The nights of Hyaline are usually calm, though some are cruel in their temperature. It is a calm night, as it is most nights, for nearly all of Hyaline has fled its borders. Litotes is patrolling, still sick but not feeling as terribly (it comes and goes in waves, some longer than others). The fever hovers dangerously, but does not take hold - his only give away the ever persistent cough.

In his quiet and meditative state, he thinks of Kensa, hoping she is faring well. His mind begins to wander further into fantasies of a life they might have outside of the plague when Rune interrupts harshly:

Will you shut up and find her already? She is one of three things you cycle through fixating on. I miss when the fever made you hallucinate.

The sand cat does not really mean that, but it upsets Lie’s little bit of peace (something he gets so rarely). He immediately shifts into his lion-form, a power he has not learned to fully control. His shifting was triggered by anger this time, so his first action as lion is to jump and down in the hopes of smashing his little companion into the snow. Rune dodges and hops about, weaving circles through his legs. Finally, Lie gets one good swat in over her ears. She claws her way up his back, hissing and spitting but eventually curling up between his shoulders.

Litotes does not return to his original shape. Instead, he slinks through the snow, head and tail held low. He is sniffing out a foreign scent, one that speaks of a land he is not familiar with. It does not take long to find the mare, and when he does he refuses to shift.

He stands facing her, feline tail flicking back and forth.

“What brings you to Hyaline?”

i don't want your pity, i just want somebody near me
guess i'm a coward, i just want to feel all right