No See, Long Time

A gentle surprise softened her eyes as he recognized her and summoned her name so familiarly. His eagerness to see her stirred a distant memory, and she found herself mirroring his tail sways as if by instinct. Yet there was an unmistakable note of confusion in her silver-blue gaze when he mentioned being her brother. A small furrow of her brow punctuated this. She had many siblings. Her eight littermates, and then her older brothers- a few of them she remembered meeting. And then who knew however many half-siblings. Cerberus was a name that sounded vaguely familiar, but she certainly didn’t recognize his face. Arachne tilted her head, a half-smile tracing its way across her features in the face of this unexpected revelation. "Cerberus." She echoed gently to herself, allowing the name to roll off her tongue and flavor her senses. Her gaze was still filled with bemusement but she found no deceit or malice in his countenance. Or perhaps there was a tinge of sadness hidden deep within those eyes that seemed to see right through her.

She took a step closer, her own sodden paw prints leaving a trace of her path upon the muddy substrate the Delta. In order to finish closing the distance between them, she had to cross a shallow creek that divided them. The late winter sun glinted off the water, shards of light illuminating the rivulets in jewel-like hues. As she stepped forward, her paws sunk into the soft mud, a stark contrast against her smokey grey coat. The coolness of the ground seeping through her fur was a sobering sensation. It was clear this particular creek didn’t see a lot of activity, but seemed that it was a popular crossing spot based on the tracks in the shoreline that had dried and hardened over time. Despite the cold, she pressed on, the creek water lapping at her underside. She was acutely aware of how vulnerable she was during this crossing, but if she was going to entertain the notion of this man being a relative of her’s, she wanted to do so standing face to face. He did know her name after all.

After she crossed, she was quick to continue her address. “You say you're my brother. But we've never met, have we?" Maybe perhaps before she could remember? Her question hung in the icy air, a solitary note of inquiry amid the low hum of rustling life hidden within the Delta's verdant depths.

"Arachne Klein"