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It had been three days since Nyxali had spoken a word. Three days since she left her family behind. Three days of total silence between three people.

It was making her crazy.

She had thought that maybe her silence would bother them, but they didn't seem to need to speak. Nyxali watched them eat in the flickering fire light. Tchash was cleaning out his bowl with his spoon. The hollow scraping sound vaguely annoyed her. Scratch was licking his bowl clean with his dark muzzle buried deep. His eyes widened when he saw her watching him, but he didn't stop what he was doing. He just stared back.

"Okay, you win." Nyxali set her bowl in her lap and crossed her arms. "I can't stay quiet that long. Somebody say something!"

Tchash and Scratch exchanged glances and looked back at her.

"Besides me!" Nyxali put her head in her paws. These two were going to make her head explode. They had stayed away from open areas, roads, and towns. Nyxali had always been surrounded by her family - their laughter and conversation. She wasn't used to being this - quiet.

The crickets chirped softly in the darkness. The fire snapped and popped. Nyxali looked up. They were still watching her. She groaned and flopped onto her left side, her arms and legs dangling down. "Fine, if you two don't want to talk to me, why don't we find some town and let me go do some shopping so I can talk to someone."

She watched their fur bristle. That got them, she thought smugly to herself.

"You know you can't do that," Tchash growled softly at her. "We've left your hometown and your family's protection behind. You know we can't risk running into anyone else."

"C'mon. Am I supposed to believe those stories about the Cullers? They never came to our town. I mean, I'm still here."

"You're still here because your father was a much loved and respected leader and protector of your town and your mother was an even more loved healer. Your town protected you and them. Kept your secret from any outsiders. I only found out because your mother contacted me. But, when I did research in the area, no one had heard of a throwback being born in the area for generations. You are lucky and more loved than you know.

"It's not the same for others. I can't tell you how many times I've arrived too late - not just the cubs, but whole families wiped out by Cullers. Once, I had many students. People used to be more tolerant of those of us who weren't as 'evolved' as most, but lately, I don't know what's changed." Tchash looked into the flames. His eyes widened and stared sightlessly for a few minutes. "I think if I tell you Scratch's story you might better understand. May I?"

He and Nyxali looked at Scratch. He nodded. Tchash sighed heavily which drew Nyxali's attention. "It was years ago - ten, eleven - longer maybe. I was at loose ends with no students and confused about what had happened to them. No one was talking about what happened to them - just that they weren't around anymore.

"I found them in the deep forest. I smelled the blood first and the fear. It led me to them. Scratch's mother was young, grey furred with blue eyes - very striking - or she had been before. She was almost completely naked. What clothes she had left were so blood-sodden that there was no telling what they had been before. I don't know what they did to her exactly, but her flesh was ripped open in so many places all over her body, her skull exposed, and eye and ear were missing on the left side. She curled herself around something when she saw me and tried to hiss at me, but she could only gurgle and cough blood. I purred at her as evenly as I could and approached slowly, but she was too far gone to be calmed and the fear was too much for one so close to death. She died almost before I could lower into a crouch."

Tchash stopped and covered his eyes with his paws. "Just give me a minute."