Tyrian was having a time. That day he touched the crystal with Hanako he'd thought she got the bad end of the stick since the worst he had to deal with was a little freaky mind screaming. He'd thought he'd gotten off easy. Been convinced of it, even. And then the crystals started to grow. He had patches of them. A pair sat tall in front of his ears like menacing little devil horns; their low, bark-like bases stretching from the insides of his ears almost to his eyebrows. It got worse. Trailing from the inner corner of each eye like tear marks were similar bark-like patches of crystals. Both sets oozes glowing blue gunk from where he'd picked at them. He felt like shit and he looked like it too. Worst still was that he was restless. He found he couldn't sleep for all the worrying he was doing. Everything was a mess. His wolves, his sheep, himself. For a bit he'd vowed to stay in pack lands and rally the troops, but quite quickly Tyrian had realized he couldn't stick with it. He found himself wandering into rogue lands often, just like he was doing now. Currently he was wandering down one of the sheep trails that crisscrossed the Orchard. He had no destination in mind; no plan of action; he was simply wandering. ""

The results of his investigation had left him shaken and, worse, as the days progressed it became obvious that he had been somehow... poisoned, with something. Liquid as glowing blue as the fireflies that had plagued him trickled from his eyes and ears, a constant fluid that matted the fur beneath them in glowing streams that competed with his body's own glow, the fiery ripples somehow seeming muted beside the blue glow oozing through it. It was in his mind that he needed to be back in Aerie now, obsessively convinced that his absence would lead to it and his family's destruction. But it seemed that whatever poison was in his blood had tweaked his internal sense of direction, and he found his path meandering despite his frantic need. He came out finally at the orchard on Fireside's borders, his dead sprint slowing as he came to a panting, confused halt, head down and sides heaving. He turned his head to spit out blue fluid and his eyes fell on Tyrian, alpha of Fireside, looking even more the worse for wear than Eligos did. After all, Eli only had fluid leaking from his eyes and ears - Tyrian sported crystal growths of some kind, their bases oozing just as much as he. Eligos shifted warily to face the other alpha, his blue-tinged gaze studying him.

The crystalline growths could almost be forgotten at times were it not for the dull ache that seemed to emanate from their bases - no, from the very bone below. They seemed to pulse in time with his heartbeat; drawing the intensity of their pain from the strength of his fear or excitement. Now more than ever he lived with the ache as his mind ran wild with disastrous possibilities. The ache was forgotten momentarily as a pair of red eyes suddenly loomed out of the darkness. Instinctively Tyrian jerked back with flattened ears but against his instincts he held his ground. His hackles stood on end as he regarded the figure. It took far too long for him to recognize Eligos, alpha of Aerie, with whom he'd had dealings with in the past, around the glowing ooze. What must he, Tyrian, look like with his crystal spikes when he could barely find the familiarity in someone's strictly oozy face? "Eligos," he said gingerly, "you are quite far from home." Hopefully he wasn't a harbinger of disaster to come; a look into the future. "And plagued with the illness. Tell me, how does Aerie fare?" He had to know why this alpha had strayed so far from home. Was there no longer a home to go back to? Surely not... ""