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Despite the brotherly bond that had begun to develop between the male alpha leader of the Ryuken Order and elven sentinel,
the living situation had commenced to strain. The halls of the castle echoed with life, new faces popped up often and new
acquaintances were forged on a daily basis. The sudden activity did not bother the young elf, as life prior to that of a sentinel's
apprentice had been well spent in a small village where everybody knew one another by a first name basis. Life at home, however,
was different. At least there, Shania had felt a part of the community, a family member. At Ryuken Castle, she was just another
face in the crowd. A guest in her own home (for she had begun to call it so).
Not once had Shania felt that the Order
had 'taken over' and in no way had shown any hostility to the new comers. A smile always graced her lips whenever she crossed
paths with a member of the Order, and words of greetings were exchanged. If she wasn't chatting away the hours with Kestrel,
an innocent game of cat and elf often took place between Starstorm and Shania along the corridors of the castle. Things were
pleasant enough for a while and the elf made it her point to look on the brighter side of things; the hustle and bustle was
just like that of everyday life at home. Unfortunately, the outlook on the sitution came with its drawbacks; it was making
Shania home sick.
Half the year had gone by and despite the strong friendships that Shania had forged, nothing could
fill the void in the young elf's heart. She missed her mother's sheep stew, her father's jokes, her best friend's constant
teasing. Everytime a child smiled in her presence, the elf was reminded of the Orniz's young pups as they chased one another
in front of their dwelling. As the days went by, the longing for her family grew stronger and before she knew it, the elf
even felt lonely amidst a crowd.
To make matters worse, the correspondence between family and friends had trickled
into nothingness. It had been nearly four months since the last letter from Ro'vasar had found its way across the young sentinel's
doll-littered desk. The constant worry had erased the smile from her lips and the flames of mischief no longer illuminated
her eyes. What if something had happened to Riphath, her best friend, the Orniz's or even worse, her parents?
"Ow!!"
"Elfie, what's wrong?" A plate full of freshly baked Pinky donuts greeted the elven sentinel's gaze and for a full
beat it took Shania a moment to realize something was amiss. Her eyes traveled along the human hand that had set the morsels
in their place, up the arm and finally upon the rugged visage of a grey-haired male. Silence prevailed a bit longer and if
it hadn't been for the man's mismatched eyes...
Shania looked down from the man's eyes to the doll in her hands. She
had just finished sewing a blue glass bead in place next to a brown one and pricked her right thumb in the process. Again
her gaze traveled northward and offered the man a soft smile before placing that bleeding thumb betwixt her plump tiers. "Pupthy!
I didn' recoghnithe thou!"
"Move Zeamass, move!" came Pinky's responce from the doorway but the warning came too late.
Before the werewolf could do so, he was on the ground, plastered beneath a hyper-active young elven body.
"But don't
worry about this, its nothing a Pinky donut cannot fix, isn't that right Pinky?" Shania rolled over then, plucking the doll
she had been working on. Sewing calmed her worries, a secret nobody really had taken notice of and by the looks of it, there
were a lot of things on the raven haired elf. Whereas there had been six dolls present a few weeks past, the number had nearly
doubled in the last few days.
"Look, I finally found the right colored beads, Puppy! Oh--oh!! And I'm almost done
with yours, Mr. Donut!" The wolf doll had been one of the first she'd accomplished but it wasn't until that morning when Conor
sent her a brief notice that she'd managed to fix that particular detail. Pinky's replica, however, was halfway to completion.
The
celebration did not last long, however. Just when chaos was about to reach its climax, another sentinel approached the small
crowd. She was a catfolk sentinel, new to the force and judging by the pile of files she carried, stuck behind a desk doing
paperwork in Gilgal's name. "Would either of you please direct me in Constable Greywolf's direction? Gilgal wants to see her
in his office." There was an air of self-importance and pride that surrounded the black and white feline.
Nearby
officers muttered under their breaths whilst Pinky and Zeamass exchanged confused glances. Shania, on the other hand remained
frozen in place on the floor, arms outstretched toward her werewolf friend as she held onto the plush. Constable Greywolf?
There was nobody under the name that they knew of, and the person to come closest to that description was Zeamass himself
-- he was a grey wolf (with additional white and black patches) and very much male. Before anybody could answer, Shania got
to her feet, gingerly placing the doll next to the untouched donuts. "Tell him I'll be there in a moment."
The cat
arched a brow as her jaw dropped. "You, an elf, has the surname Greywolf? This has got to be a joke-- is this an initiation?
Because I've been told about the jokes you all people play on the watchmen. I will not fall prey to such stupid games!" At
the comment, several officers chuckled. Indeed, Shania herself had fallen victim to certain jokes. On her first day she'd
been told to follow the pastry girl because she was suspected to smuggle illegal goods. In reality those officers only wanted
to know where she was so they could go assault her for their precious donuts.
For the first time in her short carreer
as sentinel, Shania's playful demeanor vanished. "I assure you, I am a Greywolf by name if not by blood, cat. Gilgal is not
like the rest of your superiors-- he takes his duties seriously and is not the sort of person to play games with anybody.
And if there is one thing that you should know as an officer of the law, is that not all is what it seems to be. Now excuse
me, I have business to attend to."
"Did you--" began Pinky before Zeamass interrupted.
"No. I don't. I wonder
why she never told us before. "
(To be continued...)
-- Shania "the not so grey" Greywolf
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