Fate Draws Us Together

It felt strange, knowing that this would be one of the last times that she would be seeing this place for a while. The snow and ink princess rarely performed patrols, having no experience with combat, but today she decided to do so just so that she could commit the borders of her land to memory. Once she became a member of Elysium and took the duties of a diplomat upon her, that would be her home. Ashen would cease to be where she belonged, so she would take advantage of the sights, sounds and smells of her homeland one last time.

Poe was the name of her would-be suitor. She had met him once and he had seemed brusque and somewhat pushy. He had tested her with his words and actions despite knowing that she was a guest of his alpha. Ikigai hadn’t liked him nor disliked him. One meeting wasn’t enough to form an opinion of someone as far as the Ashen princess beliefs ran. It didn’t matter if she liked him or not anyway. It would be her duty to wed the man and produce children for him, combining Mendacium and Abraxas-Klein lines. If he hated her or if she found him distasteful, they only needed to come together once a year to produce pups and that could very well be the end of it. It wasn’t the future that a normal girl might imagine for herself, but as long as this union proved to be a benefit for her family, Ikigai would accept any amount of discomfort and suffering and she would do so with pride.

Movement caught the young woman’s gaze and her long legs stilled. Neck curling, Ikigai looked upon a patchy purple and slate brute and he seemed to be looking back at her as well. The princess wasn’t alarmed. Tanuki was nearby as were other pack guardians, so if the man tried anything, her friends would come running to her aid.

The lithe young fae nodded to the foreigner, lynx-tipped ears shifting forward. Marbled eyes rested upon the big brutes face, noting the marking near his eye. It made her instantly believe that he might be a relative of Manea as similar markings were quite common in her bloodline. Ikigai stepped from the treeline and out onto the tamped down grass of the plain, the late evening light illuminating her snow and shadow pelt. He looked as though he might either be curious about the border or lost, so she waited to see if he would approach and speak.


"Ikigai"