The eyes that today scanned the bay were not the same. Of rich gold hues, the tigress eyes found but sand and stone coated in dirty snow. It was so grey, so lifeless, that Julep almost missed the mixed scents that lingered closer to the beaches that had seen her birth. Vestiges of the black stone circle that had once defined the territory of Blackrock Depths were still there, but the strong scent of blood and brine that characterized it under the Cairn rule was long gone, as was expected. She stepped over it, feeling as much at home as she felt like a stranger. She had changed much, matured and grown in ways she would never had imagined when she first set foot away from home, and returning was mostly uncomfortable.

As the dirt-stained ct of snow gave foot to lusterless sand Julep felt closer to her destination. But the scents that surrounded her grew too strong to ignore, forcing her to stop advancing towards the waves and lift head and ears as she tried to get a hint of who might have established in the bay since Blackrock's disbanding.