Katerina’s question wasn’t answered right away. Instead the girl mentioned her last name. Her name that was stained with the blood of her parents. She never liked thinking about her parents, it always brought pain to her heart. She didn’t want to think about them anymore, until she said that her name wasn’t stained and held honor. Her eyes went up to the girls and looked at her in disbelief. She must have gotten her name mixed up with someone else’s. Another stein family perhaps. Her family would never get the justice they deserved. Her thoughts were running wild with the possibility that her family was free. Free of the blood stained past. Could this girl be telling the truth.

The elemental’s thoughts were brought back to reality when the girl started to speak again. A small smile came to her lips. The girl before her didn’t want an arrange marriage so she ran away. She was starting to like this girl before her. She was a rebel. Katerina didn’t have the chance to be arranged to someone. Maybe it could have been her parent’s good friends just a few houses down. She did have a crush on they’re son. But her parents would have never done that to her. She would have been free to choose whomever she loved. “Maybe it is a good thing.” She commented, there were so many rules where she used to live. But it did help everyone live a happy life. Well most.

The girl started to talk about Katerina’s parents again. Suppressing a sigh, Katerina didn’t want to hear anymore. She wanted the girl to just shut up. She must have been telling her lies. Standing up, Katerina dusted off her pants. If there was truth in the words she spoke, she had to find out for herself. It was going to be a risk, she could walk into town and be put to death. Or she would walk into town and nothing would happen to her. “We’re done here.” She said to her wolves. “Goodbye,  Natsumi.” Without another word, she walked off into the woods, her mind on her parents

The averted gaze, the crushing silence, and the distracted appearance: every aspect about the elemental during the druid's explanation spoke of someone who was running away from their past. Natsumi knew this might happen. In fact, she expected it; and yet she had still told her guest the truth in spite of the fact that she might be unwilling to hear it.
 
Such marked the downfall of communication. While in one moment the wounded woman had been silently thinking of a way to appropriately answer Katerina's comment on her exodus, the next involved the same Katerina abruptly ending their conversation. Natsumi barely even had time to say goodbye to the pack before they disappeared into the forest.
 
"Perhaps, one day, we'll meet again," the druid had said just before her guests were out of earshot. She didn't get to the next part before everyone but Gaston, Rauru and Li had left. "When the wounds in your heart have had a chance to heal."
 
Now left to their own devices, the group of four cleaned up the area around the fire. It took Natsumi a few days to fully recover from her injury after she was transported back to camp, and a group of hunters returned to the forest to look for their friends in the mean time. However, not only was the camp of the murderer moved by the time they arrived, but the bodies of the previous hunters were missing from the actual, murder location as well. It proved to be a fruitless venture full of disappointment for them.
 
Fortunately for this search party, though, their disappointment was short-lived. Rauru would eventually discover their bodies during one of his hunts, their bones marked by the teeth of wolves. The logical conclusion, it seemed, was that Katerina had seen them off in the way only she knew best: mauling.