Her experience with Rokig had endeared her to the beach, if only slightly, and Maegi found herself on the sand more often, marveling at the feel of it under her paws. Ever-changing. . .it shifted so much more than dirt, and unlike dirt, which turned to mud in the rain--sand, when wet, hardened further, creating a flat, smooth surface good for chasing waves.

Maegi giggled as one such wave hit her in the face, shaking her head and spitting out a mouthful of seawater. As she blinked the droplets from her eyes, she noticed a girl not so far away, walking along the beach. Upon closer inspection, it looked to be a girl about her age, and her ears perked in surprise and a sort of delight, her slightly-wet tail wagging as she trotted awkwardly toward the girl.

"Hi," she said, a smile--for once--coming to her normally sullen face. "I haven't seen you around before." Her eyes raked over the other's pelt, a beautiful reddish-gold. It reminded her of Indra. She felt a small pain in her stomach, knowing that she'd left no word with the woman who had given her food and shelter, if only for a little bit. "I'm Maegi," she offered.

Maegi's smile diminished as she noticed Reed looking at her, feeling suddenly self-conscious, and slightly snappy with the need to defend herself. Still, she gave a curt nod, wagging her tail. "Yeah, I'm new," she said, though that really didn't need to be explained, and she knew it as well as Reed. But pleasantries were pleasantries.

"Who's Hemlock? Is that, uh, is that the brawny guy? Kinda brown and black?" she asked, remembering the man who'd burst onto the scene of the young mother's death. "Weird accent?"

It occurred to her that she was not very familiar at all with the denizens of the island, and she felt bad about it. In Blackfeather, she had played an active role in greeting all the newcomers, learning their story and sharing the tales of her family, her religion. Without any referential knowledge, she felt completely at a loss, thrown off kilter by this impressive, seemingly worldly girl.

Any vestiges of friendliness fell away when the girl spoke in imperious tones--as if everyone knew this girl's mother! please--and Maegi's gaze grew icy, distant. "Healer" and "botanist" caught her attention, but it also reminded her of Potema, and she found it difficult to separate the two in her head. Does your mother wallow around in a poppy stupor all day, too?

"Sorry," Maegi said coolly, mouth firming. "I haven't met her yet. She sounds cool. Both my parents knew about plants, too. My. . .father taught me about poisons." She didn't know quite how to feel about Cicero, in retrospect. Raised at first to know him as her mother's brother, then life had taken a turn and, well, actually, he had sired her.

She didn't know where he was, whether he was alive or dead. She hoped that either way, he had found peace. As had--there came the pain again--Ramsay and Euron.

"I followed the brown woman and her daughter from Bearclaw Valley," she explained, casting her gaze south, where the land bridge was. "I didn't know where she was headed, I just didn't want to be where I was anymore."

She laughed. The sound held no color, no warmth--but she laughed. "My mother did that, too," Maegi said, the frown diminishing somewhat as she peered curiously at Reed. She didn't think it was common, for parents to abandon their young like Potema had; perhaps she was wrong. At least she now felt a sort of kinship between her and the ruddy girl, something she hadn't felt before.

Maegi shrugged, affecting coolness. "I lived in a forest," she said simply. "My brothers went off with my father to find someone; when they didn't return, I went looking for them. I got captured and. . ." Here she trailed off, her heart thumping slightly in her chest. She didn't want to talk about it, didn't want to revisit it, not when the wounds were so freshly healed--

--to speak the words aloud would be to rip them open once again. "Well, I'm here now, I guess," the young priestess said abruptly, shrugging. She looked at Reed. "Have you been here all your life?" The girl walked with such poise, such grace, on the beach, that Maegi thought it must be so.

As she spoke, she saw Reed's gaze wander, and resisted an irritated snort. Well, she had asked. What else was she supposed to do, tell her some fairy tale? Maegi thought her story was interesting enough without embellishments, and she made a point to keep her eyes fixed on Reed, almost unnervingly so, as the russet girl told her own life story.

"Wow, that's sad about your father, trying to attack you," she said, frowning. Even Potema hadn't laid a paw on her, as much as she might have wanted to. "Are your siblings here now with you?" Her frown deepened into a pout. She was jealous, if so.

Maegi shrugged, noncommittal. "I'm getting used to it," she said. Her eyes raked over the surf. "My home was dark and full of trees. I liked that better. But the island is pretty cool, too." At least there were more people to talk to, here. Back home, it seemed like she was alone; everyone had kept to themselves, lurking in the shadows.

She hadn't met Droman yet, but she should soon; it would be nice to have another friend around her own age. It had been a weird existence for Maegi in which, beyond her brothers, she had only known older wolves. She'd never gotten the opportunity to have a "normal" friend group. Life here was so normal that she found it strange.

Reed beckoned her forward, not a questioning note in her tone, and Maegi followed, stifling a sigh. This girl sure was bossy. Then again, she was herself--Reed was sort of a kindred spirit, of sorts. Still, you put two fires together and what do you get? Usually a bigger fire.

"Why is there so much water?" Maegi asked, ears swiveling as she tried to catch all the varied sounds going on around her. "Back home we only had a little creek." It didn't seem right, to have all this water and just a little dollop of land. Where were wolves supposed to live? She'd learned the hard way that swimming forever was out of the equation.

"I don't know what that is," Maegi answered, sniffing in response. She was perturbed at Reed's apparent contempt for her, and shuffled awkwardly behind her, coming to the russet girl's side as she stopped. She was tempted to say "No," in response, just to spite her new acquaintance, but instead nodded her head in agreement, taking a good whiff herself.

After a moment's contemplation, she turned to Reed, the ruined side of her face dappled with shadows. "I'm not stupid, you know," Maegi said, a little venom in her voice. "This is all just. . .new to me. Where I come from, it's far from here, and it's completely different."

She dipped her nose to the creatures she saw grazing on the field, too big and weird-looking to be deer. "Like those. I've never seen those before. What are they?" They were very beautiful, each one uniquely colored, and she wanted to get closer, even if they didn't necessarily want her around.

No, but you clearly thought it. Maegi listened to her explanation, giving a curt nod. At the question, she turned her head to Reed again. "Sure," she said, a little uncertainly. "It would be cool to see them up close." She waited for the girl to lead the way, as she clearly was the princess of the island and all that.

It was a lot to get used to. Back home, she'd felt entitled, haughty--the princess of her forest, in a way. Even though her mother hadn't wanted her and her deformity had marred her body, she still had carried herself with an air of superiority. She was a Melonii, after all.

But here, Reed was the superior being--or at least, she thought so. It was difficult to come to terms with someone else bearing that regal status, especially a girl around her own age. She'd never had problems with authority when it came from older wolves, but being talked down to by a contemporary left a bad taste in her mouth.

She wagged her tail slightly, at least willing to give Reed a chance. "Whatever you wanna do," Maegi remarked, deferring to the island girl on this matter.

Maegi nodded, lowering herself instinctually. She crept behind Reed, keeping her eyes fixed on the horses, their round feet and their big eyes. Everything about them seemed at once terrifying and soothing, and it was this mixture that kept her on her toes, ready to flee at a moment's notice. There were a lot of them, too, and they were much bigger than she was. That was scary in and of itself.

She wanted to continue to ask Reed more questions--what was that plant over there? or this stone over here?--but knew she had to be quiet, and saved them for later. It was hard to move as stealthily as her new acquaintance, with her bad paw, but she did her best, maybe looking more like a hermit crab than an eel.

Closer and closer they got. Maegi waited for some sort of, like, signal from Reed on what they were actually doing, glancing back and forth between the horses and the ruddy girl.

Quietly, she crept next to Reed, rising like a flower in a spring meadow--slowly but surely. The horse shook its head, sending its hair flying, but eventually went back to grazing, large eye swiveling in its long head. Maegi looked at Reed, a genuine smile blooming over her face. To be so close. . .it seemed a kind of magic, really.

"They're beautiful," she whispered, looking back at the horse. "Do we. . .we don't hunt them, do we?" Rabbits, shrews, squirrels--all of these creatures were so wholly unimpressive to her that she'd never really minded making them her dinner. Even deer, she could stand. But these magnificent animals--how could they hunt them down? Their faces were so wise, Maegi couldn't help but think they knew something that she didn't.

"No, me neither," Maegi agreed, gazing a little lovingly at the horses. Perhaps if she were human, Maegi would be vegetarian; as it stood, wolves needed meat--but it seemed grotesque to take meat from animals so beautiful. She was glad that Undersea, at least according to Reed, didn't make the creatures their quarry. Fish for dinner was fine with her.

"Thanks," she said to the russet girl, looking over at her with a lopsided smile. If they had gotten off on the wrong foot, Maegi was ready to shift back to the right one. She saw herself in Reed, the quick wit and intelligence of a girl almost a woman. That wit would put them at odds, naturally, but it was better to quarrel than to blindly follow.

It was, perhaps, the beginning of a beautiful, albeit tenuous, friendship.