Aria had never been one to announce her absences. It tended to clash with her personality and ideals, but she believed that Lasher and Dante knew she'd be back. She had worked hard in Donnelaith and had deemed the place home, there was no reason to leave all that behind... at least, in her eyes. subtweet

The pale girl had decided to venture out. No longer looking for her beloved Casmir, but now just searching for the sake of searching. She had lost motivation to do so many things that she'd loved... she didn't even deal with medicine anymore, something she'd grown up doing. Aria was a little bit lost, especially since half the wolves she'd come to know and love had left- minus Behati, who was a pain in her ass and peacefully forgotten.

She wandered now through a territory that was beyond beautiful. It was green and smelled of the birch trees that grew all around her, and she was quite happy among them. She paused when she caught sight of the lake through the trees, padding towards it and perking her ears. The pale princess dipped her head and lapped at the calm waters, the cool water rejuvenating and much needed. For a moment, she forgot why she had been so discouraged recently.

 

After that unpleasant experience with her heat had been over for a few days, she headed out to the incredibly large lake to the northwest of the territory, tipping off Sebastian before she left. It pained her to take a break from him and the pack while so much needed to be worked out, but she desperately needed some time to think. 

Pearl trotted steadily along the shore of the lake, eventually coming across a pale figure in the distance. Pearl cocked her head slightly, wondering why it looked familiar. Coming closer, she recognized it as Aria, a joyful surprise to see her again. She quickened her pace, barking at Donnelaith's beta excitedly, closing the distance with a wolfish body slam hug. "Aria! How are you?" she said, tail waving freely. 

Had she not have been so absorbed with the beauty, Aria would have scented Pearl coming her way. Even better, she might have heard her bark. The pale beta was so out of tune with her senses and so wrapped up in the lovely lake, she had become uncharacteristically ignorant. So instead of returning the love and happiness that Pearl so graciously slammed her way, Aria countered with a loud snarl and a nip to the shoulder. She would have bitten harder, but she realized it just before she sunk her teeth into the pale coat of her friend. The icy-princess went limp, letting out an apologetic whine.

"Oh Gods..." she muttered, rolling from her friend. Her head lowered and her ears flattened. "Sorry- I had no idea it was you..." she stopped, head raising slightly. "Wait... Pearl... Pearl?" she repeated the name a number of times as she stared at her friend, "Pearl... where have you been?" she asked, eyes clouded.

Aria let out a soft sigh, giving her friend a quick nudge as she reassured her that her lashing out was forgiven. She waited patiently as Pearl explained, but didn't really feel much better. "Oh," was all she responded at first, followed by a short silence. "How is it?" she then asked, giving a weak smile and an even weaker wag of her tail. She wanted to be happy for the white woman, and there was no reason for her to be so angry with her for leaving. It did seem like everyone was doing that anyway, no reason to take it out on one in particular. She was a little more hurt that Lasher hadn't told her- or maybe he had? For the first time in a while Aria couldn't remember half of the most important things that she'd nagged herself so often to remember.

The girl smiled, still trying her best to be happy for her friend. "I'm glad you're doing well," she told her, tail wagging behind her a bit faster now. She hesitated, silence her only answer as she looked out over the beautiful lake. Her head fell to the side as she thought of an answer. "It's alright," she finally said, shrugging. "Empty," she added quietly, giving her friend a weak smile. She didn't blame Pearl directly, but her leaving certainly didn't help. 

The girl shrugged, shaking her head. "Sorry -- I haven't seen you in like... weeks... I should be more peppy," she shook her head again. "I didn't mean to turn this on me..." she added quietly, eyebrows furrowing as she looked forward. She fell silent again, wondering about how Pearl's new home was. Did she have a mate? she wondered, was this friend something more? Maybe that was why she left. Aria saw no real reason for anyone to leave Donnelaith. It was home. You can't just leave home. You can't just leave family. 

But she kept her confusion silent, shifting her paws.

"Casmir left," she said quietly, pursing her lips. "I dunno if you had left yet or not... but he left." 

Aria chuckled. It was an unfitting sort of chuckle, one that filled an awkward hole that questions roamed unanswered in. She had a smile painted across her white muzzle, but it was wet still, and seemed to drip down her clean features. "Me, probably," she told her friend, the smile still disappearing into an empty expression. "Behati... I think something happened between him and Eilidh as well-- he didn't explain, really," she added quietly. She stared forward, still away from her friend. 

"I know we decided we didn't need anyone but... I think I got a bit too ballsy," thinking back to their last conversation, Aria had sort of delivered a fatal blow. Just friends... of course he wanted to leave her.

The girl shrugged, but sort of new the answer. "I mean-- so am I," she replied, not that that really had anything to do with their topic, but was somehow relevant. "He was sad about Behati--" she paused, looking to her friend, "Who died from infection and starvation... I believe you were aware of that right...?" she added quietly, genuinely struggling to remember when she had stopped seeing Pearl around. "But.. anyway, I asked we take it back a step, ya know? Move forward as friends and figure things out," she continued with another shrug.

"No particularly well..." she replied quietly. "He just seemed taken back-- and then he sort of ran off," Aria paused, shaking her furiously. "I moved past it," she said suddenly, her tail waving once behind her. "He doesn't want to be found right now, and it sucks but it's fine," she told Pearl quietly. Her inability to decide where she stood with her emotions probably was one of the reasons she and Pearl would never be as close as Aria wanted. She shifted topics completely, regardless if her friend wanted to or not.

"I'm starting a journey soon, going to scout out newer territories. That's kind of why I came down here," she explained, her head tilting.

Aria skipped over her friends snort easily, deciding that avoiding was the easiest way to get over something-- for now, anyway. "Back home after this, but South of Donnelaith. This is the furthest I've been from home in a while, I figured it was time to branch off and gather information," she explained, feeling less jittery as she fell into the new conversation. Much easier to talk about, much easier to forget. No reason to dwell on Casmir, he was gone and wasn't coming back. She'd find something new later on. No worries. No harm no foul. "I'm nearby your pack-- do you have a name for this lake?"

Lake Rodney-- good to know. But still, Aria could sense the frustration in Pearl even as she engaged in the conversation. Give into friend? Oblige unwillingly even though it was probably good for her? or continue to be a pain in the ass? She weighed her options carefully.

"I'm not sure yet. I don't know what's out there, honestly..." she trailed off, looking at her pale friend. Finally, the girl gave a long sigh and shook her head. "I'm sorry," she muttered, looking away. "I looked for a while. I don't know where he is. There's too much I don't understand to fully come to terms with this," she finally said, falling back to where Pearl had clearly wanted-- or preferred, rather-- to be. "I don't even know what I'd say to him if I had found him. I don't know if I'd apologize or what-- and I know you're trying to help and I'm being a pain but... I don't have anything to tell you that you probably couldn't guess on your own and... and that's all I've got,"

"Donnelaith is lonely, but I'm working on it. Life's gone on-- ya know? The pups are getting older-- Blue Willow stepped down-- Osprey mentioned pups with Dante although I'm not really sure if that'll happen or not..." Aria shrugged. "It's getting better, Casmir or no Casmir it's getting better."

Pearl interjected advice that wasn't super useful-- but what else could she say? "I'm trying," Aria responded desperately. "I have nothing to go by. Nothing! He didn't say why... just that he needed to leave. And then he did," she added with obvious frustration. She would've made a comment directed straight at Pearl, but decided not to start anything with the white wolf who was only trying to help. But really? Distance herself? From what? Everything had already left. She couldn't get any further away from the things that troubled her so much. 

Obviously not ready. But neither was she, really. She pretended she was, and had a better understanding of how things were supposed to work-- but easier said that done. She could talk the talk, but couldn't walk the walk. Aria nodded along as Pearl spoke, sort of droning on she thought. It wasn't that she wasn't being helpful, it just wasn't new advice. Aria had told herself these same things day after day. She'd moved on in her own way, but she knew that Pearl had to know she'd never truly move on. You can't move on from the unknown, it was just an awkward hole that would never be filled. She gave in anyway, unable to give her friend any other information that would be useful to help.

"You're right," she murmured softly, ears cupping forward. "I know I can," she added, but wasn't fully convinced. 

The girl smiled, leaning back onto Pearl in return. "Yeah," she murmured. "I guess you're right," 

Aria let out a soft sigh, eventually leaning away from her friend. "I should probably return home-- I didn't announce my departure," she told the other, giving her a weak smile. "I know I'm a pain, but thank you Pearl. Your words mean mountains to me," she told the girl, dipping her head as she stood. "You know where to find us, if you ever need us," 

Then, after a quick glance to the lake, the pale princess departed, her hips and tail swaying behind her.