Lake Rodney I was dead when I woke up this morning

she's slipped out of the territory for the first time since they'd more or less taken her in, driven by one too many nightmares. the river had widened the further along it she'd travelled, until quite suddenly she stood at the banks of an unfamiliar lake. there was one next to blackfeather, she was sure, but this one had to be different. she saw nothing remotely familiar here, and conceded that there'd be no finding any trace of her sister today. 

there is something distinctly odd about this lake, though. as she pauses in her step, she peers again at lake, more critically. for lack of a better word, it appears swollen, bloated, vegetation grows right at the water's edge. something about that strikes her as odd. having no prior experience with floods, she instead pokes around at the edges of the lake, attempting to locate the source of the unease that trickles down her spine.

How long had it been since Ven had left his parents' woodland? How long since he found a place for himself, free of their rules and their reign, alongside Maegi and her Blackfeather wolves? A while, he suspected, and the young Melonii stepped carefully from the place that's become his home for the first time since his arrival.

He was anxious, in part because he felt oddly vulnerable to be out in the open after months of dwelling in darkness but mostly because he didn't particularly want to cross paths with a former comrade. He would have to be careful, considering his intended destination.

Venamis carried on through lands of grey and crimson, driven by curiosity to investigate how his abandoned family fared through the world's trembles and tremors. He wondered darkly if any trees had fallen on either of his sisters like the one that almost crushed him.

Inexperience took him far beyond the forest he planned to scout, and last creature he expected to see as he trailed along an unfamiliar lake was Hela. The raven youth paused to observe her as she prodded at the water's edge, an obsidian ear cupped forward as he waited to be seen.

she finds nothing concrete, only a few pieces of some carrion she can not immediately identify, odd ends and bits washed up in the grass, laying there awkwardly as if they'd never really been meant to see the surface. it is intuition that tells her of the boy's presence, the sharp staccato beat down her spine that has her still, waiting, listening for footsteps. 

when she hears none, she turns, gaze finding the boy easily. "what are you doing here?" the question is softened by true curiosity; she'd never known Venamis to wander far from the wood.

@Hela, wanna finish this one up quickly?  :)

She did not notice him at once, and Venamis regarded her with a cool stare until she did. He acknowledged her by raising pale eyes to seek her own, expressionless as he wondered her reason for dispersal from Blackfeather not only without a word, but without her sister.

She piped up in question and, surprised to find no bitterness lacking the question that spilled from her lips, the young Melonii pricked his dark ears forward. "I lived around here once before, figured I would check in," he responded smoothly, making no move to close the distance between them. "Why'd you go?" He knew the answer, of course, and also felt Hela would be less bitey if she didn't know the part he'd played in that particular loss.

yes, sounds good! :)

she accepts his answer with a blink. to his question; "the woods aren't safe." she did not want to mention her mother explicitly, though she was certain that her body would not have gone long undiscovered. he must know. she wanted to know what had happened in her absence, and yet could not find a way to broach the question.

instead, she focused on the scant information he gave. "why'd you leave?" she'd never really thought about the circumstance that had led to him arriving at the woods; she'd been more focused on starting fights than conversation.

Hela shared her reason willingly: the woods were not safe for her. Venamis furrowed his brow as he pondered the meaning behind her words, then his features softened. Her mother had perished there, beneath the very tree that fate had opted to drop on top of him.

Sometime between the accident and his presentation of the body to Maegi, Hela must've found her.

He remembered the absent look in the speckled wolfess' gaze, lifeless as she looked right through him. The raven Melonii chose to say no more on the matter, as her reasons were her own.

"I felt like it," he answered simply with the raise and fall of a shoulder, as though it was no nig deal to him. He found himself unwilling to share how insignificant his family had made him feel, yet still parts of him ached to be close to them again. So he changed the topic back to her: "I won't tell them I saw you here, if that's what you'd prefer?" Maegi and the others were surely looking for her, he assumed, in a manner that his family should've hunted for him.

she accepts his answer easily enough, not willing to press any more information about his past. it doesn't matter all that much, anyways. 

"thanks." she offers, accepting his offer though not entirely sure why. perhaps it was some form of cowardice sure; she did not want to be found here, confronted with those who will certainly force her to face the certain death of her mother. as long as she is away, there exists a thin veil of possibility between her and fact. 

she considers him a moment longer, offering a, "good luck." and then she turns on her heel and is gone, making haste back toward the haunted wood.