It had been a long, long time since she'd seen anyone. Her once-proud, golden fur was matted with dust and debris after grooming had been abandoned with no perceived hope of ever seeing another face ever again. It had been so many cycles, so many. And yet, she hadn't slept in all that time, seeming unable to curl up and let the seasons move on without her. This poor gembound seemed fated to eternal insomnia...

What was her name again?

...Kin-Kin. O-of course. That's it.

It had been so long since she'd heard it said aloud. She looked down at the crystal wrapped around one forearm, a warm breath rustling the rocky dust by her paws. It felt like she'd been existing, trapped in a lonesome little world, for so long. And in fact, she had; for almost six cycles she had been alone, and for a beast that lived and thrived on the praise and will of others, it wasn't a time that she'd relished. She'd seen it all before, and at first she told herself that it would go away; just like always. That life would come crawling back into the caves like flocks of sad rats. But it was getting harder and harder to believe.

In the first three cycles she'd roamed, searching for others, but on finding no-one, she'd settled, and passed her time by crafting exquisite arts using crystals. In the hundred yards around where she lay in the rubble beneath Orion's tower, many crystal wolves were scattered in quartz and pyrite and citrine, each with varying degrees of success. Some were shaped jagged and ugly, barely recognizable as wolves to their creator, but others managed to achieve a proud and sometimes even majestic look from where they stood or haphazardly grew from walls like narcissistic gargoyles. Some were inset with amethysts for eyes or wrapped in flags as a poor imitation of her cloak. Others were imbued with a gentle glow that cast rainbows across the empty streets.

Now, even that had lost its pleasure. Now she simply lay, wondering why she'd bothered in cycles past, wondering what the purpose was of her sword, of her cloak, and even the enchanted ring which now pierced her ear. The forelimb wrapped in crystal showed showed signs of frantic gnawing after Kin-Kin had concluded that the discomfort really wasn't worth the charm if no-one was there to see it. That limb was balding in places, the oldest scabs already fading to scars, patches of golden fur stained rusty or sticking out in clumps. But it didn't work. Nothing seemed to anymore. Even her signature glow had gone out. There was nothing that could be done.

Kin-Kin's once-vibrant eyes of the deepest indigo lazily followed a shape of pure light that danced around her, frantically trying to entertain her. It was the shape of a wolf pup; not necessarily herself, but close. The little figure, composed entirely of light, dropped to a play bow in front of her limp snout and nosed quietly at the side of her face, not even stirring the fur there. As kin-Kin watched, it pawed, tilted its head, opened mouth in a silent yap. But she knew, now, that even this was only doing what she wanted it to. And even then, it wouldn't stand cowed in real awe, practice the magic she taught it or be able to shower her in praise. It couldn't even look at her as an equal, because she was, and would always be, its master.

As she watched, the conjured pup faded away into sheer darkness, leaving her alone again.

Kn-Kin raised her muzzle slightly, reaching out with her magic to summon another. But then she stopped. What's the point? she asked herself, letting her muzzle sink back down onto the ground, her eyes closing as she decided to just go back to sleep.

" speech "

Kin-Kin's eyes were closed, but she heard something echoing, a distant sound in the darkness high above her. a distant crack set one ear twitching slightly, and one eye cracked open. Her head raised itself up an inch off the ground for a moment and there it hovered, her ears pricked and slowly turning, trying to figure out the source of the sound, or even whether it'd existed at all.

As the echoes faded into silence, Kin-Kin paused for a while, before hauling herself up into a sitting position, heaving a huge sigh out through her nostrils. Her left foreleg throbbed with pain as she tried to put her weight on it, so she raised it slightly off the ground, and wondered if it was really worth the effort. But she felt her stomach give a growl and knew that even if the sound was just a cave rat, she needed it. Her ribs were showing through her fur and even if she hated the silence, she hadn't entirely lost the will to live. Yet. She needed nourishment of some sorts, regardless of the source.

With another huge sigh, she hauled herself onto all four paws and headed out into the dark, her footsteps irregular as she limped on her bejeweled forelimb. The sound had come from up above, so maybe it was a bat or something settling in to roost that she'd be able to catch unawares. maybe it was a trapped rat. Maybe a lost cave deer! Now that would be something worth eating.

In the dark, she had simple dreams. It wasn't like she could catch a cave deer under ordinary circumstances anymore, not after what she'd done to her leg.

Frustration bubbled up in her chest as she reached the bottom of the spiral staircase and began to climb it, one painfully silent step at a time. By the time she reached the top, she could barely keep the growls of her belly quiet. But she kept going. She stepped out onto the stone floor of the wider room, and sniffed the air quietly. The scent that ruffled her delicate nostrils wasn't the scent of a cave deer, or a bat, or even a rat. But it was familiar. Somehow. Kin-Kin's stomach growled hopefully, and she prowled closer, although there was a strange feeling growing in her gut.

Somehow, she didn't think that it was prey lying there.

She nosed closer, trying to sniff them, maybe to find them by burying her nose in their fur. Kin-Kin strained slightly, trying to pull the rusty magic from the depths of her heart, because before she tried to eat them, she needed to see. What if it was finally over?

The darkness around her slowly pulled away, illuminating the small room around her. And then she saw them, and froze. Recognizing. Remembering. A sharp gasp rose in her dust-coated throat and she blew out through twitching nostrils. Her ears lowered back against her head. She opened her mouth as though to speak, but then didn't. It'd been too long.

And then she managed, her voice cracked and dusty, but the ghost of a smile creeping over her ragged face.

"My little bouncing friend..." she coughed to try and make her voice sound less harsh and dry, and more proud and fluid, like it once had been, the last time they'd met. Time had not been a kind mistress, and patience was never her thing. "It's... been a while. Hasn't it?"

Still, it was broken with exhaustion and desperate with loneliness, and begging for an answer to rhetoric.



" speech "

Kin-Kin raised her nose as the little creature stirred, and then spoke, her purple eyes blinking slowly. When they didn't flee, her moth-eaten tail began to wag slowly... but she soon discovered it was a false hope, and shrank back as he sprang away, her ears flattening against her skull. Never before had she felt her heart betraying her like this, and their last meeting struck her like a punch to the gut.

She found herself trembling, her eyes fixated on the tiny marmoset and conflicting emotions warred in her chest. She felt nauseous. One part of her longed to taunt. The other craved companionship. Neither side would give up. Which would win, who she'd always been or what she craved now?

The answer, as it turned out, was neither.

Slowly but surely, a grin sprawled over her face, and then a giggle rose in her chest, before breaking out into a throaty and raucious howl of laughter, more like a hyena than a wolf. The expression that remained on Kin-Kin's face was stunned. After what seemed like forever, Kin-Kin's laughter died down, but her sides still shook. "I d-don't know. I came here looking for food. I didn't think I'd ever talk to anyone ever again," she murmured, her head hanging close to the ground. "It's been six cycles. I searched at first, but the caves were dead."

Her left paw, raised slightly off the stone, slowly lowered towards the ground. Her head raised up. With the sting throbbing through her foreleg and the throb of magic in her fur, Kin-Kin slowly came to realize that she didn't need to be in this pain. In her self-pity she'd neglected herself in so many ways.

Kin-Kin shook her mane and reached down into her gem, feeling magic welling up like blood to the surface. the glow shimmering through her fur brightened, though it was still dull with dust.

The gnawed and scabbed skin around the crystal sheath slowly began to mend itself in response to the touch of magic, and whilst some patches of fur remained rust-coloured, her skin bloomed in pink scar tissues and the beginnings of golden stubble began to poke through.

"Heh. A sorry sight for a demigod in her prime, ain't it?" Kin-Kin looked up from her formerly ruined foreleg and back up to Tukluk, crouched so far away. Slowly, she allowed her hind legs to sink down onto the ground and her forelimbs followed. Then her chin rested on her paws.


" speech "

Kin-Kin raised her head slightly, ears twitching as Tukluk hopped closer. A surprised look crossed her face for a moment, before her tail began to slowly wag, rustling against the stone. The light streaming from her fur flickered around with each wag, and her glow brightened in response to mood shifting towards the better for the first time in what seemed like forever.

Still, her pride lingered in the back of her mind, always there and always making conflict. Whenever a flicker ran through her fur, it was its fault. But Kin-Kin tried to push it to the back of her mind, desperate for the chance to act like a pup again, and for once... be friends with someone. Not better than or mentor of. just friends.

Her internal turmoil was interrupted by the voice of the little monkey, and she raised herself up into a sitting position, even though she hadn't lain down long. Kin-Kin breathed out deeply, ears going back as she strained for an answer. "Oh, so long ago. Everything went quiet soon after," she said, heaving a huge sigh. "Seven cycles ago? Eight? Feels like a lifetime ago. You should see what I did with the streets." She let out a dry chuckle and gestured with her nose towards the tiny window.

Then Tukluk noted her leg, and she found herself giving an involuntary cringe, even though looking down at it now showed only scars and patches of baldness, which shouldn't take too long to clear. "Unless you know a way to break crystal, I think I'm good. Not that it'll matter now. If life is coming back, I'm gonna need my sword." She held out the forelimb towards Tukluk so that he could see the hard crystal hugging tightly to her skin, and perhaps even glimpse the calloused scars beneath. Kin-Kin had never liked to acknowledge reality, but looking this good had to come with a cost. Right?

Eventually she sighed.

"I can heal with magic," she said eventually with a nod. "Always have. But... y'know... thanks! It was a nice offer." Had being polite always felt so weightless?

" speech "

"Heh. Yeah, you were one of the lucky ones," Kin-Kin replied, her glow flickering in the dark. She gazed out of that tiny window and there her attention remained as she wondered exactly how many still remained, sleeping or wandering or living a slow descent into madness.

Kin-Kin wondered how close she'd come; how much longer it might have been before she, too, was beyond reason. Looking back now, she realized that she'd come to the very brink.

The wolf's gaze flickered back to the tiny marmoset, and her faded light brightened in a ripple over her fur. "Aw, c'mon. If ya do that then I really would go crazy. I'm sure ya'd prefer a different kinda welcome... we got off on the wrong foot before, after all... but at this point, I'd rather eat my own sword than be alone again." A hint of despair crept into her voice as she trailed off into the empty air.

She paused, thinking long and hard about her answer.

"Look... I dunno about that. Maybe we're the last. But at least the both of us met now, so that's at least somethin', right? You're the first I've met for... since... oh, it's been too long to remember. I'm just glad that... y'know... you're here." Kin-Kin swung her head back towards Tukluk and blew out a warm breath. "But maybe this is the start of something. I sure hope so."


" speech "