Redtail Rise She said "Sonny, move out to the country"

Lilia heard the howl on the air, and chuffed lightly as she paused to listen. A light smile drifted back into the light of her eyes, relieved to hear that Avicus was feeling well enough to return to her role. She'd never felt as though the pack had been adrift during the red leader's sabbatical, though as a wolf who'd learned that life could go from peaceful to chaotic in an instant, she'd had some concerns about what might happen if bad news showed up on their doorstep. She still wondered what had become of the wolf they'd hunted, and the followers they'd scattered to the wind. 

Her mood had been extremely light lately, as she pushed herself to invest a good deal of time in her duties- all the while clearing out and making a proper den space for herself and Ancelin. The blue shell had been secreted away- so that no others could find it and take it or destroy it. Not even an envious magpie could have rooted it out from where she had stowed it.

She logged in her memory the tracks that she found while she patrolled. Her markings were there, almost as evergreen as the trees themselves from her daily rounds. Where more wildlife crossed through, she marked more fervently, while allowing space for the passage of herds of prey animals. The most interesting scent she found was that of a black bear near the marsh. Their scent was distinctive, musky; but distant enough she thought oerpahs they might wander away. Keen to avoid conflict, she set about marking the borders in the area with renewed vigour, hoping that the scent of the wolves might keep the wandering mother and her cub away.

Get home thafe.
Those words haunted Rae. Day and night, she replayed them in her head. It was something a sister would say; something she hadn't been ready to hear, not yet. But Lilia had said it, and now Raelle could do nothing but linger on this — this highlight of her own inability to offer any kind of emotional connection.
Even so, she told herself it was only a want for closure that brought her to the border of Redtail Rise, gift in hand. A small one; just a fish she'd caught earlier that day, something she imagined Lilia didn't often get to eat. Better than mice, at least. She didn't waste any time in howling for the other girl, who she still refused to think of as her sister.
Then she settled, fish laid at her paws, and waited for the inevitable storm that Lilia would stir inside of her.

The voice, not yet familiar, summoned her from further North. Hastily, Lilia scuffed the ground where she’d been walking with her hind feet, knowing that she’d at least done enough to freshen up the borders near the foul smelling swamp. She made sure to hound through a stream on the way, so she might lose the scent of bog by the time she reached the border near the tangle of shrubs that separated the two packs.

She hadn’t completely believed that Raelle would come to see her, but wasn’t displeased to hear from her. She’d thought about Raelle’s storming eyes, and could only find herself validating the other girl’s turmoil more and more. They were from the same family, and they’d both lost that family- but in the end, Lilia felt settled, home. Raelle, for some reason, still seemed what adrift. 

Not knowing what had motivated Raelle to come, Lilia decided to keep things light. She eyes the fish as she approached and huffed. ”Y’know, It’th not nithe to poithon yuh neirhborth,” She stated frankly.

She felt unfocused as Lilia came into view wet and smelling of the wilds, but managed a smile that didn't reach her eyes at the greeting. I'm not nice, Rae said, tone leaving ambiguous whether this was a joke or not. It was meant to be, but her heart wasn't really in it, because she felt some truth in the statement.
Why was she even here?
Rae nudged the fish toward Lilia. But I am - apparently related to you. Bad luck to kill relatives or something, She danced around the words sister and family in a very uncharacteristic way, standing abruptly mid-sentence; she immediately felt awkward about it. I kinda thought you were already dead. For a long time.

Brutal honesty- she could appreciate that. Her lips pulled into a picker and she nodded, eyebrows raised at Raelle’s blunt statement. ”Aright,” She shrugged, offhandedly, though in her mind the words must run in the family gave her a light feeling of déjà vu. 

Even the thought of having a relative felt strange, so she was relieved that Raelle wasn’t going to try to capitalize on that bond. Still, it meant something that she’d come, and the fish was a nice gesture. So she nodded in agreement. ”Yeah, thuper bad luck,” After all- Raelle could have been a threat, if she’d wanted to be. If she’d decided to rid the family of her lost sibling once and for all, she apparently knew enough about poisons in order to accomplish that task.

She looked like she might take off at any moment, but Lilia was more keen to get to know her, so she sat. ”If it maketh you feel bettuh, I almotht did die, a few timeth, tho you’re not ekthactly wrong,” She said. ”I athumed everyone elthe wath dead too. Thith ith gonna thound wild, but I met a cougar- an’ she told me she chathed everyone off the mountain. I alwayth jutht athumed you got killed or that you athumed I wath dead tho nobody came back fuh me.”  The abandonment had hurt- at some point. Occasionally, it still did- but it made sense, too, for them to not go looking for her, considering the menace of the wild cat.

Ah, this was... weird; comparing notes from a twisted and long-dead past neither of them quite seemed to remember. Rae frowned as Lilia spoke of a cougar. I don't know if anyone else made it. I don't remember a whole lot. Just her. Sick. Always talking about you 'n the others, She shrugged. Then she died. I almost did too. Guess it runs in the family. Rae couldn't know Lilia had thought something similar moments prior.
Teamed up with some other orphans eventually, they were assholes though. So I left. Joined Sapphique not too long ago, She cast a glance back the way she'd come, her frown fading to a thoughtful expression. When'd you find Redtail Rise? Her gaze returned to Lilia, but she felt she already knew the answer to this. Or at least, she could guess. It was obvious that the other girl was far more settled than Rae had ever felt.

It felt nice to know she'd been remembered by someone, though she felt selfishly disappointed that none had managed to search her out and find her. Her mother's sickness had likely been the cause, so she found she couldn't really hold a grudge. Her eyebrow quirked when the word family was mentioned, but she didn't cast it off. Technically, they were. "Gueth tho." She said.

Raelle had managed by finding others like them, though it must have been rough. Other orphans wouldn't have been any better suited to survive, and they'd likely only managed because they'd stuck together. "Hawd ticket-th?" She cackled, knowing full well how much fight an orphan had to have in order to get by...A pack of them sounded a bit overwhelming. 

She shrugged. "Dunno. Thinth octobuh, I think," She said. She recalled the way the mist had begun to turn to frost, and nights had become unbearable on her own, starving and shivering as she was. "Got taken in by...Thith guy, who kinduh raithed me, though he bailed thith Thpring, tho fuck him," She said bitterly, rolling her eyes. She looked back to Raelle. "Did we have a Dad? I don't think I even remember one."

Everyone bails eventually. Rae bit this back in favor of a quick shake of her head to Lilia's question, though her eyes had darkened to hear the tale of her caregiver's disappearance. I don't know. Don't remember, If Antha had ever spoken of him, that memory was long since lost to Raelle. She didn't think she wanted to remember. S'not worth knowing, anyway. Either he's dead or he's the kinda asshole who leaves his kids to starve. Either way, fucked up. Don't think we need more a'that.
They had plenty between the two of them, it seemed. You think this could be a thing? Us - family. Like, we're strangers, but we're not supposed to be, Rae was frowning deeply. Or we weren't. Or whatever. It didn't make a whole lot of sense, but she had seen how family was supposed to work. Real family, not the bond of packmates. Shared blood was a different bond entirely, something deeper, something that should have been hers as much as it was anyone else's. But...

Lilia shrugged; so it seemed she had two deadbeat Dads. She begrudgingly gave Prophet a bit of credit, because he had tried- he’d essentially given up whatever life he’d had in order to raise her while still being the pack’s warlord. But bailing on Avicus had soured her opinion considerably. 

She did lean back when all of a sudden, Raelle made a suggestion that surprised her. She felt like they were enough alike to be in the “pissed off orphans” club together…But family?

She shook her head to clear her mind. ”Thowwy; It’th jutht I uh, wathn’t ekthpeckting that uh, f-bomb,” She uttered a dry chuckle. She had family now- and no reason to want to cling to her biological one. But Raelle, she thought, could fit in. ”But uh, yeah, we could be.” she said, with a faint smile.