast, flaring up and then dying back and then dancing again, and the low dim light that never rises, never falls, never changes much, only fades away. The fire /lives/ more. It also dies more. That is how we are.~

Yi's gaze to the water grows heavy, and she closes her eyes. Two drops first shed themselves, joining with the ground. Silence broken by the sound of the falls makes up a long, time slowed period until Yi nods once. It is a small bow of her head. Then she rises slowly to her feet again. ~What you say is true,~ she grates out, her tongue feeling swollen with her throat. ~But that won't bring them back. And the only way to pay the debt, is by blood.~ The Gnawer's eyes harden as she stares out and away from the water, into the dark of the caern and valley forest.

~But not yours,~ the Strider says softly. ~Else the wound will just be wider. Gaia, Yi, they're my friends too. Chaser and I have hunted together for nearly nine years. Don't think I don't understand.~

Yi turns her eyes to the Strider, still hard but now rife with inner thoughts. "I cannot," she starts, and then shakes her head and switches back. ~I cannot even begin to imagine the pain you must feel. The pain you cannot express aloud. If only because you are adren, elder, Strider.~ Then she looks away, unable to keep eyes with the theurge.

Sepdet looks eastward, voice softer still. ~That's why I carved stones. To remember. To touch. And I do Gathering, Yi, because I must. I feel the spirits as we send them on their way. The howl at the end. Sometimes there's a voice the rest of you can't hear. And then they go. They go back to Gaia, and they feel no pain, and the scars they bore in life dissolve into a warm light.~

Yi wet her lips, feeling the slight salted tang of a tear. ~Then all will be well and good,~ she growls, overtoned in hurt. A hand comes up to wipe off her face. The ragabash then looks back to Sepdet. ~I owed the Walkers a debt. He was compassionate, and gave me a task to do... one that I would have to struggle to finish, but I would do so. To his memory then. To both their memories.~ Yi clenches her jaw.

Sepdet's back is too stiff; the pain Yi mentioned is hardly more than an inch or two from the surface, but kept down for now. ~For both.~ She takes a deep breath. ~Would you do me something?~

Yi doesn't move her gaze, just a change in something in her eyes indicating she would listen to the Strider's request.

Sepdet licks her palm and flexes her hand. The faint bloody indentations of nails are easily visible from where she was clenching her fist earlier. ~Tatt will feel as you do. He gave so much. He helped give her to strength to beat those wretched "drugs". He gave her a pack. And now, I'm stuck here, and she is in the city, and... drugs are close by. And there's not a damn thing I can do, if she loses herself. I won't be there when she hears the news. I won't be there when she breaks.~ The pain bubbles through to the surface for a moment only. ~Tell me if she gets in trouble. Watch for her, if you can.~

~Should I bring her here?~ Yi asks, ~And if I cannot, her packmates will. As you watched over me.~ The hardness of her eyes softens, a gratitude expressed.

Sepdet gives her a soft, sad smile. ~Send her if you can,~ the Strider says, a private plea. ~I... I need her as much as she will need me. The Adren is not altogether immune to these things, no matter how many stones I carve. But you are all my pack, my sept, and you come first.~

Yi bows her head in a nod. Finding little more that she can say, the Gnawer takes a step back from the Strider and turns. With a last, wan smile, she shifts down to her lupus form and takes off running back to the city, back to the battle.