<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>Kon, Hiti, Tsaghani, Son' Lahleli<br/><strong>Where:</strong>Alpha House<br/><strong>When: </strong>Night, Sixth Day of Hunger Moon<br/><br/><hr/><br/><em>To be alpha is to be lonely.</em><br/><br/>She'd been maybe six when she first heard the maxim. Whose lips had first said them to her, she could no longer recall. But it had been repeated in her general direction for all the years thereafter as she threw herself without reserve into becoming the best kind of alpha. From time before memory she'd known marrow deep that she was going to one day lead the pack. She'd considered the prices and yet she'd never thought them too much. Not until she felt the room press in on her and realized she desperately wanted out.<br/><br/>Her fangs lengthened within her mouth. Kon drew close to her, his scent reassuring as all the pack's was and yet it could not quell the chasm yawning open within her. Such honesty and purity of feeling, suddenly directed at her when for<em>years</em>she'd longed for such a thing from anyone. Her throat felt as if it might close off. Ts'itu pulled her hand from his, shaking her head minutely though she barely registered the movement. She wanted, desperately, to run. "I cannot come back to you," she said. She wished she could. It would be so easy to fall into him and forget, but could she lead him on, try to fill this hole within her with his genuine adoration? She wouldn't be alpha if she was.<em>To be alpha is to be lonely.</em><br/><br/>Air came flooding back into her lungs with such suddenness that she was dizzied. Ts'itu reached up and pressed a hand to her chest, silver bangles chiming with the movement. Her green eyes flickered toward the sacrifices, who'd finally volunteered her name. The smile that touched her lips was brief yet genuine, strange when the room still pressed too close and the beta she'd likely just crushed was standing mere inches away. As long as she focused upon the defiance and tightly laced suspicion upon the girl's face, it seemed as though things were no so bad.<br/><br/>Without thought Ts'itu took another step toward the girl. Brown freckles dotted pale skin, reminiscent of the sugar once brought into the village as the result of a raid upon a caravan through the mountains. Maybe they would be sweet like sugar, those flecks, certainly Hiti seemed sweet. Ts'itu wondered if there were more, how far they might go, if she could kiss them all in a single languorous evening. And then, then she realized that she shouldn't be wondering these things.<br/><br/>Hiti might have been brave but she was clearly still extraordinarily uncomfortable with the situation. She'd hunched into herself. Maybe she thought she would be mauled. The mere thought of seeing the girl's blood spilt made Ts'itu's throat clench once more and her claws form. If Ts'itu were kind, she'd left the poor girl go hide in some corner. Ts'itu was not so kind as that though.<br/><br/>Once she'd gotten Hiti's agreement, however unwilling, that they would speak again, she nodded shortly and began to walk away. Perhaps it was instinct or something deeper that made her look back over her shoulder as she headed toward the doorway. Brief though it was she saw Kon's hand reach up to clasp at Hiti's shoulder gently. A growl rose in her, startling some of those nearby. She reigned it back and forced her gaze ahead. It was no business of hers whom Kon kept company with...nor Hiti.<br/><br/>Her claws gouged into the wood as she pushed open one of the double doors and stalked out into the cold night.<em>To be alpha is to be lonely.</em>Cold feet below and Father Moon above, she pushed forward. A chasm would swallow her whole eventually, but until then she had a pack to protect. The scent of Son' Lahleli and an unknown wolf led her toward the dark woods. "Son' Lahleli, what's this?"