Julie

Julie brought Karai back, fighting or not, to her previous kennel. Shoving her in, she closed the door part way and slipped the loop off her neck. Then she pulled the door shut and stepped back to watch her for a few minutes.

The surgery had been done on a part of her brain that would affect her visual recognition of others. Occassionally, she wouldn't be able to recognize the faces of those she knows, although voices and scents will all be familiar. Knowing that this wolf knew Ying, she waited to see how their interaction might play out.

Karai

She had fought Julie for the first few yards, making the woman drag on the noose-pole to gain every inch, but when she realized she wasn't winning and it was only making her head hurt worse, she kicked into a trot.

As the gate slammed behind her she leapt at it pointlessly, growling to warn the woman to stay away. But Julie had already closed the gate, and she turned to the side where Ying had been when she left. But a strange wolf was there! Ying? Where's Ying? And she dropped into a fighting stance, growling low in her throat. What have you done with Ying? Tell me, or I'll rip you apart!

Poor Ying. His familiar, welcome face was completely unknown to her now, and there was no telling how long it might last or what might bring her out of it. The growl set in her throat as she waited for this stanger to produce Ying.l

Ying

As Desmon spoke again he said "Brothers?" But then Karai was returned. The male stood, wagging his tail to and fro as his friend came forth but when she spoke so menacingly, he blinked and took a step back. "Oh Dove....What have they done to you?" His words were soft and gentle and he used her pet name that he had given her. "Dove...It is me. Its Ying. Don't you remember?"

Karai

Poor Karai was badly startled when Ying's voice came out of the throat of this stranger. She continued to growl, now more afraid than anything. What witchcraft is this? Have you killed my Ying and stolen his voice? And her voice broke a little. Another friend gone, another dear one torn away from her. She began to cry silently, turning her face away from this horrible imitation.

But she looked up when he spoke again, the tears still running down her mug unheeded. Dove... he had called her Dove. The voice was the soft and gentle one that she had loved from its first speaking, but a voice could be imitated. But no one, not even her children, knew that he had called her Dove. She spoke in a gasping whisper that was drawn from the very depths of a broken, defeated soul. Ying...? What... what happened to your face...?

Ying

He blinked fiery orange eyes at her and said softly "Dove....They tricked you. Its me....I promise, Karai. It is me." He sat as close to her as he could get, his nose sticking into her pen. His eyes were soft and gentle but there was a sadness that lay there now. She...Didn't remember him. But she was the same, except for the shaved portion of her dial. A sudden angering thought came nto his mind and he said softly "They won't put anything between us, dove. Nothing will keep us apart." No one and nothing. He promised to himself.

Karai

She listened to him softly, closing her eyes and picturing the Ying that she knew. His face came instantly to mind, as one that was never too far from her thoughts, and as she pictured him the tears slowed, becoming less hysterical. The voice matched the face in her mind, and the smell entering her nares matched as well.

Finally, she opened them again, and there he was, his face the same as ever it had been. He had never left. A low cry wrenched itself from deep in her chest, and the tears flowed quickly again, though this time from sheer releif. She came forward to the fence and began to nuzzle that bit of nose through it, speaking softly. Oh gods, Ying... I don't know... I- I can't... And she stumbled to a halt, murmuring softly. I'm sorry, Ying. I... I thought...

Ying

He licked her nose as best he could through the wire mesh, anger filling him. What had they done to her? "Its alright, dove....Humans....Can perform nightmares on others." He crooned softly to her, just as he had done Desmon trying to make her feel better.

Hush now, my darling
We are together again
Never apart but in reality
Forever you shall remain with me

Karai

She listened to him singing, clinging to the fence as the tears slowed, and finally, finally stopped. And when his song had ended, she hummed quietly to herself, a song that she had given to no one before, for it was a song to be saved for those best loved.

Remember my love with every breath you breathe
Promise me forever that you will never leave
And someday when both of we
Are grown old and gray
Recall the feelings we share today.

Think of me, o think of me fondly
After the day is through,
Remember me in the early morning,
When the earth shines with frosty dew.
Think of me, please say you'll think of me
Because whatever else I do,
There will never be a day
When I won't think of you...