6/13/2026, 7:14 PM
❁
Morning falls upon her, and Izumi is all but ready.
The crane bird lifts her slight frame from her makeshift bed in the woods, her chest against the floor and rear pointed up to stretch her limbs outward. Her joints popped delightfully, and she stood to her paws to shake the debris from her fur. For some strange reason, Izumi's eyes scanned the area around her in search of someone, only for the rude reminder that she'd currently been alone. The northern tribe was not there to keep her company while she yearned for the lands of her dynasty...and neither was the dynasty, upon last night's discovery. Perhaps she was foolish to think there would even be a remnant there after being gone for so long, but that irate, lingering hope of hers deluded her enough into returning in the first place.
Izumi could've spent the night there, too, if it weren't for her attempting to avoid the pain of a barren home. No, she'd rather sleep far, far away...
Long limbs carried her quietly beyond the grasses and onto a makeshift bridge, where the cool, moss covered cobblestone cooled her paw pads as she waltzed. Her front limbs came to rest on the ledge of the bridge to watch the sun rise, filling an orange hue to the early sky. She wondered what could have happened after all this time apart. How many had suffered and forced to disperse because of her absence? Did the siblings she reunited with find hearthside someplace else? Had Osamu's blade sworn to protect someone else?
Or even...his heart?
The pale woman growled at herself and shut her eyes tightly, shaking her head to forbid such torturous thoughts from entering her mind.
![[Image: 54890335_EWIrkUwAqghUjLP.png]](https://f2.toyhou.se/file/f2-toyhou-se/images/54890335_EWIrkUwAqghUjLP.png)
