There was very little left now, just a faint blur of light smudged through the shadows. It had come upon her quickly as she'd searched the north for her scattered pack, and it had been with vision already blurring, the edges gone to shadow, that she'd managed to retreat here to the safest of the territories she knew with a meticulous thoroughness. She had found none of her children, found no sign of Laufey or of Kapra, of any of the wolves who'd followed her banner, before she'd been forced to give up her search.

Now she waited for the end to come.

Once a graceful, efficient killer, she could do little more than blunder after prey with all the clumsiness of a pup, and so caught very little and that all from ambush. She had lost weight then, but now with no vision left to her even ambush was no longer an option. Little more than skin and bone within a pelt that had gone harsh and brittle.

She reflected now, with a detached sort of interested, that it would have been a fitting punishment, if she had believed it to be crime and punishment which she did not, for having taken the sight from Vereux and that Jupiter wolf so long ago. No, she knew it to not be punishment but rather, the hand of old age laid upon her. She'd expected to have died in battle long before such fate befell her, or to have been safely within the bosom of a Finnvi pack continuing to pass on her accumulated knowledge to the family's young, but such had not been her wyrd.

She had dragged herself from the safety of her hollow-tree den into the sun's heat to bask her bones in its warmth, despite being hardly able to see Sol's light. She'd had the beginning of aches within her joints for some time now, but since her near-death at the jaws of her Finnvi cousins not long ago the aches had worsened, between her age and her current state of improper nutrition her body simply could not bounce back from the injuries she'd sustained then. Stretched out sphynx-like, she raised her dark face to a sun she could not see, and allowed her mind to drift into meditation.

Ræsa could hardly believe her luck when she stumbled across her mother's scent. She had been searching tirelessly since her reunion with Asvor and Naudir, who she hoped were somewhere near by, but in truth she had once again lost track. Gotta stop doing that, she chastised herself, as she charged forward along Katja's trail. Concern began to gnaw in the bit of her stomach as the pale girl drew closer and closer. Something smelled... off. It had been a long time, but she would never forget the scent of her mother from her youth, the strong and healthy essence of the shewolf she idolized above all others. Now, something had changed. When Ræsa finally came upon her mother, the concerned expression dropped from her face and was replaced with one of horror. What had happened to her? "Mom?" she gasped out, hardly believing her eyes. Gods, what had happened to her? Ræsa rushed forward, struck by the condition of Katja's body. She was skin and bones, her coat was dull, her eyes misty and unfocused as if she could not see. "Oh shit," she whispered under her breath, wincing after realizing what she'd said in Katja's presence. She was a grown woman in her own right but... still. "I-It's Ræsa," she tried to begin, then winced again because duh, her nose probably worked just fine. "Can.. I mean, are you alright?" Obviously not. "What should I do?" She was flustered, that much was painfully obvious, but she was shaken to her core. She couldn't believe it. To her Katja would always be the powerful, confident woman from her puphood. She was a moment away from dashing into the woods and dragging back the first living creature she found for Katja to consume, but she could not seem to peel herself from her mother's side. She simply could not make sense of what she saw. Ræsa seemed to have wandered for a season and returned to another world, and had no idea how to return to where she had come from, no matter how desperately she wished that she could. "Talk" "You" Think

Leaving Balthazaar and Branwen to their resting in the lower branches of a great redwood tree Naudir slipped away into the stillness of the day. Nostalgia and memory had pulled her home to Yfir's packlands and it was there she'd decided she would set up a permanent residence until some whisper on the wind told her the Finnvi were to rise again. She already had such hopes after meeting two of her sisters that they might yet rise from the silence that had befallen them. As she made her way deeper into the forest she caught the lingering trails of her mother's scent. Eyes wide she quickly began to track. The trail she'd discovered was faint and her nostrils flared as she sniffed about, searching out a stronger thread to pull her towards her mother. Naudir let out a soft howl to alert her mother know she was looking for her and also to call her companions to her. As she rounded a particularly large redwood she saw them. Her mother and Ræsa was here to! "Mother!" Naudir yelled and raced toward the other woman as she tried to lick at the others muzzle. She'd been so swept up in the thrill of seeing Katja again that for a moment she didn't notice the cloudiness but when she did her breath caught sharply in her throat and she leaned back taking in the woman's condition. Her dull coat, her skinny frame. Naudir swore. "Oh, mother, what have they done to you?" Branwen and Balthazaar appeared then and Naudir turned sharply toward them. "The remains of the deer kill, bring me some, as much as you can carry." In a moment her companions were off and she turned back to her her ailing mother, sparing a worried glance at Ræsa. What should they do? "Talk"

It wasn't uncommon for Lykos to wander this way, into the territory that used to be Yfir's. In a way, it felt odd going through that territory; just as it felt odd that Yfir was no longer. But it hadn't been around since before Avalon even gave up the pack, and well before the pack moved. He'd grown used to the absence, as he'd grown used to everything else.

What was uncommon was the fact that Lykos could smell wolves... Yfir wolves. Former Yfir wolves, to be certain, but he recognized at least one of those scents - Katja's. His ears perked, and he headed towards the group of scents. He didn't recognize the others, but he also didn't particularly care. If he had to go, he would, but he wanted to know why Katja was there.

He was surprisingly close to her, and it didn't take long to see wolves... wolves he didn't recognize, gathered around a motionless form he did recognize. Stopping in his tracks, Lykos stared with wide, disbelieving eyes. "Katja?" he muttered, eyeing the once-powerful alpha. Now she was... skin, skin and bones. It was unbelievable.

He'd arrived hearing the tailing words of one of the other women, and he glanced at them, and approached slowly, non-threateningly. "If you tell me where the kill is, I will find it and assist your companions in bringing back food," he told her quietly. He didn't want to see Katja like this - he'd grown to respect the viking alpha, and it just seemed so wrong for a wolf that strong to be so weak.

"Lykos"

Katja's head turned at the sound of pawsteps, the scent of her daughter alerting her, so that it nearly masked the blindness. But a second glance showed no focus in her eyes, and she could not help the way she constantly moved her head, little movements, as though searching for the exact origin of the sound. Not only Raesa, but Naudir spoke from another direction, and from another, that Ivalice boy she had met once. All showed distress at her condition, and Katja made a low sound nearing a growl deep in her thin chest. "I am not dead yet," she said sharply to them all, reproach a razor-edge in her tone. She modulated it, softened it. They were her daughters after all. "No one has done this to me. Elli touches us all eventually, and not even the Thunderer had the strength to defeat her. "Vær rolig, barn." Her sight less gaze swung between the three, her body still held with cool dignity despite the weakness. But her stomach pinched painfully at the mention of food, and she contemplated whether she could move far enough to simply follow them there instead of being fed like an invalid. But she has to admit even through her pride that she was indeed that, and it wasn't likely she would be walking anywhere at that moment after the effort it took simply to pull herself in and out of her den.

Raesa steeled herself at her mother's reproach. A small breath sucked it's way back into her chest, and she stood up straighter... Even if Katja could not see it. Shame flushed through her, and she tried to swallow it down. Her mother did not deserve to see her daughter reduced to a whimpering pup again, not in... Well, Raesa could not bring herself to think the words 'Final Moments,' because if she knew anything it was the strength of her mother. Of course, as Katja went on, Raesa felt a bit of her strength drain away. "Elli takes us all," she said, and Raesa knew it was true. She debated a moment, then let loose a resigned breath. She stepped forward, briefly touching her nose to Katja's cheek. It was a small gesture of affection, but it gave her enough resolve to ensure her voice did not quiver. "All the same, a warrior of your caliber ought to be feasting every night, whether you dine with the gods or not. I will make a swift kill, and be back shortly." She knew her sister was more suited to hunting that Raesa, and gave her a small sad smile to let Naudir know she would be welcome to join her if she liked, or to stay by Katja's side if she preferred. Raesa gave the stranger a quick glance, confused by his presence but if Katja did not mind, neither did she. Raesa turned and with a flick of her tail disappeared into the trees. Bo melted out of the shadows to run alongside her. He had nothing to say, which she appreciated, but a sense of stability and support radiated from his mottled coat. As they worked away from her mother's densite the scent of prey grew stronger, and she used it to distract herself for a moment. There would be a time for mourning later. This day still belonged to the living. Well, except for one very unfortunate hare, thanks to Bo's feline agility and razor sharp claws. It would not be much, but hopefully enough to fill her mother's stomach for the time being. Afterwards, maybe she would enlist Naudir to help her with something more substantial. With the fat rabbit dangling from her jaws, Raesa raced back. She had knots in her stomach, acutely aware that each moment she could spend at Katja's side ought to be guarded jealously. Again she forced down the confusion and the guilt, that she had been off on her own adventures for so long. This was not the time for such things right now, and she refused to dishonor their family by appearing weak or distraught, even if the same thoughts were circling in her mind. She approached, careful to displace a rock here or a twig there so Katja would know where she stood if scent alone was not enough. She dropped the rabbit at her paws, and gave a small smile. "A gift from Bodolf, seeing as he beat me to it." She looked again to Naudir and the dark stranger, wondering what else the three of them could do. "Talk" "You" Think

Rage bit into her heart, hot and bitter. What were the gods doing?! Why would the allow this to happen to her mother? A foreign scent caught her attention and she leapt forward to place herself between Katja and Lykos as she snarled a vicious warning. "Be gone fool! I know you are one of Avalon's whore-spawn, get back to your bitch queen before I rip your limbs off and beat you with them." She didn't want to hear the young man's words. She knew him only as one of Avalon's brats. The woman who had tried to protect Vereux, the traitor, from the wrath of Yfir and she had no interest in dealing with any of the family, especially not when her mother was in such a state. She didn't need his help. If Ræsa wanted to she could help with the kill. Naudir's principal discipline may not have been battle but it was killing and she did not fear this man. A low growl slipped from Katja's chest and Naudir's eyes closed for a moment, just a moment. She didn't want to hear these words. She didn't want to hear about Elli, not right now. They'd only just gotten back together, surely the gods could spar her mother longer? "I'm sorry mother, it has been a difficult year." She relaxed her stance but continued to glare at the stranger. In her mind this was a private family affair and she wasn't interested the least in foreign company. Ræsa met her gaze and Naudir nodded and jerked her muzzle off toward the trees, signaling that Ræsa was free to hunt but she would stay here with her mother. Even if the foreigner could be trusted she had no way to know if the idiot had been followed and if more of Avalon's brood might be coming behind him. Soon her ravens returned, scraps of meet clutched in their claws. "Mother, my ravens are back." The birds fluttered down to land near her mother, setting down the scraps of meat then taking off to land on Naudir's back. "Should we get more?" Naudir nodded. "Ræsa will be back with fresh kill soon but I see not how a little extra will hurt." In truth she was getting rather hungry herself but would wait til her mother had been tended to. Soon Ræsa and her feline returned with food. "I have a temporary den not far from here. Mother, would you like us to take you there?" Again, she wasn't fond of the idea of a stranger seeing where she was staying but she had every intention of keeping a close eye on him should he decide to keep following them. "Talk"