Previous Chapter: Tears of the Mother

A/N: Well, this chapter answers one question, a question I'm surprised no one really asked.
Disclaimer: Otsana, Candra, Ko and Eztli are mine, as is the whole gory story. Linkara is his own.

“So…what do we do now?”

Otsana’s voice came out tiny. Linkara had a nasty suspicion that Candra had said something overly-caustic, and a quick glance at the cool look on Candra’s face confirmed it.

“We could always hand you back to the Anima Tribe,” she said.

“Candra!”

“That’s how things are meant to be done!” Candra seemed particularly agitated. Linkara abruptly remembered that she was respected by the werewolf tribes, a…’Priestess of the Moon’.

‘She must see Otsana as some sort of abomination. No wonder she’s being so cruel.’

“Candra,” said Linkara again, trying to be as gentle as he could be while Eztli cleaned the blood off of his face. Linkara had offered to do it, but Eztli muttered something about having cleaned his wounds up so she might as well clean the rest of him, and Linkara dropped it, “Candra, maybe you should rest. You don’t seem so good.”

“I’m not tired!” snapped Candra.

“Then maybe you should leave,” said Linkara, still attempting to keep his voice even and cool, “Otsana seems to be upsetting you.”

“But I - - !” she seemed about to burst into one of her famous tirades, but something about Linkara made her close her mouth. She sighed, “You’re right. I’ll go get some fresh air.”

She left, running a frustrated hand through her messy hair as she did.

“What is she?” asked Otsana softly.

“The Keeper of the Prophet,” said Eztli absently.

“…That doesn’t answer my question.”

“I know.”

“You mean you don’t know what she is?” Eztli sighed at Otsana’s outraged response.

“I don’t know a lot of things,” was all Eztli said in reply, “Have you thought about what you’ll do now?”

That took the wind out of Otsana’s sails.

“Well, I’ve got a couple of ideas. I was thinking…is there any way I can just track down all the evil people in the world?”

“Unless you’ve managed to find a particular ‘evil’ stench, I doubt it,” said Eztli. Linkara hissed – she had just rubbed the cut above his eyebrow.

“Well, is there anything they have in common?”

“Otsana, the breeds of evil men concoct are quite extensive and remarkable,” said Eztli, “Now, I think Linkara needs a bath to clean his hair…”

“Okay! Okay, okay! I think I can clean the rest of me! Geez, Eztli, are you trying to seduce me or be my mother?”

Eztli threw her head back and laughed.

“Why don’t you head home?” she said when she had overcome her mirth, “You’re so dazed, you’re in no position to make any decisions about what you’re going to have for dinner, let alone help Otsana plan the rest of her life.”

“Okay,” said Linkara as he headed to the door, “You’ll hear no complaints from me. G’night.”

“Good night,” said Otsana.

“Good night, Linkara. If you like, we’ll tell you Otsana’s decision.”

“Yeah,” said Linkara, looking at the once-werewolf, looking at her golden eyes, once gentle and angelic in a feral way, now possessing something dark and dangerous and evil in their depths, “Yeah, I’d like to hear about that.”


What Otsana is now…we still don’t know. There isn’t a word for it. A werewolf who cannot shape shift and who no longer belongs to a pack or tribe…

Candra calls her a monster sometimes. Eztli refers to her as if she were a child. I suppose, in comparison to Eztli, she probably is.

Ko calls her the Final Cord.

Back then? I called her sad and lonely. I called her abandoned. I pitied her, and as she became more and more human, she grew to resent my pity. Grew to resent the way I looked at her, with sadness at what she might have been. Grew to resent how I refused to see her in her new form, always, deep down, seeing Otsana.

Eventually, she grew so far from Otsana that I could no longer see the young werewolf who had shown me scars on the inside of her thighs.

In my head, I still called her Otsana.

The others don’t know who she is…was…could have been. They call her by her new name. Marz calls her dangerous. Goggles calls her untrustworthy, but a useful contact, and always says that with something similar to accusation in her eyes. The guys have never met her.

And as for Otsana...

What does Otsana call herself?


Otsana calls herself Tiamat.

Next Chapter: Carnation