Bearclaw Valley and i heard you're coming back to life for the fourth

@Midar @Alarian hope the PP is ok, pm if i need to adjust

caiaphas wondered at fate's fickle sense of humor. not even a month prior, she had set from bearclaw valley, with eyes northeast to the sea. and here she was weeks later, having her progress frustrated by none other than the irrevocable: mother nature.

it seemed little in her life had gone in her favor, so why would it change now? at least she had her (somewhat) returning health. rusalka would have to wait -- just as caiaphas thought herself ready to tackle the rockslide that had demolished half of the familiar footpath on her road home, a second pitfall happened: four feet of startling snow.

rueful, caiaphas sorted out the many scents that lingered on the wind. she smelled deer, surprisingly -- and also a whiff of something, perhaps many days dead.. and now she scented something else; midar and alarian, their footprints coming to and fro along the snow-dappled meadow.

He's carrying the @Kid, avoiding Midar as well as he can while keeping him in his line of sight. They still haven't had a chance to discuss what had happened in the mountains, but right now there are more pressing things to consider. Like where the hell they're going to go. At this point, it isn't up for debate in Alarian's mind.
Caiaphas's scent trail distracts him from the turmoil in her mind, and he turns to seek her out with his ward still hanging from his jaws. The boy is a bit large to carry for so long, but he's feeling far too protective to try to make him walk right now. So he tolerates the extra weight until he finds the woman he seeks, only setting the boy down when he comes to a halt several feet from her. He regards her silently for a moment before speaking. So you're traveling alone?

alone caiaphas was -- up until alarian and his pendulum-swinging charge arrived. the siren queen regarded @Kid with some interest; children, and all, happened to be her favorite -- she had not realized alarian was a father.

turning her hawkbit gaze to the man whose scars wrapped over his face like a cruel embrace, caiaphas canted her head and answered in her usually frustratingly cryptic manner. "that depends.. are you and your charge traveling with me?"

caiaphas held palaver with alarian a while longer -- yet in the end, she set foot on her new path alone, with naught but her thoughts of revenge for company.