Chusi hadn't had much time to mourn her coastal crush. As far as the Creek knew, Ingram was dead. And perhaps he really was dead after all. She almost felt guilty that she hadn't thought about him all that much, but the Creek was such a busy place and she had her daughter to care for as well as do border walking and hunting and scouting which she did mostly all alone. She felt rather isolated in her pack, especially around this season. While she hadn't gone into heat yet, she knew it was coming and now also knew the consequences that came with satisfying the "itch". They wouldn't let her have kids again, would they? God she needed to get over herself.

She crossed the borders and went into the wetlands for a change. She usually hunted where the ground was a little more solid and where she wouldn't get her paws all muddy and wet, but she knew here is where treasures were found - if one was keen on getting feathers stuck in their mouth. She stalked through the territory when she saw a shadow move, one that looked oddly familiar but she couldn't place why. Hello? She called out, just in case someone really was around and she wasn't going mad from spending so much time alone.

Her ochre eyes grew wide with disbelief. Those electric eyes that she had been lost in so many times. That ruffled fur and handsome face - the silver hackles much like her own grey ones... Was she dead? Was he dead? She paused for a long time, his voice even familiar to her ears and she had to sit down. With a plop did her behind go splat in the mud, eyes still fixed upon the young man that didn't even seem to recognize her.

It can't be ya... She breathed in a hazy voice. Ingram? She asked, knowing it was a ridiculous question. Her coastal boyfriend was dead. He was slaughtered and eaten by a bear moons ago. This wasn't Ingram.

Those eyes. They looked at her unknowingly, not recognizing her even one bit. She remembered them staring intensely at her or dreamily flirt over her body ever so lovingly. Her frown was deepened, clear hurt in her usual lively ocher orbs. This wasn't the Ingram she remembered. This wasn't the man she had fallen for.

'Think I did. She answered quietly, avoiding his questioning gaze. She had thought all feelings for  him had disappeared as soon as he was presumed dead. But no - this hurt. This hurt much greater than his assumed death. We all thought ya were dead- 'n now ya're here...

She could see he wasn't faking it. She had seen his bloodied body, lifeless and limp. Had they left him there to die or had someone brought him back to life? If it hadn't been his time to go yet, and they met again, was this what they called destiny? Her hurt changed to worry, a need to care for the broken soul she thought she knew well. Ingram, or whoever he was now, was hurting and now she felt partially responsible for that.

I'm Chusi - Chusi Fearghal? She said, hoping it would ring any kind of bell. She inched closer. We dated... Hard to imagine now. She wondered if she still had feelings for him or if it was just pity. She didn't want to pity him...

She hovered over him, concerned for his health. Was she causing him such pain? Would it be okay to stick with him till he was okay again? But "okay" meant something else to her than to him, probably. She wanted him to remember her, their petty fights as kids, their blossoming relationship, the way she abandoned him in the end... everything.

Me too... She returned with a frown, retreating from her hovering position when he seemed just a bit less hurt. I shouldn't've said anythin'. She dragged herself. If this pain is what she caused both of them, perhaps it was better to be apart. The Creek was home now, with or without friends... or him. Sure Eilonwy was gone for now but she would return. Chusi believed in her.

Ingram? Where do ya live now? She asked carefully. Apparently she didn't want to lose him after all.

At least he wasn't all on his own, thank the Sea. There were others looking out for him, whether he was Ingram now or not. To her he would stay the spiky neighbor with his electric yellow gaze. Her very first crush. The one wolf she had to work for to get him to like her. Perhaps that's what it had been all along; a challenge because he didn't like her on first sight. Everyone else had; she was pretty and kind on the surface.

She sighed softly. Well...

After the last words left her mouth, she fell silent, looking at him to see if he remembered anything from them meeting on the coast to her showing him around Ravensblood Forest. Their eventually romantic relationship. The trip they took together. Her getting banished and him not leaving with her. and so much more.