Yoshi didn't know when it had began.


Either during the ceremony, as he watched Shenlei's bride walk down the isle and towards a path that led her to him. Or after, when the crowd of wolves that came to witness erupted in a bountiful of congratulations, merriment and feast. Somewhere along the lines, Yoshi had caught himself feeling especially miserable that day -- even when he didn't even mean to.


Was jealousy the right word for it? It was not that he had envied Tianlong's emperor nor his wife. They'd made a beautiful couple -- she a jewel of the steppes, and him the hale leader of these verdant coasts. Yoshiro was happy to see, in his eyes, what appeared to be a joyous union -- yet that was what made the uncomfortable knot strangle his insides. Once more, another year's pass, Yoshi had failed to secure a proper marriage. Let alone children of his own.


-- and at this point, her could only blame himself for such a thing.


He pushed far too many away in his past, and let prospering attractions die to fast. Was his heart really so frivolous that he still could not make a choice at his age? He was not getting younger....so why....


What made him fear the prospect of union so much?


In isolation, wandering the forests and away from the crowds within the palace, he pondered this conflict within his mind. All while his gaze fell to nothing in particular. Zoning out as his thoughts battled each other for an answer to it all...