Their journey continued, in no way exciting or rewarding. Aria grew more and more tired each step she took, but it was not an exhaustion that sleep could help. She felt bad, like she was weighing down the moonspear male with her slowness-- but she could not help it. They hadn't had much to eat, and the pale princess had eaten more bugs than she'd ever even seen in her entire life. They hadn't even been gone for very long-- the world was just cruel.

Floki had proven to be a much better companion than she'd hoped for, and his playful teasings often gave her sour mood a much needed uplifting. She returned his quips happily, making their travels much more enjoyable. There was still a pit in the bottom of her stomach, one that grew each and every moment. What if they would end their travels empty-handed? No plants, no prey, no land-- no nothing. The thought burned holes through her heart, scorching each bit of hope she'd had at the beginning of their adventure. She prayed they'd find something-- anything-- in this god-forsaken barren land, but right now she felt that it was stupid to think such a niave thought. The world was dead and brown, and she could do nothing about it.

They walked on more elevated land now, and Aria's breathing was heavy. It didn't sound obnoxious or unhealthy, but it was clear that their lack of food over the past few days had damaged the girl at least slightly. She'd been pampered her whole life, and prey had never been far from reach-- even if it was small. Bugs were simply not as filling. In an effort to distract herself from her physical state, she nudged Floki gently. "I can't believe you live on a mountain. Do you have to climb every day?" she teased, raising an eyebrow at the man.

Aria sticks her tongue out, nudging him roughly. Her tongue soon falls, becoming less of an annoyed face and more of a pant. "I'm not out of breath," she tells him, her gaze falling over the male. "I'm simply saving some of it for later." She dips her head, tail swaying behind her, and sniffs at the ground. It smells of heat and water-- two things that don't actually have a smell but are oddly recognizable. She exhales loudly and raises her head back up, looking to Floki with large white eyes. "I feel like we're in the clouds," she says, glancing to the foggy terrain around them. "Do mountains really go up that high? Are we really that high?"

Floki responds thoughtfully, and the pale girl listens as he describes his take on it. She trusts him more when it comes to his opinions of their standing-- he does live on a mountain afterall. He trails off, and she stares at him for a moment before she realizes why he had trailed off. Someone had joined them.

He head turns, and suddenly her veins begin to pound in her ears. She feels deaf for a moment, her  body swaying slightly as emotion rushed through her. She steps forward, staring at the Mayfair boy with large, white eyes. He has grown-- but she isn't sure he looks older. His voice, however, is deeper, even if only slightly, and she's almost caught off gaurd even more. 

"Casmir," she murmurs in response, almost too quiet to hear. She doesn't answer right away, instead she takes a quick glance at Floki. She realized how this looked-- but doesn't feel that he has any right to be offended. After all, even if there was something between she and the Moonspear male, Aria had generously offered to share the boy with Behati-- even if she'd never truly been okay with that offer.

"Donnelaith is barren," she tells him, her voice a normal volume now. "I'm looking for prey and herbs-- and new land, maybe." Her gaze shifts to Floki again. "This is Floki, he comes from the Moonspear pack."

Aria remains silent for a little while, letting Floki and Casmir speak without any sort of interruption. For a moment, she refrained from shouting accusations at him. A mate? There was no way. She knew he was lying, there was no way. No way. Absolutely no way. She wanted to call him out, force him to prove it. But hell, what did she know? He was probably fine. Fine when he left her at the border, probably fine all those days she spent wandering aimlessly looking for him. Fine now. 

"We don't need any help," she adds at one point, eyeing Casmir for a moment before she turns to stare in the direction of the forest he'd pointed out. She would avoid it, she did not want to go near it. Somewhere in the pit of her stomach, she had this feeling that if she went she would meet this mate of his-- for some reason. Aria pictured a black female, tall and muscular with brightly colored eyes and a deep, honey filled voice-- quite opposite from herself, but even more beautiful. It hurt her, and she looked to her paws for a moment, lost from the conversation completely.

"The kids?" she questions, her voice thick with confusion. After a few heartbeats though, she realizes he means Deirdre and Emaleth, and shakes her head. "They're doing well-- Deirdre and I started a garden with Eilidh before the swarm," she shares with him. It is forced, however, as she currently does not wish to bring him any comfort. Any gesture that Floki has made towards her has gone unnoticed, she is too distraught to pay attention. "Osprey should be due any day," she adds, and a twinge of guilt runs through her. She probably already missed it. She pauses, her gaze falling to the dark male for a moment. Her gaze falls to his ear, and she suddenly straightens her posture slightly. 

"Your brother returned to the pack," she tells him, her tail waving behind her.

Casmir seemed unbothered by her comment, and therefore she had no reason to attempt to make him jealous. She doubted it would've worked anyway. If she really wanted to bother him she would've just told him that she was Lasher's co-alpha, and they were bangin' the days away. But she couldn't think that far, and she'd found that most of her pettiness has died with Behati. Now she was just sad. Suddenly, the boy ended their conversation. He said a quick goodbye to them and skipped away from the mountain pleasantly. "Right," she had responded, not fully hearing him and therefore unable to argue the 'double date' scenario that Casmir had so joyfully attempted to lodge in her mind. Had she heard him she might've passed out-- the thought of having to watch Casmir rub up over some other woman right before her own eyes might've driven her mad. 

Her gaze did not watch him go, and instead she stares to the ground in front of her and takes in a long breath. "Found him," she murmurs softly, glancing up to Floki and swallowing heavily. She knows he knew exactly who that was, and she wonders what he thinks of the conversation. She doesn't ask though, she has no idea how to gather her thoughts. 

Floki nudges her gently, and although the weight of the previous conversation had harmed her flirtatious personality, she leans into him nonetheless. "Yeah," she murmurs, but her head betrays her response as it shakes. "I'm just-- I'm just glad he's okay," she adds. With heavy feet, she stands straight and begins to move forward. She isn't sure she wants to talk about it-- she really hates talking about things-- but she feels like Floki will ask more questions. In an attempt to shift the conversation away and to reassure him that she's alright, she gives him a half-hearted smile and a brief wag of her tail.

"At least I'm not out of breath anymore," she jokes dryly.

The girl nods, her tail waving lowly behind her. "Yeah-- maybe these clouds will go away," she mutters, her ears flicking. She didn't really understand the terrain, but she decided she didn't like it very much. The pair continued to the bottom of the mountain, the 'clouds' eventually dispersing as they grew further from the mountain. They moved on through the dusty land, silently and without much interaction.