Completed Uncommon Enemy (Nanami)

[Kuvarakh]

Kuvarakh stepped up to Victor and swung the makeshift club. The man was more aware of him than he thought, though. Even with the distraction of the attacking Kelvic, he still managed to duck and twist out of the stroke. But he cursed as he did so, his hand clearly torn by the wolf's fangs in the process.

But the blood on the blade of the knife in that hand was not his own. He sneered at the huge animal despite the wound. "Fine, have it your way, bitch." He held up the pouch that had been at his side, showing a slice in its side where his knife had passed moments before. "This will take care of your Kelvic ass."

Kuvarakh reset his balance and readied the club for another swing. But a swirl of light diverted his attention. The giant dog was a woman again, looking confused. He was about to demand what the Hai she thought she was doing, that she was a lot safer staying in animal form in this situation, when she shifted back. He looked back to Victor, unsettled to find him laughing. "Wildleash, bitch. Works on anything that shapeshifts."

"Then it won't work on ME, asshole! That shyke doesn't work on Nuits." Kuvarakh snarled, stepping in again to swat the man across the back. Figuring that Victor would press a counter attack, Kuvarakh stepped back with the momentum of his swing, and brought it around to defend against the attack he assumed was incoming. But had Victor stayed where he was, a calculating look on his face.

Kuvarakh's attention was again diverted by flashing swirls of light, each one heralding another shift by the Kelvic woman. Her expression showed that she was completely disoriented and distressed. Kuvarakh was nearly as upset as she was, thinking that whatever this 'Wildleash' was, it was going to leave him facing this thug alone again.

it only got worse when the woman collapsed in a heap, unconscious. Victor laughed even more and made a move to approach her defenseless body. Kuvarakh stepped in to interpose himself between them. Victor's laugh degenerated into a frustrated snarl. "Oh, how noble of you, Kirby, you sack of shyke. What do you care about her? What does she care about you? You two got something going on the side, maybe? You give it to her doggy style?" His grin was pure venom.

"Shut your petching mouth, you sick bastard!" Kuvarakh roared, his fingers trembling on the club. "You steal babies and you're gonna judge ME? I don't know her, but she came to my defense. I'm just returning the favor. Get it through your petching head, prick. Kirby is dead, and I'll be happy to see you join him."

"Save it, fool! I don't just steal babies..." he made a curious gesture at the woman, like it referred especially to her. "Sometimes I put 'em down. Call it a mercy killing, if you like." his voice was heavy with sarcasm. The he got serious again, and began to work his way towards a side alley. Kuvarakh thought for a moment of pursuing him. This might be his best chance of taking him out once and for all. But he had to consider that Victor might circle around and kill the woman. It seemed that there was some past event they shared.

This was supported by his parting words, "This isn't over, Kirby. I'll be collecting one way or another. I don't know how you knew what poison I'm using now; or what antidote to take. At least my stuff still works on her like it used to. That's ONE kid no one's gettin' back." he turned and disappeared down the other alley. Kuvarakh waited a moment, in case it was a ruse, then went to check on the woman, first draping her torn dress over her naked body.

OOCNanami and I agreed to the Wildleash poisoning for this post.

[Nanami]

Victor wrenched his forearm out from between Nanami’s teeth when the Nuit attacked, shredding a good deal of his own flesh in the process. It’s only once he was free that she felt the sting of the cut on her cheek. It was long but shallow, from somewhere below her ear and arced over her muzzle. He probably cut her while twisting himself away.

"Fine, have it your way, bitch.” the man sneered, holding up a small bag with a clean slice through its side. ”This will take care of your Kelvic ass.”

The Kelvic bitch’s back legs were bunched up for another spring as he spoke, but as she saw the thin line of red on the knife, a seizing thought of poision dug its cold fingers into her mind. Then she unexpectedly shifted.

Nanami was used to control. Her Kelvic grace came from knowing her body; what it could do, its limits and advantages, and where it ends. She fought the strange unwanted transformations, trying vainly to root herself in the current body. To lose this fundamental sense of self was disorientating and horrifying. Her animal and human form had always been liquid, interchangeable. But now they couldn't be farther apart, and she struggled with it.
 
The fight was still going on as the seconds ticked by, and she could see it clearly, but there was an oppressive calm over everything that wasn't there before. She had no desire to attack Victor. She still knew why she has to, and why it's important, and why she was so sick and angry only moments before; but the spark of aggression was gone. She was as tame as a housepet.
 
The changes were taxing, and she sat down heavily under the weight of her exhaustion and calm indifference. Dark specks gathered in front of her eyes like flies over a corpse. They merged and grew into a solid wall of black, and she lost consciousness.
 
She woke a chime later in the human body she fell with. She blinked her way into consciousness, and the first thing she felt was an urgent need to vomit. So she did. Turning to the side she was silently sick, and afterwards felt marginally better as her dizziness subsided. The Nuit was standing nearby- he had draped her broken dress over her body. The Kelvic sat up and wiped her mouth on what used to be the hem of the skirt.
 
"Mmm, what happened? Where did Victor go?" she asked, sounding only mildly interested. The artificial calm feeling persists, and though she knew it was wrong, she couldn’t seem to fight it. How do you resist something that makes you so indifferent to resistance?  "Are you ok, Nuit?" she continued, eyeing the shallow cut in his open shoulder. "Here, let me have a look." 

[Kuvarakh]

The Kelvic woman's behavior was curiously restrained. Kuvarakh had put two and two together easily enough to conclude that her uncontrolled shifting and unconsciousness were effects of this 'Wildleash' the man, Victor, had sneered about. But he did not know about the follow-up passivity effect that was also a feature of the toxin.

Here, the woman had been a snarling beast, ready to flay this 'Victor' fellow alive, and for a moment, it looked like she would add Kuvarakh to this agenda as well. But there were hints in both their words that made it obvious that there was some history between them. Kuvarakh knew that the woman had at first come to the same misunderstanding about who "Kirby" was, as Victor had. But she had come to his aid, nonetheless. It stood to reason that her history with Victor must have been quite unpleasant.

Yet now, her question was voiced with only a casual level of interest. He studied her for signs of her mood switching back to a more aggressive posture, but there was no sign of it yet. He knew nothing of toxins, so he had no idea how long this effect would last. But he reasoned it must last long enough for some sort of secure restraints to be placed on a captured Kelvic. Or to see it from a trap in the wild to a cage in the city. Why else would such a compound be created? He found the notion reprehensible.

But he knew it must surely wear off sometime. So for now, he decided to stay with her, just as she had stood by him. "Victor is gone. I guess with his poisons not working on me, he lost confidence in an easy triumph. And I'd like to thank you for giving me a chance to get my head around the situation well enough to defend myself. You're apparently under the effect of some chemical compound called 'Wildleash'. It apparently is made specifically to tame Kelvics. I promise you I am only staying to be sure no one attempts such a thing."

She asked about his shoulder and he shrugged, but leaned in to let her see the cut. he knew there would be no blood, but he also knew there would be no healing. All he could do was have it stitched up. "There's really nothing you can do about it. Unless you have the means to stitch it up for me. Nuits do not heal. I don't want to bore you, if you already know about Nuits, but you seemed ready to believe that I was this 'Kirby' guy. As I told Victor, this IS Kirby's body, but MY name is Kuvarakh. I am an alchemist, and I don't know anything about this baby. Though you and he both obviously do."

He thought for a moment that a spark of high interest had tried to fight through the fog of docility affecting the Kelvic woman's responses, but he couldn't be sure. Perhaps it was nothing more than the natural shock ANY decent person would have regarding the subject of selling infants into slavery. He knew this was part of what Kirby had been doing in the Underground and it was one of the main reasons he had arranged the man's encounter with justice, in the form of a viper named Rey. It looked like that "justice" was back-lashing on him, now.

He grimaced once at the thought, then shrugged fatalistically, and turned back to the woman. "So, what is your name, if I may ask? Do you have a place I can take you? Other than somewhere to get some new clothes, that is." he said, acknowledging her loss. "It will be my treat. It's the least I can do for coming to my rescue like that. We can go to The Tattered Thread. I've gotten to know Mr. Skyglow pretty well there. Are you staying at The Wolf's Den?"

[Nanami]

Two and two fit together as Nanami inspected his shoulder. She was right, the cut was deep enough but not bleeding. And his bare skin was cold to the touch. Her sluggish mind worked over the word “Nuit", attaching a new meaning to the word.  
 
"...You're not a shifter, are you? You hijacked this body. It's dead."
 
The thought was strange- but not a frightening as it would had been if she had been in the right mind. It would be more of a fear that he might be able to snatch away her body, than a disgust of the defiled corpse. To her, there is no sanctity in a dead body. Without a loved soul inside its just swiftly rotting meat. The Kelvic had given the people of the Avanthal caravan an awful fright when they saw what she intended to do with her sons corpse. They restrained her and buried him instead.
 
The Nuit went on to talk about a baby, and again Nanami was hit with the look on Victor's face, and the astringent smell of his poison.
 
Before Kuvarakh moves away she put a hand out on his chest to keep him still as she gathered her thoughts. She felt sluggish and dim-witted, exhausted to her bones and drifting on an easy cloud of tranquility. But the lance of some memory hit her like a lightning bolt, and she held onto the urgency of the feeling as hard as she could. But it seemed to trickle away like a handful of sand.
 
"You said... You said I knew of the baby. I didn't, I was spying on him- thats how I found out. We travelled to Karjin in the same company, but I didn't really know him. I hadn't seen him in months..." She makes a dimly frustrated sound, and her eyes lose focus briefly. But she cant hold onto the thought. She smiles weakly and takes her hand from his chest. "If I'd known what an evil petcher he was back then I would have killed him ages ago, I'm sorry. There were rumours, of course, but..." she shrugged. Her last few months in the caravan were filled with anxiety and grief. She had no time to attend to the rumours of some random human. "You should tell me exactly what he said."
 
"But first, some clothes. Thank you for the offer, Kuv-a-rakh." she giggles in a very un-Nanami-like way as she trips over the name with her heavy accent. "I'm Nanami, Zypherian Kelvic bitch." 
 
She gets to her feet easily, now that the dizziness has all but gone. She held up the dress for inspection, and sees it damaged beyond repair. The make was cheap, and years old. The skirt was intact, wide enough to weather the sudden change, but the torso and shoulders had busted their seams so hard that it took a sizeable chunk of material with it. But there was nothing for it, she tied the shoulders as best she could and pulled the garment over herself. The resulting neckline was uncomfortably high, and there was an immodest amount of blindingly white skin through the sides of the dress. But maybe this way people will be too embarrassed to call her out on public indecency. 
 
"I live in a small house with Zeke- a Vantha" she says distractedly, yet unaware of the kind of social implications that hangs around a living arrangement like that. "He'll take care of me. Wildleash you say? Hell of a poison. But the aftereffects are rather pleasant." At that she yawns monstrously and grinds the heels of her hands into her eyes. "I'd ask you to lead the way, but who the frost knows where anything is in this godforsaken city."

[Kuvarakh]

Kuvarakh grimaced a moment at the word "hijacked", but understood the comparison. He didn't bother with the subtle differences, simply nodding his head in agreement. If anything, he appreciated her lack of the cringing disgust most people initially responded with at the understanding of Nuit transfer.

He was a little surprised that she hadn't originally known of the baby mentioned by Victor. He heard her out about what she knew of the man, agreeing that it was a shame she hadn't put an end to him back on the road. She asked him to relay the exact exchange with Victor regarding the baby, but then diverted the subject to that of clothing.

It was true that she was in immediate need of new attire, but Kuvarakh was worried that he'd forget too much of the exact wording the longer he delayed. He waved off her thanks, saying it was the least he could do and that HE should be the one saying thanks to HER. "In fact, let's make it official." he stopped and turned, giving her a formal bow, "Thank YOU, Nanami. Oh, and it's Ku-VAR-akh. The accent on the second syllable."

As they began walking, he made an effort to recall all the details of Victor's remarks. "Well he said he doesn't always steal babies; that sometimes he...how did he say?...'puts them down', like a mercy killing. Then a bunch of crap about it 'not being over' and he'd be back. That he didn't know how I'd beaten his poison...or...no, I remember...'how did I know what antidote to take'...that's what it was. Still doesn't believe I'm a Nuit, I guess."

He was glad for the diversion of her description of her living arrangements. Victor's remaining comments carried horrible implications, and he was not looking forward to the horror, rage and grief he expected to see in her eyes. For now he could only hope that the "pleasant aftereffects" of the Wildleash would keep her calm.

But her comment about finding locations in this 'godforsaken city' served to postpone the inevitable a bit longer. "Well, I have to admit, it takes some getting used to. That and extensive experience, I'm afraid. I've been here several years now and I've come to realize you don't look for the particular building. You look for the way certain parts of the city look."

He wasn't sure if she understood what he meant. "And Ionu has certain preferences. For instance, there's almost always some sort of body of water outside the shop where I work. Whether a pond, or a stream or a waterfall or whatever, it's always within a couple blocks. So once you learn which locations are near my shop, you can find it by finding the body of water, which can be found following the flights of certain birds. Areas of more houses all have steeper roofs. You can find the more industrial areas by looking for haze in the air from stuff burning. Although Our Lord likes to put volcanic activity here and there, so that can confuse you there. No system is perfect I'm afraid."

It looked like she was still waiting for anything else Victor had said though. He thought past the last bunch of comments he'd mentioned, knowing it must be the next bunch Nanami would want to hear. He swallowed and pressed ahead. "Victor DID say more...It's the worst part though. He said that his poison STILL works on you...'Still' works, like he's used it on you before...and then he said 'that's one baby no one is getting back."

He looked over at Nanami, expecting an outburst. Not knowing if this 'Wildleash' could contain the sort of rage he figured anyone would feel after such a telling bit of information. It was also possible that the dose she'd received had been small. And she was a very large Kelvic dog. He also wasn't sure how long the stuff was supposed to last.

[Nanami]

Nanami nodded mutely to the Nuit’s first rendition of what Victor had said. There was a disgust deep in her bones, and just the words made her feel like she was rotting from the inside. The simple fact that he will be back both elated and despaired her. Victor was after the Kirby body, of course, and she was worth less nothing to the man unless she was standing between him and said body. She could get out and never see the man again. But she can still taste the salt of his blood on the back of her teeth, and even under the influence of the poison longed to taste it again.
 
As she expressed her frustration at the mad, shifting city the Nuit ran into a short anecdote on how it works. She tried her best to keep up with him, but this kind of abstract thinking (don’t look for what you're looking for, look for the bigger part of the thing you're looking for) takes time with her. She has to digest his words for several seconds before it begins making sense. Although it may be down to experience for the man, Nanami got the impression of an innate kind of cleverness in him. He is much more intelligent than her, at the very least.

She made an affirming noise to say she understands. But she is quickly getting impatient for the rest of what Victor said- for he did say more, she’s certain. The conviction doesn’t come from knowing Victor, because she doesn’t know him at all. Its more to do with the Nuit. His expression is both tense and evading, and his talking seemed padded and forced. If she didn’t know better, she’d guess he was buying time.

Finally, his gentle voice raised to deliver what she wanted: "Victor DID say more…” he said. “It’s the worst part though. He said that his poison STILL works on you…’Still' works, like he's used it on you before...and then he said ’that's one baby no one is getting back.”
 
What? Her mind reeled. Was he talking about Wildleash? She’d never been under those effects before. Unless he didn’t mean the poison used on her, maybe… She stopped in the middle of the cobbled street, her arms crossed over her chest and her eyes staring hard at a spot at her feet. You can almost hear the wheels turning in her mind.
 
One baby no-one is getting back.
 
One baby.

One.

Baby.
 
My baby.
 
The outburst, when it did come, was slow. It rolled through her like thunder as her body held onto that one frightful truth. And when it hit, it was too much for her to take. The mind, unable to take the pressure, vented itself through the body. And suddenly she is screaming. One long, shrieking note like the steam escaping a kettle.

All those months ago, stealing from the stores of everyone in the caravan in a desperate attempt to keep her son alive. That medicine. Victors medicine. She was too greedy, he must have found out. The subtle astringent scent in the last bottle that she smelt but didn’t catch, the same scent in the Nuits wound. Oh gods, he poisoned her son.

 But it was worse, it was much worse. He played her. He let her steal the tainted bottle. He let her feed poison to her own child.

Her hands are in her hair, her nails raking blood in her scalp in a desperate attempt to hold herself together. The poison denied her the outlet of grief through anger and aggression, and she recoiled upon herself. The coldness of the Wildleash aftereffects developed her mental processes. She became cunning in those few moments; she had the mind in which to devote herself to the thought and human concept of revenge. He has to die. She will eat the hands that handled the poison that killed her child. The thought isn’t built with rage but with a clarity that pierces like a lance.

She looks up at the Nuit, her face twisted and terrible in its grief and streaked with tears she is not aware she’s shedding.

“I have to kill him.”

[Kuvarakh]

Kuvarakh felt a stab of sympathetic grief unlike any he'd felt before. It was not only the degree of villainy to which she'd clearly been subjected, it was also the way she was having to force the cry of pain from her throat. The 'Wildleash' was surely hindering her emotional expression. He decided they could go to The Tattered Thread some other time. Right now they needed to go somewhere that Nanami could wait out the emotion-stifling property of this heinous drug, so when she could finally cut loose, there would be no panic among the locals.

"I do not know if this helps you at all, but I think the company of others who have lost can be a comfort. I lost my wife in childbirth, and nineteen years later, the daughter born of that tragedy was murdered in the streets of Zeltiva." He did not go on to say that it had been a Nuit that had done it. It was hard enough to explain why he would have willingly joined the ranks of Nuits after that, to someone who had NOT just suffered such a loss.

"I believe that, other than letting you know that you are not alone, the best thing I can do now is say no more about it. I know a spot where I often find it comforting to sit for a while in silent solitude. I would be happy to take you there. I could take my leave then, or now, if you prefer, or sit with you if you feel the need for companionship."

Her statement of vengeance offered additional motivation to NOT mention that a Nuit had killed his daughter. For he felt quite differently about the two incidents, and by extension, the two perpetrators. He had come to know some level of understanding about what could cause a Nuit to commit a desperate act like murder. And the details he'd learned at the time, gave him reason to think it had BEEN born of desperation, not outright evil.

Whereas, Victor seemed to have been just purely malicious. If there had been some huge history of animosity between Victor and Nanami, covering feuding actions over years; something where it could be possible that she had helped escalate it to the point where Victor's act had also been desperate, there would surely have been a more familiar exchange between them. But they seemed not to really know each other at first.

His voice was low and calm as he started to offer her a directing hand, intent on leading to a quiet and remote spot he knew. "I stand corrected. There is one other thing I think it is useful for me to say. I want you to know I agree...he must die. And I am willing to render what aid I may. And knowing that I now have thugs seeking my...new hide...perhaps we can help each other."

[Nanami]

Nanami absorbed Kuvarakh’s story of heartbreak and sympathy with a kind of silent horror. Far from comforting her, just knowing this kind of pain exists elsewhere in the world sickened her. It wasn't just his child, his wife was also dead. Her stricken heart felt for him, and while that small part of herself was occupied with him, it could forget herself- and that, if nothing else, eased her pain a bit.

“How old are you?” she asked, spontaneously. How long have you lived with this? She didn’t offer condolences or sympathy herself. Such a display seemed beyond her right then.
 
But oh Morwen, it hurt. The poison was easing, bit by bit, and she was starting to feel herself again. The anger was bubbling just below the surface, and it was getting harder and harder to hold herself together now that the docile effect was wearing away. And she hates him. Oh she hates him. That man who sells and kills children.
 
She let Kuvarakh steer her away to a spot he knows, a place of rest, apparently. Yes, that would be best, and she tells him so: "Take me there, and please stay with me." Because the only thing she cant stand is to be alone.
 
"I stand corrected,” the Nuit continued. “There is one other thing I think it is useful for me to say. I want you to know I agree...he must die.” Her bloodshot eyes suddenly fixed and bored into his. He had her complete attention. “….And I am willing to render what aid I may. And knowing that I now have thugs seeking my...new hide...perhaps we can help each other."
 
Of course, Victor would come back for Kirby. And gods know what Victor does, and what he has at his disposal to complete his goal. Mind you, she doesn’t know what Kuvarakh does either. Regardless, he would need someone to watch his back; a body guard. The word buzzed around her head. Another word occurred to her: bait. What an evil thought! It scarred her that that is where her mind turned, but it is true. She could hunt Victor up and down this twisted city or she could wait for him to come to her.

One hand descended claw-like on his shoulder and she turned him to face her. Even with the ridiculous way she is dressed and her swollen, spotted face, she exuded a kind of burning intensity that lit her up from the inside.
 
“Kuvarakh, you know what I am. Look at me!” she smiles for the first time, though the look is tight and unsettling. “Of course I can help, have you ever seen a more powerful canine? I have forty-two teeth and powerful jaws, I have defended hunters from wolves and bears for years! I can pull walrus carcasses for miles and I have slaughtered deer at an age you would still be drooling in your cradle. I am a match for any Taldera beast. I can protect you from some idiot human men. I’ll be your guard dog, and stick with you until they’re dead or they flee. I’ll practise and learn and I'll be able to pull down everything that means you harm. Then, when the time comes, you help me kill Victor."
 
Everything she said was hyperbole, and what wasn't hyperbole was a lie. But she needed this job. At that moment, in her rapidly dissolving calm, nothing could be so important. And she felt she was capable of protecting him- that thing inside the borrowed skin. She could do it, and she would be good at it. Her kind had been bred for protection, right? Maybe, along with her skill in front of a sled, she inherited some guard dog traits as well. She better have. Her smile did'nt waver.

[Kuvarakh]

Kuvarakh looked Nanami in the eye. "I am about one hundred years a Nuit, after fifty years a human, give or take a year or two, I'm honestly not sure." They walked mostly in silence though, each feeling that the other understood the empathic comfort derived from a silent companion at such times.

They arrived at a grove of trees, with a path that led to a wide smooth rock platform with a bubbling rill rising from its center and feathering off the edges in a soft misty fall. There were natural stairs that led to an outcropping that gave you an almost narcotically relaxing view of the site. Though the trees arched in an overlapping canopy of wide leaves, none were ever on the ground or clogging the stream which ambled off through the trunks, lit by sporadic rays of Syna's glory. It was idyllic, and he came here often.

He suspected that she too, found some serenity in the droning babble of the water. At one point, her touch turned him to face her and she made her offer of protection. He looked her over, and could hardly deny how impressive was her previous 'animal' form. Now, she seemed so tame by comparison. In a sense, it was the best sort of defense, as villains would approach with severe overconfidence.

"Your offer is quite sensible. I think we should not be seen together too immediately though. What this 'Victor' said gives me reason to think there may be other criminals popping up here and there. I just don't know how much of a...'community'...they have with each other. Victor will no doubt feel quite secure in using this 'Wildleash' stuff now. He may sell this information to others that are looking for me, on the assumption that we are together. I very much want to take you up on your offer, but at first, I want to make it seem as though I have not. And I do have another in mind that would serve in the interim."

He thought about Rey, the Dhani that had actually killed Kirby. He had done it on Kuvarakh's "suggestion", but they'd both known full well that it was not the side mission Kuvarakh had presented it as, in the presence of the others. And Kuvarakh's pretense of "spontaneously" paying Rey for the "unexpected hazard" of Kirby's attack, was nothing short of a lie. But it was a lie that had smoothed things out...up until now.

Kirby was a twisted villain, child slaver and rapist, and Kuvarakh had no problem living with what he and Rey had done. If Nuits slept, he'd have done so easily, and with no regrets. But now he thought he might have need of Rey's talents again. "I will certainly want to know where I can find you. Are you at 'The Wolf's Cave' inn? Perhaps we should go there when you feel fully like yourself again. I should probably get an idea of where the place tends to be. I have been there in the course of shop business, but it would do me good to get it more familiar again."

[Nanami]

After time, the the Nuit lead the pair of them to a grove of sorts, with a worn dais and sheltering trees. There was not a single palm tree in sight. Perhaps Ionu thought this place was sacred, too. It was certainly tranquil. She closed her eyes and let the quiet bubbling of the water cool her blood.
 
"Your offer is quite sensible.”
 
The Kelvic sucked in a breath she didn't know she was holding. Very sensible, indeed! She could be the dog at the end of his leash, and he'd be the bait at the end of her line. They could be very good for each other. The purpose gave her life a new life.
 
The Nuit continued, weaving a simple strategy of misdirection. He wanted to make sure that nobody knew they had come to such an agreement. She was dubious. This would mean they would be separated for who knew how long. What if something happened to him? What if the thugs came while she was poodling around on the other side of the city pretending not to know him?
 
Kuvarakh didn't bring it up. She would have to assume this man had means to himself. He asked where he could find her, when he did need her. That was a tricky question. She had a house, which she shared with a young Vantha man. But the only magical, compass-orientated key was given to him, as she was much more comfortable sleeping outside if she couldn't find her own house.
 
"Yes, you can find me at the Wolf's Cave", she improvised. She didn't particularly like the inn, as she’s (surprisingly) doesn’t get along well with her own kind, and the small, winged people she sometimes saw there made her wary. But at least she could growl and snap at the people she didn't like without getting kicked out, and they respected body language much more than any human she had met. She'll spend the evenings there until the Nuit came for her.
 
She took another cleansing breath of the fragrant air. Sunset was rapidly approaching, bathing the grove in a dappled glow. The grass was soft on her bare feet, and the breeze was doing its best to wipe away the heat of the day. She'll stay here tonight, as a human. She can grieve here, and howl if she must, and if anyone would stumble upon her- at least her human body is much less prone to violence.
 
"You can leave now" she said, dismissing him verbally but not unkindly. He might not be human, but she doubted his non-verbal cues were any better. "Thank you for your help. We'll get them. All of them. Then you and I can sleep easier." She felt like this sort of understanding, or partnership was suppose to be ceremonially cemented somehow. That was the human way, and he must have been human once. She awkwardly held out her left hand to shake. "But I want Victor's hands", she said firmly. "You can have his purse or his body or whatever you want- but I get his hands."