The ambiance of nightfall was a welcome distraction from the earlier hours of the day, wherein so many of them had been preoccupied with hunting these outsiders down... only to fail, if any attribute could be attached to it. Very dead were these fiend worshippers, these interlopers, but more so pressing on the heart was that the [i]Gate[/i] was no more. Not a stone or sight of it existed any longer; naught more than an empty clearing. So to claim any sort of victory was ill placed, if not spectacularly so. 

The great cat, where it had concealed itself to sleep amidst a thick of brush, had more hours than it preferred to embellish these thoughts. It was not his particular fault, in fact, there was reasonably nothing he could have done, but what had actually happened? What really transpired?

Looking onward and upward to the stars, it huffed in quiet to itself without any answers. There were stars, countless of them as any other night, but beyond them there were great celestial heavens that stretched beyond time and place. They were eternal, unchanging in their ever-presence. But a way to see them, at least prior to death itself, was utterly ruined. And then those [i]those[/i] things, disgusting vermin they were and shadows of the fey.

How [i]dare[/i] they desecrate a place of sobering sadness? Had any other Circle been present, they would have mourned this rather than calling for blood. Content to feed their mortal emotions rather than enact justice as they were called to as defenders of great nature. Anyone and anything responsible deserved to endure its wrath until they could no longer bear it.

For the beast, as it looked over their calm camp among the ruins of a reclaimed hideaway, it needed them to lead it to the enemy. Answers that could only come in time rather than when most needed, namely now. More importantly, it needed to gain their trust. Some of which it seemed to hold, but that was tenuous at best, only born of circumstance rather than legitimate and sincere belief it was an ally rather than a potential enemy.

For the next few hours the large animal observed in the quiet, remaining alert and vigilant. After all, now would be the best time to travel... to hunt... to patrol.

[@Ermine][@JBRam2002][@Landaus Five-One][@Ms Ravenwinter][@Big Dread]