Life was a funny thing...  One moment you could be living it up, the next it could be over...  Figuratively, literally...  The point was, you never knew just what life was going to throw at you until you were attempting to catch it.  This was especially true for one young woman who likely had found herself in way over her head...  But that wasn't the first or last time this situation could be applied. A small wry smile spread across her lips as this thought ran through her mind.  Her heart beat fast as her heels clicked on the concrete sidewalk as she moved with purpose away from her latest job, money for the boss secure in her small handbag.  Slowly coming off the high of adrenaline, she wondered if it ever faded.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves...  Our story did not start here on the bustling streets of Chicago...  Or did it?  Just when does one's life begin?  At first cry?  Or at the time when your mettle is tested and you find out what you're truly made of...  Whatever the answer, Trilla Saliyar had found a new beginning and a new purpose.  What was she doing in Chicago?  What could have drawn her from her cozy track to a comfortable life and into the belly of the criminal underground?  What had caused her to go from getting her degree to robbing jewelry stores and banks?  It was simple...  At least to her it was.  

Her brother...

He had been her life, her anchor, her idol...  But then he was gone.  This was what had brought her to the windy streets of Chicago...  He was the only one that ever could have that pull on her after all, the only one she knew of that she would toss aside whatever goals and ambitions she might have had for.  But again...  Ahead of ourselves.

It had been three weeks now since she had received that letter...  The very letter that one could argue set spark to this flame that now smoldered within her.  It had been weird at the time, and remained weird now...  She remembered the first reading of it vividly and even now it perplexed her.  She had read it a hundred times, at least, since that first reading and yet it still baffled her.  But one thing rang true. Her beloved brother was in trouble.  He needed her.  Or at least that's what her mind and heart told her.  Naturally he had told her not to come looking for him...  But how could she not?  She had tried to heed his wishes...  But before long it was all she could think of, it consumed her thoughts and drove her to distraction.  She couldn't handle it anymore and this was what had drawn her to Chicago...  It was the last place that she had known him to be and so it seemed the best place to begin her search.  

Upon arriving, it wasn't her brother that she had found, although she wasn't sure what she had expected...  Did she hope to just waltz in and find him at the airport?  Needless to say that's not what had happened...  But fate had a way of taking care of her...  And it had led her right where she needed to be.  She had met an amazing man who took her in and showed her the ropes of the city and very quickly Trilla found that she owed him so much... Certainly more than she could repay anyway.  But one could bet that Trilla was going to try.  She currently had no leads to find that which she sought, and yet she had landed herself in quite the new life.  Excitement and potential hailed her at every turn, but deep down she knew the true focus of her endeavors...  One day soon she would find herself reunited with the very being she sought and he would be safe...  Right?  Right.  

A new life lay ahead of her, but how far would this road go?  She wanted to find her brother, and yet in so doing how deep would she find herself in this new life?  And at the end of this road, would she ever even want to leave?  Drawing a deep breath, she steeled herself.  Where ever this road led, she would walk it...  But she knew ever so well that he wouldn't like it.  But hey, that never stopped her before, why in the world would it stop her now?  Life truly was a funny thing.

Funny how time passes...  Sometimes it passes at a pace that is painfully slow and other times you blink and years have gone by.  The whims of fate never were something easily understood and it seemed that time and fate were good friends.  But in any case, some time had passed since Trilla had come to join the crew of Pneuma...  A breath of fresh air in her otherwise stagnant life.  Alright so it wasn't all that bad, but where Trilla had been, she had felt that she was going nowhere...  Stuck in a rut, headed in a predictable path.  And if there was one thing that Trilla couldn't stand, it was being predictable.

Today Trilla's travels brought her to a Library...  Nothing of note, just a humble establishment.  Even so, this place was top among favorites of the young woman.  Within these walls were many many windows...  Not just to the physical outside, but to the past, to the future, to the present, and to the imaginations of those who took the time to put their thoughts on page.  It was a wondrous place and one that Trilla reveled to visit wherever she went.  This particular one had her perusing the shelves for hours just grazing and checking out what there was to be found. 

In her explorations, Trilla found a very small and unassuming book...  There was nothing extraordinary about it...  Nothing to grab the eye or draw the attention.  On the contrary it boasted quite the understated cover and titleless.  But Trilla felt an odd draw to it nonetheless.  Taking the small book to a nearby table, Trilla sat down and examined it's contents a little closer.  Upon inspection, Trilla found it was a journal...  For a moment she felt torn.  Reading someone's journal was like peeking into the window of someone's home...  If you didn't know them it could be quite the affront, and no one would thank you for reading their personal journals...  At least not without their permission.  But even so...  Trilla felt the draw to keep reading.  You could learn a lot about a person by peeking through this window of their soul.  A brief conversation with the librarian told Trilla that the woman to whom this journal belonged no longer drew breath.  Trilla wasn't certain if this news made her feel better about reading this journal and yet she found she could not put it down.  She was entranced and enraptured by the life of this woman told through her eyes...  The transition from lone wolf huntress to loyal pack mate and even beyond...  The fact that the whole story involved an intricate dance involving foxes didn't hurt either...  

One particular passage drew her attention...  Plans...  Blueprints of sorts...  An idea for an establishment that embodied the personal growth of the being that had written this journal...  A compilation of all she had learned about people and how far she'd come...  Trilla felt moved and yet soon after the plans for the establishment, the entries suddenly stopped.  Trilla's breath hitched.  It was no secret that this life came with it's dangers and yet to see such promise cut off so abruptly...  She shook her head a little as she tried to keep herself under control.  Just what had she gotten herself into?  She just wanted to find her brother, and yet already she found herself in so deep.  Even so, as she thought to the people she had met so far and already cared so deeply for, she couldn't bring herself to be upset at this trajectory.  However one thing was for sure...  Trilla would make sure that one dream of one former Mafioso was realized.  Closing the journal gingerly, she requested to check out this book.  Yet as the book did not belong to the library and the librarian had no clue how it had come to be in their possession, she was allowed to just take it with her.  With a demure and sincere thank you, Trilla would slip the journal carefully into her satchel before being on her way back home feeling a stronger resolve and purpose form within her.  

Capo...  Trilla Saliyar, how about a promotion?  Capo...  The words rang in her ears like one of the sweetest melodies that she'd heard to date.  It thrilled her to her core, but also shook her just as deep.  Naturally she had accepted in the span it took to take a breath.  It was no secret that she would do anything for her Hyper, including taking every iota of responsibility that he deemed fit to give her.  But Capo?  He wanted her to stand among the prestigious and incredible of his team...  Her...  Trilla.  The mere thought took her breath away.  After graciously accepting his offer, Trilla had excused herself to rapidly move off to digest this.  Excitement coursed through her as her heels clicked the well known sidewalk in a manner that was familiar and comforting to her.  The sound of the gait of one with purpose...  One with drive...  One like her?  

He would be so proud...

Stopping dead in her tracks, Trilla felt her heart ache and race simultaneously.  He would be proud...  If only she could tell him.  Right?  Moving again she wandered into the heart of the nearby park to their headquarters.  She felt her breath coming a little more raggedly as she braced herself for the tidal wave that always followed when thoughts of her brother took the forefront of her mind stage.  Tears gathered at the corners of her eyes and she kept walking almost as if she could get to where he was if she only kept walking.  Earning a few awkward stares from people casually walking the paths and enjoying the day, Trilla moved with all the haste of a woman possessed.  She should be happy on a day like this.  Over the moon!  Filled with absolute glee and looking toward the future!  And yet all she could feel was...  Small.  Flash...

She was twelve years old standing in front of a basketball hoop that easily stood taller than three of herself but looked even taller still.  But she drew in a steadying breath holding up her brother's basketball and quietly envisioning it sailing through the air and landing in that coveted goal.  Closing her eyes she shoved the ball up in a semi-graceful arc.  Please please please...  It seemed like an eternity before she heard a very satisfying smacking clang as the ball unceremoniously found it's way through the net and bounced off a few yards.  But that sound was dwarfed by the shout from her brother.  "Yes!  See T?  You can do anything you put your mind to."    Flash...

The tears that had threatened her resolve finally pushed forward as her feet carried her to the end of the path to the edge of a small pond.  She had hardly realized she had walked this far this fast, but Trilla quickly dropped to a seated position in a small patch of grass that grew next to the pond's edge and she let herself dissolve.  Thankfully she had come farther than most come so that her moment of weakness could remain her own.  Not that she was likely to care if someone else came up.  She could fashion some story about losing her dog or what have you.  But for now she would take the moment of quiet.  "I can do anything I put my mind to...  But not without you..."  Her voice was soft as they choked out the words.  "Where are you Geno..."  Tears slid down her cheeks as she buried her face against her knees.  "I need you..."