<div class="floatleft">(http://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/5/5b/Tsitu%2C_Nadaeki_Alpha.png)</div><strong>Character name</strong>: Ts'itu e'e Son<br/><strong>Who:</strong>Tsghani, Son' Lahleli, & Kon<br/><strong>Where:</strong>Forests near Sadghan Lake<br/><strong>When: </strong>Midday, Eighth Day of Hunger Moon<br/><br/><hr/><br/>Cold, exhaustion, and consuming worry were clearly getting to her. Were she in wolf form her ears would be pressed back against her head. As it was she snapped her teeth at him without any real ire behind the motion, more an instinct to deny what was clear upon her face. It was rare to allow herself to feel this kind of emotional tumult, preferring to lock it away and then excise it upon the training grounds, but the last few days had allowed no such release. His arm around her waist, his words with their gentle boldness, his insistence and his stubbornness and his blindness...<br/><br/>"Blind?" she asked, voice tremulous as if she were either about to cry harder or laugh. "You ask me if I'm blind when you would rather crawl through the snow than accept my help? You ask me if I'm blind when I have just witnessed my best friend limp miles home only to have another trusted friend nearly die? You ask me if I am<em>blind</em>when I am little more than a helpless pup against a future where there is nothing but war and death for my kin?" Her tears came in earnest now. The salty drops came hot but the trails they left quickly chilled against her skin. She didn't try to wipe them away "You know<em>nothing</em>of the burdens I carry, Kon e'e C'eyiige."<br/><br/>Finally she caught her tongue, body stiffening with pride. The tears dried slowly, but she let them do so as they would. Crying was weakness but to wipe at them as if ashamed would show greater weakness. Wind whistled through the trees, a high eerie sound that sometimes carried with it the snatches of children playing in the village. One by one the muscles in her body relaxed, until finally her gaze rose to meet his own with a quiet purpose that belied her earlier upset. She seemed utterly centered once more. "We should get back, you need to be tended to."<br/><br/>Quickly enough they crested the hill, now that she was no longer trying to carry him. The Shaman House rose nearby, voices and sounds already coming from its open doorway. She caught once more the scent of Astir's blood, but also of Danae's home-like warmth. Sighing, Ts'itu released Kon's body, knowing her would want to walk in on his own two feet. She herself continued to stride toward the House. A few feet before it she stoppped and looked over her shoulder, voice contemplative as she said, "You may love me, Kon, but you don't know me. Before you try to approach me again, decide whether you will be my beta or my mate, for you cannot be both."<br/><br/>[Continued in Shaman House... (link coming soon)]