Barrow Fields At least that’s what I could read
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All Welcome 
She was on the move again at last.

The snowfall had trapped her in the taiga, making travelling difficult and dangerous. Mindful of her own well-being, Kaori had found a nook to hide away in and it was there that she’d essentially lived for the past couple of weeks. Although it hadn’t been ideal, it’d kept her safe and made her feel secure up until she had decided that it was safe to continue onward; the mountains were avoided, still, increasing her distance covered. Whilst it would have saved her some time had she trekked over the mountain, she’d avoided it altogether, rounding it in a giant arch. She wasn’t unfamiliar with the terrain, her familiarity with it actually being what prompted her to avoid it. For despite the location of her birth and upbringing, she would never be confident enough to test the patience of nature.

Unaware of how much time had passed—it was now dark, but she couldn’t remember how close sunset was when she’d set out again—the yearling continued forward, grateful to have reached flatter lands. She didn’t know where she was, her surroundings unfamiliar, which didn’t make her stop—but something did. The farther she went and the more mounds of earth that she passed, the more unsettled she felt. Something wasn’t right, she could feel it; the source of her uncertainty couldn’t be placed, making her wonder if she was only imagining things. Shaking her head furiously, she stilled and drew in a deep breath, then took off sprinting with the hope of getting the hell out of there as quickly as possible.
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he knew if they were to successfully reunite with Wylla, they'd need to increase the scope of their search. whilst Ingram was presumably preoccupied by his courter, his sullen sibling elected to strike off on his lonesome to rout the less-frequented regions of their homestead. perhaps she had holed herself up in a field, staking claim over a fox covert and sustaining herself on voles and shrews, an occasional grouse--however unlikely it was, given her unsettleable disposition, Lycaon had to make certain no stone was unturned before they forged ahead to more promising areas.

it was well past sundown by the time he found himself picking along an aimless trail, busied by the task of shoveling snow out of the way with his snout to snift the frost-bound terrain with elevated hopes that it might reveal his sister's nearness to him.

to his disappointment, he was unproductive in his search, unearthing only deer scat and mice distraught over their desolated hovels. 

however, a crashing in the tallgrass seized Lyc's attention and he snapped his head up in time to catch a spry shadow streak across the sward. the figure was distinctly female, and whoever she was, appeared to be visibly shaken by something. Lycaon checked if there was a pursuant,  then loped after her, reducing the distance between them until he could intercept her path as non-confrontationally as he could muster. his ears enfolded to further denote his unthreatening nature. "hey! take it easy--where's the fire?" he asked, attempting to pry eye-contact from her overwrought gaze.
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Her grace was lost, limbs controlled by fear—but of what? She did not know. There was something lurking there, she was certain of it; she had no evidence, no scents or glimpses, but she knew. Whether or not there were any truly malicious intentions behind the presence mattered not, its being there alone enough to drive her out. How she wished she was her mother, or even her sister, with a dragon watching over—protecting—her directly. Then she would have felt safe and as if nothing could touch her, not even those otherworldly creatures. Yet, she had not been blessed with a greater half to mend with her soul, hers being the only one to inhabit her soma. Even with this knowledge, she still sent out silent pleas to Draco and any other dragon that might listen to her voice, begging for them to grant her a guardian spirit.

And in their own, mystifying way, they answered.

Kaori found herself sliding to a stop, the soft snow underfoot carrying her closer than planned. At first, she hadn’t noticed him, her senses focused only on that which wasn’t there and his pale coat making him one with their surroundings. But once he was positioned between her and the direction she was going, she had no choice but to pick out the ash from the snow and react; reining in her legs was no easy task, adrenaline driving them forward even after her brain instructed that they stop. It came as a great relief when she was able to control herself again, though her heart continued to pound rapidly against her ribs. Burly clouds surrounded her mouth as she panted, repeatedly glancing over her shoulders before finding her self-control and calming down, focusing on the living entity in front of her.

“I—What… fire?” she managed to ask, glancing around and once more drawing in a deep breath—there was no smoke in the air or soot on the ground, so what was this talk of a fire? “There—there isn’t a fire… I just—don’t you sense that?” She was beyond surprised by how calm he was being. Did his skin not crawl just the same as hers? If not for the lack of evidence, she would swear up and down that there was someone watching her, waiting to lunge from the shadows and attack; even without evidence, she still wasn’t entirely convinced that, that wouldn’t happen.
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a look of mighty alarm flushed his features as the sylph untwisted herself from the ragged syncopations of an anxiety attack. if he didn't know any better he would have thought there actually was a fire--what with her hypervigilant, doe-eyed expression and the way she panted as she breathlessly addressed his question with a seeming lack of ability to parse the dramatization therein.

"sense what?" he followed her gaze with a loyalty that indicated some raging curiosity. screwing up his eyes, he scoured the blanched landscape encompassing them for the source of her distress. if he wasn't mistaken, she was being pursued by one of lovecraft's machinations, for he saw and sensed a grand amount of nothing.

he darted his gaze back to the fear-stricken girl. "do you know you're by the coast?" he asked. occultism wasn't exactly unheard of on and around this parish, and those without the intent to partake or observe would be surely unsettled. this blow-in, however, appeared to be less unnerved and more like... outright blood-curdled, by something or someone. "were you separated from your pack?"
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As he sought out that which struck fear into her heart, she took the opportunity to focus on catching her breath; in and out, slowing her breathing and thereby reducing the thunder brewing beneath her breast. A life spent believing in dragons and spirits left her susceptible to all sorts of eerie encounters, her senses often forced into overdrive and honed in on that which most could not recognise. She blamed this for his inability to find the threat that loomed over her but, at the same time, silently thanked him for it; him not picking up on it reminded her that it wasn’t something capable of grabbing her, merely a presence that walked through the depths of a plane much different from their own. “The—,” she stopped herself and shook her head, knowing that it could not be explained. “It’s… it is nothing—it’s gone now.” That was the simplest way to explain it: to simply ignore and write it off as nothing. Besides, it truly had gone now; she suspected that he was to thank for this, the presence of two living creatures being enough to send it off, so she tried to keep her mind from drifting back to it.

Worrying that the thought of it alone might summon whatever ghoul had been stalking her, she was grateful when he changed the topic. “The coast…?” she parroted, only now realising just how far she’d travelled. “I did not know. I’ve—I have never been here before.” Had she really reached the ocean? Her arrival there hadn’t exactly been planned but, looking beyond her confusion over how to feel about it, she wasn’t exactly disappointed. Sure, it wasn’t the mountains or anywhere else near her place of birth, but it also wasn’t too bad of a place to be—beyond where they currently were, she assumed. The open expanse of land continued to unsettle her, something about it just not letting her settle down fully.

At the mention of her pack—she was far more used to hearing that word used over tribe than her mother had ever been—she felt a wave of sorrow wash over her. As quickly as it came in, however, it was gone, pushed away by her desire to keep from returning; she was not on bad terms with her family, she’d just decided that it was time to set out on her own and experience life. “I wasn’t separated from them,” she answered with a shake of her head. “I… I left them—why?” Only after answering did she stop to ask herself why? Had she been lost, would he have offered to help her find her way home? She couldn’t grasp the relevance of the question and looked forward to being enlightened.
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sorry for the delay!

as she slowly caught her breath--damn if it hadn't taken off like a hare into the hedgerow--Lycaon kept scanning around them just in case she was indeed spooked by something corporeal. his ears tensed against the all-encompassing stillness; all-encompassing nothing. 

the bewilderment she expressed when he brought up her whereabouts gave him the impression she was in a very susceptible position, and he masked faint concern that she might parade into unsavory circumstances if he left her to her own devices now. the wolves who chose the coast as a home were not seldom fiendish, and generally unobliging of strangers. troubling company to keep if you were a timid girl trying to elude unscrupulous beings.
 "oh, well. it's nothin' special this time of year," he imparted modestly. it was difficult to ward off the elements on the open-faced coast; there was a greater risk for exposure; but it was his preferred residence, so here he remained and did what he could to eke out a fair-to-middling existence for Ingram and himself. 

taking note of her intrigue, Lycaon moved stride alongside her. were she to accept his inferred bid to walk with him, he would lead her away from the vulnerability of the ringent fields and onto the path that would take them inshore by moonlight.

if he had struck a cord with his inquiry about her pack, he did not detect it. her story of dispersion from her family was not uncommon, and didn't particularly astound him, but he did wonder why the lash-black girl elected to leave with the apprehension that seemed to feast gluttonously on her nerves. he shrugged. "just figured you were out here looking for something and got turned around." evidently projection on his part. that was his reason for being here--seeking out someone he desperately longed to find. sadly but surely, her anticipation would be dampened by his lack of reasoning.

"um, shot in the dark here. have you met anyone going by the name Wylla? she's.." he drew back slightly, straining to find the ideal way to describe his sister without gratifying the character-assassination aspect of such a task. "the 'scorch the earth' type. about your size, with a distinct v-shape of white on her face to compliment the permanent scowl. maybe the reason you were running in the first place." he spoke, a mirthful smile tip-toeing to his lips.
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No need to apologise, it’s all good!

Coming from the mountains, there were times when the day was clear and the sun low that allowed her a glimpse at the sea, but never anything more. Never had she found any particular interest in the coastal regions of the world, either, or at least not enough to visit them; she found stories of the ocean intriguing, yet the unpredictability and wrath that it could hold over someone kept her interest at bay. Still, everything holding her back from the waters in the past seemed to melt away now that it was within her reach, curiosity no longer something that was so easily fended off. Even with his rather lackluster review of it, she still found herself staring off in the direction whence the salty winds blew in, wanting to see more but unable to run towards it. “What makes it not special?” she asked instead, looking back at him with unmasked curiosity. Never within her life would she have imagined herself asking about anything relating to the sea, let alone the coast itself, but her newly discovered closeness to it kind of made it impossible for her to ignore her own questions.

Soft blue eyes followed his movements as he came alongside her and, ever the trusting sort that she was, Kaori followed after him; she didn’t stop to consider the outcomes of her decision, deciding right away that walking with him wouldn’t bring on the end of the world. For the time being, she still viewed him as something likened to a saviour, his presence keeping the ghouls away and settling her nerves; it was easy to trust him. Thus, she kept pace with the stranger, falling into stride along his left side as he steered them away from the field.

Her focus remained primarily on him, rarely glancing around at their surroundings; when the wind brought with it a particularly noticeable chill or scent, she looked in the direction of origin, but always returned her attention to him shortly after. For a moment, her ears flattened out, considering his assumption—perhaps she had been searching for something? In a way, that was true, though what she sought didn’t have a physical form—to her knowledge—and wasn’t something so easily discovered. It made her response a bit more complicated, uncertain if she even had the right words to fully explain. “I am looking for something, but it isn’t related to a pack,” she settled on saying, ears popping back up shortly thereafter. “At least, I don’t think it is—I am not entirely sure.” Joining a pack run by and filled with those close to her age hadn’t offered her a purpose in life, leaving her to assume that no pack could give that to her. From her perspective, she needed to take a lengthy and experience-filled journey in order to discover her place in the world, where she stood and why she existed—the potential ineffectiveness of this never dawned on her.

Few had crossed paths with her during her travels, and even fewer since she’d reentered the wilds. Despite this, she took in his description and thought back over every interaction that she’d been a part of thus far, but came up empty-handed. “I have not,” she responded with a slow shake of her head, frowning at her inability to be of any help. “How long has she been missing? Do you need help finding her?” Although it wasn’t her own efforts that had pulled her and Airi back together, but some strange twist of fate instead, she hadn’t lost faith in herself. If one searched long enough and devoted a great deal of their time to the task, then they could find any creature that they set their mind to. This view on life, coupled with her eagerness to help others, prevented her from not offering her help, no matter how little she might actually be able to give.
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she seemed possessed of an interminable longing, sneaking wistful gazes towards Ankrya Sound. it was a difficult question she posed -- what made it so not special? -- and he had to carefully consider his response, certain to be found lacking in profundity. "it's colder." he rationalized first. "food is slim pickings." he added after a moment. all of his complaints were anchored in resource privation, but he figured that was as good a reason as any for his decree. "maybe i'm jaded to it? i grew up there." he shrugged. when he thought of the strand, tired memories amalagated in other past ashes came to settle on his mental windowsill; a grey sooty film he was unable to dust away. he briefly wondered if her windowsill was anything like his. 

he didn't want to dash her hopes against the rocks with his negative critique, however, and pricked his ears alertly, shrugging off the roughcast drabness of his previous words. "can't beat the sunset though." he compromised, eying her sidelong to gauge her responsiveness. "that's pretty special." 

he followed the imprints of his initial arrival, which had become rimed inscriptions, routes darkened by paw-tread, as they walked in union further away from the hinterlands. Lycaon didn't mind this girl's unassuming presence the least bit, and could concieve somewhat of an understanding as she alluded to the yearning inside of her as being something unidentified and haunted with uncertainty. "i think i feel that way too, sometimes." he offered, empathizing with her lack of sureness. his experience of life was in avulsions of emotion -- and unsureness was a dagger that often pricked him. "sometimes i'm homesick even though... this is home." it sounded sort of absurd, but he hoped she might infer the meaning behind it. what did ihe mean by it, anyway? it was the existential dread that frivoled his sense of self far and away. 

after asking about Wylla he hung on her every next word. unfortunately, she had not encountered his vulpine sister. it was one of those circumstances in which she had all the fortune, and misfortune had him. Lycaon slouched somewhat visibly, ears pancaked on his head as the prospect of getting a trace of his sister drained along with hopefulness. "oh." he uttered, prepared for the dead-end but resistent to facing it. Kaori presented a willingness to humor him, which he appreciated and tried to reciprocate with whatever particulars came to mind.
 "um..." he tried to call to mind the details Ingram had shared about their hunt gone dialectical, on the day they'd all fallen away from one another, and squinted towards the shadowclad female. his ears, somehow, flattened lower against his head. "a good while? i haven't seen her in a year... or so... she wasn't really missing for that whole time, just... to me. and now she's literally missing, i think Ingram said he hasn't seen her in months." knowing he was loading the barrel of a long, convaluted story, he tried to prune initial confusion by backtracking someways. "Ingram is my brother."  yeah, that about clears it up.

she was considerate and offered to help, despite her own strife, and there was profuse gratitude in his voice. "it's okay, you really don't have to do that. if you see anyone matching her description you now know where to find me, though." he said, and hupped over a frost-interred logstrewn across their path. the one and only thing he asked of the ground beneath his feet was for it to be infallible and predictable, so when his legs punched deep holes into an embankment of snow on the other side and he was promptly buried up to his neck, he looked up at Kaori (presumably smart enough not to jump sally-ho over blockades in the darkness) with outright shock splashed across his face.

it was also then that he realized that he hadn't even introduced himself yet, and in casual, Lycaon fashion, he took the opportunity to do so as he was put, essentially, six feet under. "it's Lycaon, by the way." he revealed through a garrote of snow before struggling forward, shifting maybe five inches with notable effort.
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It was with patience that she listened to him, curious about his reasons. The first made sense—with the sea right there against it, for it to be anything other than cold during the winter seemed like the impossible wish of a child. And it was for the same reason that, that made sense, which caused the next to not. With a furrowed brow she stole a glance his way, asking, “Doesn’t being close to the sea mean that there is more food?” Although Kaori knew little about the ocean, she knew that it was a body of water and that where there was water, there were fish. If not for her inexperience, perhaps she might have realised the silliness of her inquiry; the fish of the sea were not the same as those dwelling within lakes and rivers, nor was the water itself anything like the fresh. But she did not know these things, the knowledge having never been necessary and her lessons not once being centered around them, not even for fun.

Despite all that she did not know, it was in her nature to trust, even when her instincts pushed for something else. So when he spoke of the sunset, she believed him and felt the immediate desire to see its beauty for herself. “Where’s best to see it?” she asked, wonder bringing a whole new light to her eyes. From the lair, so many things were beautiful—the stars, the moon, the sunrises and sets—but something deep down within her was convinced already that the coast would offer views far greater than anything she’d seen before. For though the lair always had a dappling of either sun or moonlight, it was closed off; never before had she been anywhere so open.

Having yet to consider straying away from him, she kept at his side, listening when he spoke and answering when the moment called for it. Her ears perked immediately when it became known that he shared the same feeling at times, head whipping around to gaze at him with a newfound interest. It put her mind at ease, knowing now that she was not alone with her struggle—it was something often felt and shared with others. “I can understand that,” she commented a moment later, regaining control over herself and sheepishly looking away. “I left where I was born and then the place my family is at because I didn’t feel like I belonged there—I never have. I… I don’t know if what I feel is homesickness but… I recognise the sensation well enough to know that a part of me wants to go home.” But she knew not where home was. It wasn’t the lair nor the vale, and definitely not the forests of her family, but those were the only homes she’d ever known. Those places each served, at least once in her life, as a safe place—she’d spent many nights in each one, as well as made friends and discovered her family, but nothing fit. Each made her realise more and more that she was nothing more than a misplaced puzzle piece, having found her way into the boxes of images that were not her own.

The disappointment hit her hard, ears mimicking his own whilst her eyes glossed over with pity. She was reminded of her own search for a wayward sister not so long ago, understanding the loss felt upon discovering a sibling to have vanished. And though her own experience was a terrible one, riddled with an immense amount of negatives, she was hopeful that his would not be nearly as tragic. “I will watch out for anyone that appears the way you’ve described,” assured the lamb, eager to help—because what was she good for, aside from helping others? There was more that she wanted to say, promises she wanted to make and keep, but every word to have built themselves up in her mind were suddenly swept away by his mistake.

With wide eyes she stopped, assessing the predicament he’d gotten himself into, and promptly realising that there was likely little she could do to help. Still, she propped herself up with front paws pressed firmly against the log, looking down at him; it was difficult not to laugh at the situation, especially when having such a well-risen view. But she didn’t laugh or even snicker, brought back to reality by his introduction. “I’m Kaori.”—she tilted her head, lowering herself off of the temporary perch so that all four paws were, once again, on the ground opposite side the log from him—“I want to help you out of there but I do not think that I can.” Unlike her sisters, she’d inherited not a single trait from her father, save for the mark of the moon that marred her breast and her iridescent glow. Where her sisters had his strength, his size, she was still so small—nimble and weak, truly a lamb amongst the wolves.
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ew i’m a drag. sorry! i tried to shorten this post so their 4 different conversations weren’t so spliced but obvious fail :s you’re welcome to wrap up with your reply!

”if you want to test your sea legs, sure. there’s seal and fish. it’s not bad if you’re used to it.” he shrugged. he liked those meal options, but he preferred the variation plains-dwelling wolves proffered in their culinary inventory. that preference often led to him departing the strand in favor of hunting game he could find in the forest or the mead adjoining them—quail and rodents, generally. he and Ingram could dispatch a deer with unified effort but it was a large expenditure of energy that was best conserved for traveling. 

despite his criticisms, the nautical lot was still a desirable waypoint for Kaori. he sensed how the coolness of her eyes lit like a match when he mentioned their view of the sunset, revitalized. ”there’s a bluff just a ways north-west of here, that’s where i would go. i'll show you sometime, if you're up for an escort.” he offered companionably. Ingram was infinitely more focused on cross-examining the entire community than observing the earth’s rotations, but Ly felt particularly and perhaps peculiarly drawn to its mystique.

he hid the scope of his relief that he had a compeer who, at least in part, shared illogical feelings of homesickness. it was an isolating emotion that was hard to explicate, though Kaori did well enough of that for him to know they were mutually harrowed by it. ”i get that. it’s hard to explain, but i get you.”

the ink-tressed sylph was in the middle of ensuring her intent to help, when he found himself in the conundrum of a snowy inhumation. he peered up, she peered down, cobalt eyes seeming to assess his situation and determine his fate good as sealed. ”pleasure to make your acquaintance.” he muttered through the snow, drawing his legs up to his chest and propelling his body forward like a snow-plow. she had appeared at his side, but was as wispy as she was spry and would not be able to pluck him back from his providence. Lycaon sighed. ”i’m feeling very ice-olated right now.” his woe-face disintegrated into a wide grin and his lips poorly stifled a schoolgirl’s giggle.
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Kaori was attentive, listening to the boy and his tone. He shared more information about the sea, as well as a way to catch a glimpse of the sunset, each of which she appreciated and thanked him for. The sea had, through his words, captured her interest—she wished to examine it closer, to experience all that it had to offer, even if those things were foreign and frightening. Although, perhaps they would not be as scary as her mind made it out to be—maybe it would be exciting. Seeking the positive and ignoring the negative, she settled on that thought with a small smile, decision officially made: she would experience the sea in whatever way that the world would permit.

More words were exchanged—a joke included, which nearly flew right over her head, only to be caught at the very last second and set her to laughing—but their paths were not meant to remain together. In time, the two split ways, with Kaori heading east—towards her next adventure, her new life.