Everything Ends (Ebony Meeting)

Walk | Talk | Think

"Not a very chipper bunch, are they?" the cat whispered for Callisto alone to hear, and though she was typically averse to anything the little creature spoke she had to admit there was some truth to it this time. Something was wrong, and everyone seemed to know it. Family gathered around their young king, practically smothering him with their concern and ignorance, and when she expected him to crumble he surprised her by leading them into their meeting properly.

Only nothing he said was good news. He had been taken away and his brother had perished to save him. While others looked on with varying degrees of distress and heartache, Callisto only frowned deeply. Having no such close connections with anyone herself, she had no means of understanding just what that type of loss felt like, nor did she ever really expect to. Sure, it was a disappointment, but in her eyes only because it seemed to throw everything out of sorts and compromise their stability.

Which was where the surprise lay. Kassander was stepping down, opening up the pack to its previous leader Katja, and as the woman was passed the metaphorical crown the healer finally noticed her among them. Admittedly it was something of a happy surprise for Callisto. Of all Ebony's leaders, Katja had been the one she had tolerated the most. But it quickly became obvious to her that this new pack - no longer Ebony but Yfir - held no resemblance to the one from which it stemmed.

She could feel the feline's golden eyes look up at her searchingly, but Callisto did not acknowledge it. Instead she listened, quietly and patiently, learning what she could and trying to judge whether she could continue to tolerate living here under new regulations. It was not Katja who gave her that answer but those who followed. Where the masked lady had picked up the cackling character Callisto would never know, but the fact everything broke into a fight right then, as his unsympathetic words ignited fires in the hearts of the departed's relatives, did not bode well with her.

A sourness rose up within her so strongly she could almost taste it. After everything she had been through her only wish had been for stability. And yet after returning to her home she had felt nothing of the sort until recently, only to have it all threatened again with a change in their leadership and those who would call the place home. Were things destined to continue changing like this? To keep throwing her for a loop every time she started to feel comfortable again?

Likely it was an effect of her hormonal state that amplified her unrest, but on that impulse she rose. She searched the faces of those that remained - a few had already taken their leave - but on none of them did she feel any sense of obligation. What really would she be leaving behind? Irritated more by her lonely revelation, she cast one sharp glance at the little black cat before setting off toward her den with the intention of combing through her plant stores for what she could not afford to leave behind.

-Exit Callisto-