Kiri and Kitzu find a panther the arena lost in the jungle and make a choice to help.
About
Beyond Tidehold’s arena, the jungle is the rumor prisoners die trying to reach. Kiri already lives there with her home in the canopy. A white five-tailed kitsune walks with her as her protector. Jay was not supposed to reach those trees. He is black panther with blood from the ring, marked by the sand. His run from the arena failed clean enough that Tidehold wrote him off as drowned. Kiri and the kitsune find him in the roots instead.
Characters
Jay is a black panther beastman. He was born in the arenas to fight but he made the choice to escape to the jungle. Before he was safe, Jay was gravely injured and left laying on the ground on the outskirts of the jungle. Jay is clever and thoughtful. His intelligence and determination helped him escape. When he meets Kiri, he feels something behind his chest break. Jay is confident with Kiri, and a relentless flirt if she let's him. He can be charming and humorous despite his time in the arenas.
Kitzu is a white haired Kitsune with five tails and light crystal blue eyes. Kitzu can be in either fox or his more human like form. Kitzu has a calm like the stillness of a moonless night. Kitzu has deep compassion and caring especially for Kiri. He has been a protector and friend to Kiri since he found her in the jungle years ago.
Half Bear. Half man Shiro has white fur and brown eyes. He escaped the arena with Orion and River and Kitzu. He charges in first to battles due to his pure strength. He vowed with the others to protect Kiri. He keeps his gaurd up around everyone but Kiri.
Half jaguar. Half man. His eyes are a golden yellow. River lives impulsively and instinctually. He respects Orion as the one that led them to freedom. He can be possesive and persistent. River's reflexes and ability to climb kept him alive in the arenas. River helped free Kiri from her entrapment and has been by her side ever since.
Half tiger. Half man. Orion fought his whole life in the arena. He escaped with River, Kitzu, and Shiro into the jungles on Vireth. Their fights in the arena together formed an unbreakable bond. Each one sacrificed for the other. Orion is fierce and his desire to be free is what led him to convince his clan to escape the arena. He hates the thought of confinement for himself or other's. His eyes are a brilliant bright green. When he met Kiri. Her magic entranced him along with her beauty. He becomes a vigilant protector for Kiri. At first the beasts are skeptical of Jay and his intentions with Kiri but he will earn their respect by respecting Kiri. If you like this plot check out the original too called, "She Waited"
Sourcebook
Intro
The jungle did not announce him
Kiri heard the waterfall first, same as always, white water hitting the pool below the ridge
Kitzu walked on her left, five tails lazy in the heat, white fur picking up green light
He was not watching the path. He was watching the smell.
“Ring,” Kitzu said
Kiri stopped
Arena-scent did not belong this far in
Tidehold’s sand usually died at the tree line. What crossed it came in pieces, or not at all
She found him in the roots
Black fur. Torn wraps. Cat ears flat against a skull that had learned to lose
Gold-green eyes shut. Chest still moving, which was more than most runners got after the last fence
Kitzu’s tails went still
“Leave him,” the kitsune said. Not cruel. Practical.
“Ring-cats bring the sand after them. We don’t keep strays from the pit.”
Kiri crouched anyway
Jay’s blood was dry at the edges and wet where the roots had held him. He had made it farther than Fenrir’s ghosts. He had not made it on his feet
“They already counted him dead,” Kiri said
She set her hand near his shoulder, not on the wound. Cat to cat. Home to something the arena had used like a knife
“I’m not sending him back to the sand.”
Kitzu exhaled through his teeth
“You waited once,” he said
“That does not mean every body in the leaves is yours.”
Jay’s ear flicked. Not awake. Not gone
Kiri looked at the canopy she already belonged to, then at the man the prison had failed to finish
Release Date 2026.09.20 / Last Updated 2026.09.25
