Neverwinter Forest mother wants the homeland

all that was needed to be said; ruo wanted to go home.

the closest she could get the sanctuary that was the isle, was the feeling of water drenched upon her pelt. she laid outside in the clearing, letting it fall upon her. probably an odd-site, but she really didn't care that much.

they're all strangers anyway.

strangers everywhere.

overwhelmed would have been an understatement, if describing how liliana felt. who were all of these people? why were they here? and why did the timing of this have to be so bad?

it didn’t make any sense, but she was tired of thinking about it. liliana walked until she spotted the dark-capped body of another stranger, at which point she stopped to just stare.

oh. a kid, that definitely was not her own. her son was of orange and sand, while this one was of grays and spots. seemingly lavender-like, a curious one. she just stared at ruo, with nothing to be said.

awkward, but alright.

"hey." and so the siren greeted casually.

hey, said the stranger. liliana flinched, seeing the woman turn around, but quickly calmed herself enough to make an approach. she replied, hey, and walked quietly toward where the other lay.

raindrops continued falling, though they went largely unnoticed. i’m lili, yana explained, lifting a discreet paw to her chest, what’s your name?

"lili? that cute." while she preferred mandarins names, there was still a charming touch to the native names. she didn't give huojin one, and probably any further children would stay the same. she hoped he would continue on it as well.

"is it short for something?" the siren asked curiously. her own name was butchered as well.

"i'm ruo, you can find my son huojin wandering around too."

she nodded her head, liliana. it was a very pretty name that she didn’t mind using, but all of the syllables sometimes made it hard for her to pronounce. what’s ruò short for? no one’s real name could be shorter than finín, right?

oh, yeah: mal. nevermind.

she giggled at her own inner thought process, not caring if the woman understood why, then asked, you’re huojin’s amma? she remembered the boy from their big meet-up the other night, but couldn’t say she’d formed any real opinion of him.

"it's a mouthful," she warned the pup, "in our culture we have whole names; wang ruò shuāng." she really didn't care much to her name, if the siren had to be honest. it was supposed to be 'like a frozen sea,' or 'like frozen,' which seemed iconic, for her rather chilly personality.

"you have a prettier one," is what ruo concluded.

"yeah. his father is the red wolf you see around," the lion of yuelong, she prefered to call him.

what’s a culture? liliana asked. she didn’t attempt ruò’s full name, if only because she knew that it wouldn’t sound nearly as nice coming from her mouth. 

huojin must have looked like his father then, since he definitely didn’t look like mom. liliana thought it was interesting that red wolves could exist; they didn’t have any here in the forest, much to her dismay.

but this gave her an idea! do you live here now? she asked, quickly following with, maybe you can live here, so we can have red.

"everyone has a different way of living," she explained, somehow, or one way, to a pup that may forget, "we live by the sea, and have our ways around the sea culture, but you live in forest. you live differently." ruo wasn't too sure how to explain, as it simply was common sense liliana had yet to gain.

"which is why i can't stay here. my home, and culture, is at the sea. we will return one day."

"but you can have huojin to marry if you want," the mother said, grinning while selling her son.

oh, that made sense. she was disappointed, but understood ruò’s reasoning to some degree. liliana didn’t know what their home looked like, and yet shared that same sentiment; that she would rather be here, with the people and things she knew.

what’s marry mean? liliana asked. she adjusted herself into a more comfortable position, unknowing that this conversation could very well lead to another topic, much more serious.

"your ma hasn't told you?" well, suppose she hasn't really told huojin about it either. since technically her and lion aren't married, so there wasn't a prime example. even more so, their auntie hua wasn't either, and just as guilty for having children without another parent. she didn't know anyone else to use as an example.

ah. troublesome.

"it's what you do when you love someone not related to you very much," god forbide she taught incest, "and then they are yours, and only yours."

what? liliana didn’t understand — did that mean she was married to all of her friends? they weren’t related (they were, but she didn’t know that), and she loved them very much, which meant that.. they belonged to her? lili didn’t like that idea.

she thought about ruò’s explanation, trying to wrap her head around what exactly the woman meant, but ultimately decided to just be honest. i don’t get it.

"one day you will feel a different love, for a special person. not a friend, or family, but someone so dear to you." it sounded like a whimiscal dream coming from her own mouth, but perhaps it was something she wished from the heart.

"it's not something you'll know when until you're an adult." and chalked it up to that if she the girl didn't understand. didn't pups normally start developing crushes at this age? there was so many around, surely there was some squabble.

oh. if it would take that long, then lili didn’t care to learn more. thank you, she said to ruò, i’m leaving now. bye. she shared a smile with the woman, genuinely pleased to have crossed paths, then made her way back toward the old den.

"bye bye." pups were always more pleasant then adults. so ruo says, as long as they dont irritate the fuck out of her. it was common for them to simply be far too.. questioning. 

the other left, and she too left to find her son.