Should one embrace the Words of Power? Should they enjoy the heresy of the deeper Words? Should the Sanctuary offer respite to those that have turned from the deeps? Should the Sanctuary darken the halls of the divine?

The Sanctuary is built to darken the view of the Tower, to hide lower than its notice and protect our plane from its incursions. The individual’s worth is infinitely lower than that of the whole. If there must be sacrifices, whether guilty or innocent, then they shall be made. We may weep over their graves, and lament the deaths of thousands. But the Tower cannot know of the Sanctuary.

-Instructions given to every supplicant of the Blackened Sanctuary.

“I am willing and able to follow commands, but I doubt somewhat regarding how much it would benefit us for me to do so instead of retaining as much secrecy as possible for now.”

It took some time to decide what exactly to do about Sybil and how she communicated with the wolfstags. For some reason, it seemed like her magic was “different” to the indlovu, and she was how they’d found us in the first place. My initial thought had been to have her mentally “scream” warnings to any nearby indlovu, keeping them at arm’s length, unless they wanted to violate the unspoken agreement not to murder us in cold blood. Sybil’s though, which I felt I might agree more with than my own, was that keeping ourselves quiet and less noticeable would keep more from finding us.

“But, as we’re moving and plan on going through Bekizo’s territory, should we try to speak with him? I couldn’t recognize him without him telling us, but he could help us find more keelish, and between all of us and our magic, I think we could probably keep him from being violent, if not convince him to help us out. We don’t know this area.” Shemira countered.

“As I stated, I am willing to do so, but I would prefer that we all understand that doing so would be akin to lighting a fire in the middle of these fields in the middle of the night. All the nearby indlovu would find us, and for as long as we are unable to sense their approach, we would be kept on the unaware and at a disadvantage.”

“They might still find us anyways, Sybil!” Shemira responded, her frills and scales around her head flaring in her passion. “I don’t know what we should do, but we have some that could potentially be allies because they see you as a kind of a friend or little indlovu, and throwing that advantage to the side seems stupid at best. We can protect ourselves, and though we lost some of our own, we proved our strength to them in just a short time. We can do so to every one that threatens us until we show that Ashlani’s swarm is too powerful to be considered pests or prey!”

“You follow your passion too strongly.” Sybil clacked her teeth in disagreement. “It is better to remain hidden and continue our path.”

“Maybe, but maybe not! Sybil, what if it were you standing on the edge of the swarm earlier?”

“Then I’d have died.” She responded, tone and body language level and unbothered. Shemira snarled in response, “And you should care about that!”

Sybil’s tail flicked in disagreement, though she said nothing overtly.

“Then what about Ashlani? What if it were him? Or Trai? Vefir? Or me?” Shemira’s voice dropped lower at the end, desperation plain in her tone and body language. I stepped between the two, my hands stretched to each’s shoulder. Two sets of eyes searched my face, one somber and the other dispassionate.

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“You both make good points.” I allowed. “Shemira, you’re too focused on how you could have been hurt by the ambush, and you’re letting that fear cloud your mind.” Her eyes darted away. “Sybil. You’re too conservative. In familiar places, we could do exactly what you say and be victorious and safe. We simply can’t tell how close we are to our destination. I don’t know how much longer we need to travel, how much further we’ll need to go. We should seize any opportunity that we find to gather allies and supporters.” Shemira raised her face to me again, eyes searching mine.

“I am willing to follow your command, Alpha.” Sybil maintained, her tone clipped and unhappy. “I wish for our swarm to understand the situation in which we find ourselves. If we understand the dangers which we are subject to, then I am happy to do as you dictate.”

“I don’t want you to light up a massive beacon displaying our location, Sybil.” I snapped back before reigning in my frustration. “I think that, once Foire, Silf, and the rest of the scouts figure out how it is that the indlovu are moving so seamlessly, we’ll be able to follow a bit of the path left by the Enkulu tribe. I can’t say that we’ll find Bekizo, or even the Enkulu, but that’ll be a step in the right direction. But what if the tribe numbers in the hundreds, and we stumble across them because we were too stubborn to try to open a dialogue, and they kill us all?”

“That is a possibility,” Sybil allowed, “but opening ourselves to ambush for that hope seems imprudent at best.”

“And that’s why I said after Foire and the scouts are successful. For now, I think that it’s for the best that you not communicate with the wolfstags with your magic. Later, once we’re confident we’ll be able to sense their approach, we’ll begin trying to open a conversation with the indlovu.”

Sybi flared her frills in reluctant assent and began to turn to walk away. Before she turned fully, though, she looked back at Shemira. “I am sorry. I should not have spoken of my death so easily. We have lost many companions, and I thought myself and the rest of the swarm fully hardened to such loss and suffering. I would lament your death, more than any other companion’s death I have seen. I do not wish to feel that anguish, not to bestow it upon you.” Then, Sybil bunted her head against Shemira’s.

“Nor would I like you to die either, Ashlani. Neither for the dearth it would leave in the swarm’s leadership, nor for the hole it would leave in me. Please be more careful, as Vefir asks. I have long since fallen into a sort of blind trust in your guaranteed survival, but I should not have. I do not know how I would be able to overcome your death.” Then, Sybil again bunted her head against mine before turning and walking towards the Wave Wolfstags, who she walked among and scratched an ear here and nuzzled a nose there.

“She… sure is something.” Shemira said, forcing a weak chuckle.

“That she is. Thank you for caring for her.”

“Nothing to do with you.” Shemira replied, looking after my mate.

I cocked my head as I asked, “Do you wish to rut with her?”

Shemira flinched back, almost as if she’d sustained a sharp flick across her nose. “No, not at all. Our bond is completely different from something so mundane as rutting. Beyond that, I’m not attracted to her. He’s more my style, at least for now.” Shemira said, her tail flicking towards Vefir.

“Truly?” I asked, skeptical.

“Truly.” She answered, a mischievous grin appearing. “He’s funny to tease, but so earnest.” Then, with a deliberate and exaggerated twist of her hips, Shemira turned and began to walk towards the aforementioned healer. He flicked his tail at her approach, but didn’t turn her away. Instead, he looked her over, seeing if there were any neglected wounds that needed his ministration and, in response, she fawningly presented a small wound she stealthily gave herself across the back of one hand with a claw. Wise to her antics, Vefir turned around and disregarded the scratch and Shemira chased after.

Taking a note from Shemira, I walked towards Sybil, idly taking note of a sand pit nearby that seemed deep enough for a good bath. I grinned as I jogged forwards, ready to indulge.