Sun Mote Copse Lead me out into the light

Maia needed to go.

She wasn't sure why, and she didn't want to leave @Wraen. But she'd talked to her sister, and despite her sadness and how hard it was, she needed a break to think about everything and not be stuck in one spot.  Traveling had always been a big mood lift, and her mood needed a heck of a lifting.

What she didn't tell her sister was that she did have a destination in mind.  She knew it was a bad idea, but... she wanted to go home.  She needed to see it, and who knows? Maybe the rest of their siblings were there.  Sitting here and not knowing had grown old, and much as she knew it would hurt, just seeing it would be cathartic as well.  She wanted to remember it like it was, but she didn't think she could do that until she had come to terms with what it had become.

So, without much word to anyone else, the young Redleaf departed.  She hadn't grown close to anyone else in her time here anyway; likely, aside from Wraen, not many would notice she was gone.

Just a few weeks ago Wraen had been teaching Pox about the unfairness in life, without realizing that soon there would come a moment, when the same truth would cut her deep and leave and open wound.

She had accepted Maia's decision calmly, she had encouraged her to go and do, what was best for her, she had even seen her off for a bit and kept up a happy countenance and little regret that she was unable to leave. There was a bit of a forced cheerfulness in her voice, when she mused loudly about the places her sister would see and people she would meet and how great it will be, when she returned.

A keen observer would have noticed subtle signs of unrest, when Wraen moved to embrace Maia just one more time and told her: "I will be waiting for you. Take care." As she watched her sister's familiar form disappear in the distance, the trail of her scent as well as the sense of her presence fade, the smile disappeared from her lips and what was left of the earlier happiness drained away. Her heart yearned to go with her sibling and only if the latter had trusted her sibling so much to tell about the final destination, Wraen would have gone with her. 

But Maia had not asked and Wraen had not wished to press her company, if it was not desired. There was only the promise that some day Maia would return and she would have to hold on this until then. The world without her best friend seemed a more glum and colourless place already, the future prospects - bleak and tiresome. In the coming days Wraen's struggle to live through the days would be greater than she anticipated. And it would take a while for the wolf, who considered to have a lot of experience in life, to understand, why was it so. 

Once she had told Wildfire that home was, where your heart was. And Wraen's had left with Maia that day.