Wheeling Gull Isle wanna talk about it?

@Huā @Astaroth — all welcome, but please let these two post first!

memories returned slowly and painfully, creeping into her dreams as phantasmic representations of the past. she had names without faces; scents without their source; her knowledge of the past was fragmented, but forming a clear picture from the pieces she’d collected would be impossible without returning to the home, and to the wolves, she’d supposedly once known.

she walked across the sandbar with obvious hesitance, each step shaky and unsure, almost carrying her unknowingly across their inner border. ying stopped herself just before trespassing to draw in a deep breath, silently reminding herself that the nervousness was unnecessary if what she hoped and believed was really, actually true.

a call was made for their leader, for huā, then another as an afterthought for the unnamed man who’d brought her home. ying whispered a prayer while she waited, turning her back to the island to hide her apprehension.

vaguey vague about mal tingz

Huā had returned home, finally, from her mission- satisfied with the knowledge that her enemies would be moving themselves far, far, away- and that she had won her little battle, along with the help of her fellow leaders. She had come home to the familiar faces of her children, kissed them all and held them tight- for even a week away was excruciating. They had been safe under the care of Daiyu, among others who stopped in to bring by food and occasionally a bone or some other toy. Now she lay among them, thinking of how quickly they had grown, how soon it would be that they might move to a larger rendezvous zone. 

She was nearly slipping into a much-needed nap when the howl struck the air, and her ears perked at the voice she thought she would never hear again. Had she slipped into some delusion? Was she imagining that song? The siren could not risk it, would not, and soon was climbing out of the den to rush to the borders. 

When she arrived, the woman was turned away- put that pale coat, that dark cape, could only be one wolf. 

YING!!! Huā cried, galloping towards her in a tackle-hug she was sure the mercenary could handle. Had her memories returned? Or had she simply wandered here by chance? Huā preferred the former, but even the latter was better than nothing- for seeing her sister was a greater blessing than anything she could imagine. For the moment, the girl's former pregnancy did not reach Huā's mind yet, too focused on the present moment.

metic you're still welcome to hop in!

she turned around in time to hear her name be called, but huā’s.. enthusiastic greeting came as a complete surprise. ying rolled onto the ground with the tackle, snapping back only once to establish a boundary. her ears immediately fell upon realizing that the woman she’d snapped at wasn’t an enemy, but—

nothing to be done about it now. ying stood up, submission clear in her stature and expression, then nosed for huā to do the same. hello, she said, a timid smile beginning to crack, i’m not entirely sure where to start. 

explaining everything that’d happened since she’d first left would have taken too long, and ying wasn’t sure she could do it anyway. still, asking for a place to stay without some explanation simply wouldn’t work. drawing in a deep breath with averted gaze, she continued: i didn’t mean to.. offend you. it’s just been very hard for me and, uhm.. sometimes my mind lags behind my body.

a moment passed. but i know that you are huā, and that this is your island. i belong to you somehow, so i’m here to try uncovering more. memories, whichever ones she might be able to recover, would mean more to ying than her sister could have known.

his life without ying had been a world of black and white.

dull, deary, lonesome.

and then suddenly color had started to seep back into his life like a painter's brush smearing pastels across a blank canvas. news of tzila's pregnancy had brought shades of blue, new friends had brought yellows and reds, and his son had brought forth colors he had never even knew existed. pastels turned to vivid streaks of warmth, and for a while he had thought the painting complete.

but it wasn't, and suddenly a can of the finest alabaster tipped over, washing away the canvas to leave a blanket of white with so much as a single howl.

he felt his heart jump to his throat as the world came to a standstill. he didn't think as his paws carried him towards the land bridge, though his mind caught up to his body the moment the two women came into view.

he stopped where he stood, words lost in the wind as he caught his breath from a distance. a smile, small yet radiant, tugged at the corner of his lips as he stood there like an awestruck child.

she was alive.

Ying snapped at her, unexpectedly, causing Huā to stumble backward awkwardly, suddenly feeling like strangers again. 

Her sister nudged her upward, and Huā stood again, finding the submission of her sister... sad. She deserved to be a general here, a leader alongside her. But perhaps those days were gone as quickly as they came; perhaps they would never rule together again. 

From her first words, it was clear her memory was as gone as it had been before. Huā's ears flattened, and she nudged her sister's cheek more gently, careful of the boundaries now. 没关系，没关系。对不起- 我。。。我反应太四块。 She returned, cracking an awkward smile too. 应为你在这里，我狠狠恨高兴。。。我会告诉你想知道的关于你自己的任何事情，和你将永远在这里有个家。 She breathed out gently. The soft falling of feet caused an ear to tilt, and Huā's head turned to spy the gently smiling Astaroth, seemingly stunned by awe. Astaroth, come here, Huā called, grin growing, tail wagging. 

Ying is home.

an answer came to her second call, though silent.. unwilling to approach. ying knew better than to take his hesitance personally, and so offered him an open glance before looking back at huā. i should speak this way, then? she asked, the common tongue?

i am thankful for your home here, but i am not staying for long. ying looked between the woman and the man, her face contorted with unspoken apologies. my family.. my children are somewhere else. it is wrong to leave them. her partner had allowed the short trip on the sole condition that she make a prompt return; given his kindness, it was a promise she intended to keep.

astaroth, his name. ying was grateful for her question to have been answered before being posed, as she couldn’t have imagined how much it might have hurt him to ask. based on her dreams, the visions given to her, she knew that there’d once been a strong bond which she lamented having lost. 

at the very least, he deserved a greeting. should astaroth have chosen to remain where he stood, ying would approach him to say: thank you for bringing me here, then. my spirit misses you. she turned back to huā and continued, thank you for welcoming me.

Shocked. When the scent of Ying hit him he was certain the tides were playing tricks on him. That Sea Mother only meant to sooth his bones, to remember her happily...or maybe to toy with his mind? He was male, after all. 

But Aiolos followed the scent, beckoned by it and when he saw her familiar black and white coat standing on the sandbar which marked the borders of their island territory, he was shocked. 

Much the same as Astaroth, he was stunned and frozen in his placement. Disbelieving at first, but she spoke and though he words brought him no comfort (was she not staying?) her voice allowed him to know she was real. His ginger tail began to wave and the male whined like a happy puppy as he came hunched and low into her direction, tongue jutting out, ears down, a display only fitting for his General.