Saena's amnesia ran deep enough that although her paws knew the lay of the land at least a little, she was consciously unfamiliar of it all. The particular weave of the trees, once a feature of the land that she was beginning to understand, were once more foreign to her. The blanket of regrowing moss felt strange and unwelcome under her feet, where before it was beginning to grow springy and comfortable. The crash and tumble of water on water was music to her ears before her fall, but now Saena could not locate the source. She was still slightly concussed, disoriented and confused.
A light rain dappled the unfurling new leaves and the ground alike, and showered Saena's cream coat with lingering droplets, but even the loamy smell of the place was unfamiliar to her. Her brow was tightly drawn in a look of consternation. She noted a headache forming behind her temples as she passed a rotting log that was starting to sprout tiny mushrooms. The hunger of days before no longer touched her mind, as occupied as it was with forming new memories in place of the lost ones, but her body hadn't forgotten. She was skinny as a stick.
When at last she found the creek, it was completely by accident. Her paw slipped on a stone, slick from the rain, and her momentum carried her into a slide across the wet moss that brought the riverbank into view. She tumbled and struck a bruised shoulder, cried out as pain wracked her figure, and eventually recovered only to lift her head to the sight of white, foaming rapids just beyond the next stand of trees.
he had heard from other wolves in Silver Creek that something wasn't right with Saena; his cousin'd gone off to hunt and come back changed. weird, even. Casmir couldn't think for the life of him what had happened, but he did know that if the pale she-wolf was unfit to lead, that they needed to choose a new alpha, and quick. he did not pretend to be that person, but he was worried about her, and moreso the pups.
it was with the sole intention of seeking out the pallid woman that the tall Mayfair departed the borders that day. it wasn't hard to pick up her scent, as it still lay thickly over the land. he nosed across damp loam, peered at the fresh leaves, and while his spirits were buoyed by their appearance, the knowledge he must find Saena propelled him onward.
it was her cry of pain that galvanized the boy into a headlong run along the bank; he hadn't seen her fall, but it was clear what had occurred as he drew nearer with every lunge of his stride. "Saena!" Cas called, his voice choked with worry.
The boy reached out to touch her, to assure himself she was all right, at least for the moment, but he drew back at the last moment, unsure of himself or his cousin, and backed off a few steps. "Are you okay?"
The rush of the water might have been enough to bring back memories, but Saena's brain was so far gone that she stared at it blankly. Her factual knowledge of the world was unaffected, so she didn't need to remind herself that this was a creek and that substance was water, but its unfamiliarity baffled her. Subconsciously she had arrived here, but she didn't remember having ever seen rapids before. Granted, she remembered almost nothing. Her life began when she woke up in King Elk Forest. Rather than succumbing to the crushing panic of knowing almost nothing else, Saena had pressed on.
Saena! called a voice, and she lifted her head with an expression of alarm. Like all others, the man rushing toward her wasn't familiar in the slightest, though there was something rugged about him that she liked. "Your Wildness," she reminded Casmir as she gathered herself to her paws and stood, proud and far more regal than the Saena of old ever had managed. She took a moment to shake her shoulders, very lady-like in her swishing movements, and then she turned to receive her loyal subject with a tut that she hoped would remind him to show proper courtesies to a queen.
"Whyever would I not be all right?" she asked, attempting to feign ignorance of her fall. "I was simply admiring the sights of my kingdom," and it was perhaps at that word, kingdom, that Casmir would start to notice that something was off about her, for she had never before referred to it as such a thing.
Your Wildness. "w-what?" Casmir stammered useless, staring at Saena as she rose with her usual grace but very unsual words on her lips. helplessly he looked around, as if to telepathically summon someone who could explain his cousin's insane behavior, but it was just he and the pale she-wolf. in response to her demand for deference, the boy lowered his ear and body somewhat, but peered quizzically at her.
what the hell was wrong with Saena? she seemed all right, but decidedly was not. he extended his muzzle to take her scent; there was no metallic odor of blood, or the rot of sickness, but the woman was still ... off, in some unexplainable way. "hey. we gotta go back to Silver Creek. we need you. your kids need you," Cas added, his voice trailing off lamely, uncomfortable with the idea that he was telling one of the most responsible wolves he knew not to be a child-abandoner and to get her ass home.
"Y-Your Wildness," he hurriedly tacked on as an afterthought, trying not to anger the strange new creature who had take up residence in Saena's skin.