They had successfully traipsed through the dark wood and ventured to the other side. The caldera stood before them and Lucy felt a strange sense of knowing. She looked at the stretch of land and frowned thoughtfully. The words uttered by Nevouku caused her ears to swivel atop her crown and she looked to him with a strange expression before nodding. “Yeah,” she trailed quietly, but the dark girl drew in the scent of her surroundings and found herself perturbed by them.

The inky wisp turned her head to make sure that Skwol was not far behind them. She would feel better that he was there if they were to address any strangers. Drawing her head back, the ghoul called for someone to join them alongside the edges of the pack. The quiet youth was hoping that they would not have to wait long; she was eager to see if any of these wolves knew of Nevouku's family or his previous home.

Skwol finally approached, making Lucy feel far more at ease on the borders of the unknown pack. She could not shake the familiarity of it – the scents that wafted through her nose. His optimistic muttering was lost on her ears, as the young girl tried her best to focus on the task at hand. No matter the fear that rose in the pit of her stomach, she knew that she was there to help Nevouku and that she had intended to see it through.

It did not take entirely long for another wolf to approach them. The female was cloaked in grey and silver. Her eyes shone like copper pennies in the light. It seemed that she had intended to meet them with a brisk step, but once her gaze fell on Lucy, she had faltered. The ghoul watched her with tense posture and bristling fur. She did not know this wolf, but something on the other's face spoke of familiarity. The dark girl's heart began to thrum inside of her chest and she took a single step backwards, hoping to press herself against Skwol's figure.

“Lucy...”

The woman's voice struck the air almost out of disbelief. Lucy squinted at the female and frowned. Fear was burning a hole inside of her and she did not know what to do with it. Her pale gaze roamed the other wolf – up and down – over and over until she latched on to the grey woman's face. The strange cognizance that had settled over her still lingered like a cloud. It felt as though she could scarcely see through it.

“W-who are you?” she whispered.

I do not know you.

Skwol was there and he had pressed himself against her with a gentle but firm push of his body. The dark young girl found herself grounded by his presence, mustering the strength to continue her reason for reaching these pack borders. The grey female introduced herself and stated her rank within the territory – it was moderately surprising that the first wolf to find them was the leader of the caldera. Lucy almost felt as though there was a reason for this, but she did not want to pry very far into the details of why Finley had found them there. Instead, she held fast and attempted to remain focused on their task.

“Well, uh... this is Nevouku,” she introduced and gestured her muzzle in the direction of the male with the faded coat and sad eyes. “He used to belong to Broken Antler Fen, but he found out that none of his family is there anymore. I guess he's looking for someone who might know what happened and I promised I'd help him.” Her eyes trailed over Finley's figure for another moment before she swallowed her fear and took a single step forward. “Do you have room in your ranks for his type? He's real sweet.”

For a moment, she felt a fleeting familiarity that seemed to shake her. The ghoul shivered before she drew her gaze back up to the alpha of the caldera. She searched the woman's face again, still finding that she did not know her. It nestled inside of her gut like a roll of thorns, stabbing into her insides with a defiant urgency. While the dark young girl was there for Nevouku, she was beginning to realize that she could find some answers. If this Finley knew who she was – was able to identify her on sight – the thoughts crept back into her mind and she could feel fear bubbling up inside of her.

“H-how do you... how do you know who I am?”

Finley and Nevouku took a moment to share their news with each other. Lucy listened with swiveling ears and a slowly turning skull. She pointed her muzzle toward whoever was talking and then returned to the other for their reaction. It was almost as though she was studying them, but she did not know why. Still, the young girl felt an unease that crept through her and pricked her skin like nettles. All this while, Skwol stood behind her like a stoic guardian, but he did not say a word. Part of this bothered Lucy; she wanted him to speak. The ghoul had found that she felt far more grounded when he was near, and even more so when he attempted to quell her fears with a quiet rumbling of his voice. Nothing seemed to be able to calm the fire that was burning inside of her.

When at last, her question had found its way to the grey-furred female's ears, Lucy watched her with baited breath as the Alpha of the caldera faced her. There was a curious sort of sadness in the woman's eyes. The ink-cloaked girl was capable of recognizing it, but she did not understand where it had manifested from. Yet, when the Alpha finally spoke, something crumbled inside of the girl. There seemed to have been a fortress that stood quite tall and guarded any vile, dreadful things from approaching her heart. Lucy did not know that it could have been demolished so quickly.

Mothers never forget their children.

The ghoul became rigid where she stood. Her legs were pressed so tightly to the earth that she believed she might be sucked up inside of it. How could she have forgotten? Like crashing waves, memories rolled through her mind and churned her gut. Lucy was starting to remember. She remembered being swept away by the wicked Marbas. She remembered finding herself on the edges of Neverwinter Forest, and the kindness of the Frostfur wolves. She remembered the bright glow of Rannoch's gaze, and the sweet and soothing rumble of Cypress' voice. Even then, she could recall showing up on the edges of Duskvale – half starved and shattered – and finding a temporary home with the roaming wolves.

A final memory lingered in her mind. She evoked at last when Finley had come for her and found her in the wood, scared and alone. Lucy could still hear her mother's voice, asking her to return home, and in her anger... Lucy had refused. She had been so hurt by her own loneliness that she had not been able to swallow her own pride. The wisp of a girl had been so destroyed that it had taken them that long to find her. Lucy had wandered on her own through the wilds, relying on those around her to survive and she had barely done that well enough. Now, she stood before her mother again, but she did not have the words to address such a significant happening.

“But you let me go.”

It did not seem like her voice had conjured the words. It felt as if they had come from somewhere else entirely, but Lucy knew that she had said it and that it would likely cause some degree of pain. Still, she could not help but to feel that same hurt that she had felt more than a year ago. Then, she had been so malleable and she had relied so heavily on those around her. The ghoul had witnessed more than she ever cared to, and she had endured the harshest of life's realities. Many of them had been blocked from her mind, and she knew that she had forgotten her own family in order to stay alive. If she had not, the pain would have killed her.

Yet, in that moment of flooding cognizance, Lucy wished that she could forget again.

You ran.

Lucy did not want to hear what she had to say after this. Her dark ears swiveled atop her crown and flattened against her skull. The ghoul peered at her mother with wide blue eyes and a half-gaping maw. The dark wisp was young, and she had no real reference for how life should have treated her; she knew only that she had endured enough to wither away years of her life. Still, youthful emotions were still potent – violent – in their own right, and they crippled her to her place. Dark and crooked fingers seemed to latch around her ankles and pull her to the ground with such force, such anger, that she did not know if she could move.

Run.

A voice inside of her head urged her to leap away from them; escape that harsh reality before it becomes too much for you to carry. The weight of it was already agonizing against her shoulders. Still, if she ran, would that not reinforce her mother's word? The young girl felt only turmoil. And even though she did not want to hear the words, Finley's voice flooded in through her pinned ears. After what happened... but she could feel everything that had happened, just as she had endured it the first time. The pain and grief rushed through her system like a wicked river, and Lucy was drowning. I didn't want to force you... The words hung in the air like heavy fog. They were heartfelt – motherly, even – but Lucy did not recognize this. The love of a mother was wasted on her.

“But you should have,” she growled angrily. “You should have forced me.” Articulating was difficult and growing increasingly so, but the ghoul had lost a portion of herself that she would never get back. Both ears drew forward, fixing on Finley. The cool blue of her gaze remained locked with the bronze of her mother's. “I was so young; too young to know any better. I was angry at you. I was furious with you. How could it have taken you so long to find me? What kind of a mother lets their daughter go after everything... after all that happened? It doesn't matter what I said, or what I did,” her voice cracked like lightning against the leader of the caldera. The fur along her neck and shoulders bristled like shadow come to life. All of her rage and pain that had been pent up inside of her for more than a year had found a leak in her guard. Lucy was gushing everything that she had held locked within her, but she did not care. “It doesn't matter...”

“You let me go.”

Lucy had often thought of what she would say to her mother if she should ever see her again. She did not imagine that it would have been anything like that. The fire was dying inside of her, but her limbs still quivered and shook with an unrecognizable force. In her mind, the dark wisp saw only a woman who had made a choice and that choice had cost her all of her childhood. The action that Finley had taken on the day they had last seen each other had shaped the entirety of Lucy's life, and it was not for the better.

Finally, the dark young shadow pulled her gaze away from the grey woman. She fixed her eyes on the earth beneath their feet, praying that she would be grounded by this. Her hopes were not in vain, as it were, but the flood of emotion had sobered her. Her thin shoulders shuddered and dropped. Lucy appeared defeated and shattered, but she had been in such a place before. The shadow had walked through every fire that had burned in her path, and she knew that she would be able to withstand this weight. “It's a good thing that I'm not a child anymore, isn't it?” she asked, still holding her gaze with the frozen ground. “I know better, now.”

Just as she had come, Lucy Blackthorn turned and slithered away. The cloak of ink that shrouded her figure wrapped her in darkness and tucked her away from any watchful gaze. She took to the brush, vanishing from sight with paw steps that left to sign of her body having been. There was no chance for any of her comrades to catch her; she did not want to be found. Just as she had come, the ghoul had disappeared.