The sky was starting to darken with the sun beginning its fiery descent into the ocean to the west. The sprawling taiga was evergreen in the grasp of winter. The roots of a grandfather pine hid a hollow within it where a group of creatures gathered. A small female with golden eyes and silvery fur that was mixed with charcoal and slate with a cream underbelly had her back to the entrance. A small hole with stones surrounding it was the site of a small fire that kept the hollow warm. Three birds rested within the home, a vulture with silver plumage, and peculiar white crow with a skull afixed to his head, and a black hybrid bird with beautiful eyes.

       Steliana was forever thankful for the day that she had been promoted up to Chemist and allowed to make this place her home. It was better than the communal quarters she had shared with the new recruits; gods that had been hell for someone like herself. She loved privacy and she had been eyeing this pine since she had first found it. The female was quick to move into her new residence with a crudely-made shelf of herbs made from balancing pieces of driftwood on smooth rocks, a bed made from pelts and moss, and a shelf of books and paper. Her companions, Izanami, Tokotsu, and Morrigan also found residence in the home with a roost in the higher part of the tree. The jackal-wolf felt at peace for once in her life, though that was soon to change.

       A flapping of white wings knocked the top of her herb shelf down.

      Gottverdammt! The silver medic said in a harsh whisper before looking up from her reading with a look that could have been capable of killing. Her golden eyes found the skull-wearing crow to be the perpetrator and her eyes almost softened for a second. Dai jobu desu, she said to the crow and padded over to the fallen shelf. The shoddy construction made it one of the first things to fall in any occasion, whether it be the brush of wings or a simple bump. There was a reason she had little to nothing on it since this was almost a daily occurance. The silver-furred female was a hair's breadth away from throwing the entire shelf out.

      Lass es, the argent wraith said and returned to her reading. She was never one to work with others but the pack - for some dastardly reason - decided to call home had been a fair choice out of all the others she had looked into. She was nothing if not astute. It was Saboro that she deemed to be the best choice out of all the other options. Sure the rings weren't quite her fancy but the silver-tongued held her temper and tongue until she found herself in the middle class.