It surged through her, the energy, the power, the rejuvenation. Her veins, skin, bones, everything, it ran through absolutely every part of her. And she could see it too, the small rootings of fur pulling back to leave her human skin almost the only thing visible. This had been a good night, a good prey. He would sustain her for a week, if not more. But she had to flee, there was no good in staying in the same place after a kill, she had learned quickly. She stood, closing the man's eyes and turning, her tails swaying behind her as she slipped away into the night. Leaves and twigs cracked under her feet, but she was too fast, too far. In the morning the humans would find nothing to follow, no discernable trail. Perhaps a tuft of fur on a thorn, but no more.
As high maintenance as this life was, she loved it. She could feel her mind grow and change, exploring new thoughts, asking new questions. Seeing the world differently, being tall and upright. No more scurrying, fighting with her own kind over the littlest scraps of prey. No more nights of hunger, rabbits too fast and squirrels too good of climbers. She could sustain herself easily now, something she would never go back. Ahri was never being a fox again, no matter what it took, how many she would have to consume.
Many miles to the south, Sarah Fortune lay asleep after drinking herself into a blackout. It was the only way she knew to sleep peacefully, the nightmares of her past would have her waking screaming every night if not for the rum. She snored on, dreamless sleep, red hair tossed to and fro over her face, shoulders, and pillows. In the morning there would be a new contract, a new target, and a new voyage. That was her life, waiting for contracts and hunting down the necessary person. Reason didn't matter, difficulty didn't matter. All that mattered was that she got payed, that's what it was about. Feelings were for years gone by, when she let them get to her. That was too long ago, and there was no reason to dwell on it, it would never come back.
The sun rose in the little Ionian town, innkeep running through the rooms to wake everyone up, clean for new guests that would arrive over the day and into the evening. The town was only small in permanent population, but there were travelers and passers through aplenty. If not for the mountain pass that ran through just behind it, the village would have died off long ago. But the road brought goods, and food, and travelers, and money, and so they stayed. The keep thought over all this, as he usually did these kind of mornings without any mist, and unlocked the door to what had been a couple's room last night. There was only one occupant now, and they were no longer truly there. He knelt over the man, feeling his cold flesh, the stiffness of his limbs. He asked the service boy to get him paper and ink, he needed to write a letter.