"What do you think, Assero?" Tiquail asked quietly as the ocelot looked up from examining Sparrow.

Assero shook her head, her eyes horrified, wide, and sad. Tiquail's tail drooped. "Should I go tell her father?" She asked. 

Assero sighed. "I guess you should. She has no pulse, she's not breathing...I know she can do extraordinary magic, but escaping from multiple stab wounds..."

"Seems unlikely." Tiquail finished grimly, the last of her hope evaporating as she turned and walked up the spiral staircase, looking for Sparrow's father and sisters. 

"What's the news?" 'Lyss asked, jumping to her feet as Tiquail entered the room. When the snow leopard didn't reply, she seemed to deflate. 

Christie let out a wail. "Oh, holy crap we killed our sister!" 

Julia, Kayla, and Lyss all started crying softly, while Christie continued to moan, as if her brain was disregarding the information and pushing it away. "We killed her! We killed her! Oh my God we killed her!" 

The only person who hadn't reacted was Sparrow's father. He was staring at Tiquail with a blank look that worried her. 

Sparrow's father had spent the longest in the Tracker's facility. No one knew how he had been treated, but it obviously hadn't been well, judging by the broken way he had been acting ever since he woke up from the Tracker's controlling him. 

Sure, the death of his youngest daughter would stun him, but not this much. Something had happened in that place that no one really understood, nor would they ever.

This man was broken. Everything that had happened to him in the past few years was haunting him, following him wherever he walked, watching him.

Tiquail walked slowly up to him and laid her muzzle on his head. "I know, I know it's bad. We'll find a way through it." She assured quietly. 

Tiquail hadn't had a cub, and by now she was probably a bit too old to do so. She had never been a mother, but she still had the instincts that she would have had. Every female wild cat was born with this, plus they learned anything else from their mother.

Now, Tiquail was using the skills and the instincts that she had never gotten the chance to use. She was talking to Sparrow's father like was a scared cub, mostly because that's what he was acting like.

When the man didn't react, Tiquail turned to walk out of the room, grief clawing even more fiercely at her heart as she thought of the man as he was when he was a boy, eager to be an Ancient. 

She remembered the way he knew the answers to everything, how quickly he learned, how happy he had been when he had found her.

She had messed this man up. It was all her fault!

And suddenly, Tiquail felt fury rise in her heart, and she closed her eyes and made a silent vow, one that would stay in her heart until the day she died. 

The next time I see her, I'll kill her. She took away one of the oldest families in this place, she's torn away the boy that could have done wonderful things. She's joined the side that killed her youngest and poisoned the rest.

A traitor. 

Marielle will die in my paws, and mine only. 

Suddenly, as she was walking down the stairs, Tiquail heard a loud thump. She froze and listened for a moment, then she heard a scream. 

The snow leopard spun around and ran back up the stairs. "What is it!?" She roared, bursting into the room where the Chole family was staying. 

She stopped in the doorway, staring at the scene in front of her. Her eyes widened at Julia looked at her over her shoulder. "I-I don't know what happened. He just...he just passed out."

Tiquail's took a deep breath, trying to steady her racing heart. Why was everything falling apart so quickly? She turned around without saying a word and sprinted back down the stairs, jumping the last six and wincing as she hit the floor harder than she had meant to.

Assero spun around and looked at her. "What is it?" She asked, alarmed. "Sparrow's father just passed out." Tiquail replied, panting slightly, then getting angry at herself for panting at all. Oh, what had happened to the days when she could run around the whole of Trails three times and not even be winded?

"Why did he pass out?"
"I don't know, Assero! That's why I need you!"
"This family is falling apart, Tiquail!"
"I'm well aware. Now go! Please!"

Assero turned away from Ainnya, who had cobwebs and a pastes made from different herbs smeared all over her body. Tiquail stared at her for a moment, wondering if everything they were doing was in vain. 

She shook her head violently. Ainnya had to live. She couldn't just die, leaving Tiquail with no instruction on how to do anything. 

She turned and ran up the stairs again, listening to the way her joints cracked and popped. 

"What's happened?" A voice yelled from down the hall; Miki was coming out of the room all the way at the end. Tiquail fought the impulse to roar at Miki to get back in her room and leave it to her and everyone else to fix the problem. 

She sighed in exasperation. She hadn't even though about how she would tell Miki, Dot and Marley about Sparrow, and Tony didn't know for sure either. Tiquail had sent him to the room where all of the Trainers slept as soon as they had come back. 

When Tiquail didn't reply, Miki narrowed her eyes. "Tiquail, I know that I really have no right to stand up to you, but Sparrow is my friend, and I deserve to know what happened."

Tiquail closed her eyes for a moment. She swayed slightly on her paws and opened them quickly. "Listen Miki, bad things are going on right now and I don't have time to stop and talk. Please, please, just let me tell you on my own time. I can't deal with all of this right now, it's taking me time to process it. Child, I'm asking you to keep your yourself for now, could you do that?"

The exhausted look in Tiquail's eyes had obviously made Miki hesitate. After a moment, she nodded slowly. "Stay strong, Tiquail." She murmured, turning back around and walking into her room. 

Tiquail watched the doorway for a moment, waiting for Dot or Marely or one of the trainers to come out and start demanding answers, but no one appeared, so she walked into the room she had intended to go in at first. 

Asser glanced at her as she entered. "It's nothing too bad, Tiquail." She announced. "I think he's having a hard time keeping track of everything. The poor man has been through too much. All he has to do is rest and he'll be fine."

Tiquail nodded, relieved. Finally, some good news. She thought. 

"Well, girls, put him in bed and get some sleep. Don't argue." She added as Kayla opened her mouth to object. She closed it and nodded once. 

Tiquail dipped her head and backed out of the room. Assero followed her, and the two of them walked out of the room together. 

"Do you think things will go back to normal?" Assero asked quietly. "That depends, is Ainnya going to live?"

Assero paused. "I think she will Tiquail, but her lives are running out. You know she's going to die one day, right?" She pointed out nervously.

Tiquail growled softly. "I'm well aware of that. She just won't be doing it on my watch."

Assero sighed. "But beside that, do you think things will be okay again?"

Tiquail sighed too. "I don't know, Assero. I think the Trackers are finally starting to play a game with us, and rather cleverly, might I add."

"Game? I wouldn't call this a game."
"Call it what you must, but we all know that they're making the moves faster than we can counter them."
"Well...say we call it a game. Do you think we'll win?"
"I don't know."

The two wild cat's stopped at the doorway that lead outside. "Should I walk you home?" Tiquail asked. Assero purred. "No, I don't think you have to. I'll be okay, I promise." She assured. 

The ocelot stepped out the door and Tiquail watched her, expecting her to keep walking, but instead she had paused, her whole body rigid. 

"What is it Assero?" Tiquail asked urgently. When Assero didn't respond, Tiquail pushed her out of the way and shouldered her way outside.

And she froze too.

A small body was laying beside the wall, painfully familiar and heartbreaking. An arrow stuck out of her side, and there was a note tied to it. 

WE ARE COMING SOON. SHE IS ONLY THE FIRST.