Firestone Hot Springs i live for the applause

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Jinx's integration into her new pack was so far smooth, but that perhaps was aided by a desire to put behind her all the thoughts and events of her past. She had come to Teekon Wilds to save her pack mates at home from certain destruction if she had remained — Sos' vision had been unremitting in its assurance that staying would only cause strife and tension inevitably leading to the clash of gods — and had founded her own pack. She had done as any good wolf of Atka and Sos would do, and had heeded the gods' summon when it came... But none of the Bon Dye wolves, who had pledged themselves to her gods and the loa, were understanding of the necessity of having done so.

Of course, Jinx was only aware that Pied disagreed with her decision. If she were to meet another former Bon Dye wolf, she would likely be surprised to find that the discontent was shared amongst the group. That any wolf in that splintered pack could fault her was absolute; she had, after all, left them, no matter her justifications. She saw no fault in it, but fault there was. But that any wolf might wish harm upon her... Well, it was beyond the scope of reality.

So as Jinx travelled easily into the Flatlands, having announced her plan to visit the hot springs to her pack mates, there was no clench of uneasiness when the scent of some of her former subordinates met her on the wind. There was no nervousness, no skittish desire to flee before they found her and tried to ambush her, for if they found her, she believed there was nothing they could do. Let bygones be bygones, as it were, which was what she intended to do.

Despite the curiosity that initially prickled when the scent of Hawkeye, one of her most trusted Bon Dye subordinates aside from Kerberos and Lecter, carried dominantly on the southwest blowing wind, Jinx did not turn to investigate. She was not drawn toward the scent of former pack mates. As with Pied, she felt no desire to encounter them and, if it were to happen, had no reason to explain herself. They were all wolves, and they had all, at one point or another, done something unforgivable to other wolves. Her unforgivable mistake — so they might say it was, but she didn't think so — had been heeding the call of a god.

And so, despite the curiosity and the scents of wolves she had very much betrayed, Jinx continued padding along alone until she reached the hot springs. Even in winter, their heat was palpable, coming off them in waves of steam that melted the snow in their vicinity. Tightly clutched in the female's jaws was a stone, a small heliotrope or bloodstone, that she dropped into one of the smaller pools before lightly dropping her body into the water. A gentle sigh pressed from her nostrils as she sunk up to her shoulders in the warm water, with murmured prayers to Sos for wisdom and strength. The bloodstone would infuse the waters and amplify these qualities in her; they would return to her the vigour of a warrior.