vaati prowled forth to meet his sister's call, passing through the endarkened territory with ease... as though he had never left. it felt strange to walk the grounds he had denounced time and time again, the woods he had been ruler of and subsequently cast out of. his life had begun under the shadowy canopy trees, and no sooner later, it had become his undoing. most likely, he would die there. a reality he had no effort left in him to change. 

"this place hasn't changed. everything else has, but never the woods itself. it refuses to crumble though it's inhabitants may suffer." he muses -- slightly bitterly -- as he draws closer to the center of the grove, remembering suddenly that the bones of their ancestors lied beneath them. he pawed lightly at the ground, wondering how easy it would be to dig up the remains of the founders of their family. had life been easier for them than it was for the descendants of their cause? it strikes a sliver of resentment within him, knowing that the last few years of blackfeather's existence had been nothing more than a desperate attempt at survival rather than a flourishing enterprise as many before them had likely envisioned. it seemed the trials of time were no friend to any of them, least of all him.

maegi wasn't one to sugar coat anything, and he couldn't say that her blunt words didn't sting a tiny bit. "i didn't think i looked that bad." he joked, cracking a hint of a smile in the process. but the conversation moved on to more serious matters and the smile faded just as quickly. vaati took his time in responding to her question, having to think on it first before he opened his mouth.

"rusalka was a good home. but...  i became restless." a brief flick of his head indicated he did not think much of it, for that was usually the way things went with him. "nothing new i suppose." she knew how it was. maegi had been one of the first to experience his unfortunate flaw of being a flight risk. "i wandered and found nomadic pack. they mistook me for one of their own at first but allowed me to join and we travelled farther than i ever have before." he had gathered that his likeliness to some of their own had something to do with his father's heritage, but didn't think it relevant enough to mention. vaati doubted maegi could even recall the northern man who had tried to mend their mother, yet knowing her distaste for potema, figured it best to leave out. 

"but eventually it wasn't enough, and i didn't stop until i returned. i guess that's why i look so..." he glances down at himself. "... unlike myself." as much as maegi didn't like it, vaati liked it even less. it felt unsafe to be so underweight in comparison to how he once looked, and though he could feel himself slowly being restored to his formerly brutish frame... it was a slow process. vaati was an impatient man.