and the stars in their orbits shone pale through the lightof the brighter, colder moon

Nadya lowered herself until she was seated in front of Tobias on the small patch of grass out of the way from the crowd. She seemed to have made the right choice with the hunk of meat which may have been the first real food he had eaten in god knows how long from the looks of him. His movements, crouched and inhaling the turkey, easily showed the bone beneath. He wasn't a skeleton but definitely needed to be fed more. Perhaps it was the fact that he was a link to her past which drew her to him, or simply because he had been important to Aiden but she had decided to "keep him". Her fingers itched to brush aside the hair that kept obscuring his eyes from view; a disheveled look didn't bother her quite so much as someone's hair in their eyes. Tobias' fractured talking was also a bit of mystery to her. He seemed to understand so wasn't sure...perhaps too much time in feline form does that. Whatever the cause she became hesitantly elated at the prospect of her brother being in town. This city of Sacrosanct seemed to be a beacon calling all lost souls. It couldn't really just be coincidence that she found Tobias and now there was hope to find her brother.



"Of course I'll help you look but are you sure he's really here? It's been a long time, he could be anywhere in the world."



Nadya's gaze lingered on the toy Tobias produced. No particular memory came to the forefront of her mind upon seeing it. She was hardly surprised it to since its significance lay with only Tobias and the connection it had to her brother. All boys liked cars after all. Once Tobias had reduced the meal to a carcass with all possible edible strings of meat picked clean she removed the plate from his hand and set it off to the side.


"I don't have a place. We can find a new one together though. Once we find a place then we can look for my brother, ok? You might want to get cleaned up before we start looking though."



Her fingers outstretched towards his hand that held the toy, mere inches from his dirt smeared flesh, but curled back into a fist to settle on her lap again. He obviously cared, beneath the erratically wild behavior she could tell some part of him wanted more companionship than even he realized or perhaps understood. Nadya tucked a stray lock of dark brunette hair behind her ear and offered Tobias an encouraging smile. She'd care for him now like Aiden did until they found him. Nadya rose back to her feet and brushed the damp soil from her knees before grabbing her backpack. She noted with amusement that the apple sitting on the bench had a bigger carving indicating Tobias has tried it. Food was food which was not worth wasting and she was still hungry since she had given Tobias the meat. She slung one strap of her backpack over, plucking the apple from the bench and returning the crisp flesh of it to her lips to continue her original plan of snacking.



"Come on Toby lets go find you a couch."



Nadya smiled through her bite, licking her lips as a few drops of that valuable juice attempted escape, and swept her arm out gesturing for her new found traveling companion to follow. Some part of her knew he would follow. He did appear to be the type that should probably have a "Don't feed the stray" sign around their neck. She had shown him kindness and fed him...he would follow her. So took it on herself to strike out the path in the direction of the residential housings she had seen the night before. The sounds and sights around her went on barely noticeable as her mind was a buzz at what had just happened. She had awoken this morning thinking it would be no different than any other day she had spent in her travels only to find her world turned upside down. Yet in a sense it wasn't being turned upside-down but rather right-side up. Nadya wouldn't be able to wipe the smile from her face for a while now.



-Exit to River Dale?-