Barrow Fields At least that’s what I could read

No need to apologise, it’s all good!

Coming from the mountains, there were times when the day was clear and the sun low that allowed her a glimpse at the sea, but never anything more. Never had she found any particular interest in the coastal regions of the world, either, or at least not enough to visit them; she found stories of the ocean intriguing, yet the unpredictability and wrath that it could hold over someone kept her interest at bay. Still, everything holding her back from the waters in the past seemed to melt away now that it was within her reach, curiosity no longer something that was so easily fended off. Even with his rather lackluster review of it, she still found herself staring off in the direction whence the salty winds blew in, wanting to see more but unable to run towards it. “What makes it not special?” she asked instead, looking back at him with unmasked curiosity. Never within her life would she have imagined herself asking about anything relating to the sea, let alone the coast itself, but her newly discovered closeness to it kind of made it impossible for her to ignore her own questions.

Soft blue eyes followed his movements as he came alongside her and, ever the trusting sort that she was, Kaori followed after him; she didn’t stop to consider the outcomes of her decision, deciding right away that walking with him wouldn’t bring on the end of the world. For the time being, she still viewed him as something likened to a saviour, his presence keeping the ghouls away and settling her nerves; it was easy to trust him. Thus, she kept pace with the stranger, falling into stride along his left side as he steered them away from the field.

Her focus remained primarily on him, rarely glancing around at their surroundings; when the wind brought with it a particularly noticeable chill or scent, she looked in the direction of origin, but always returned her attention to him shortly after. For a moment, her ears flattened out, considering his assumption—perhaps she had been searching for something? In a way, that was true, though what she sought didn’t have a physical form—to her knowledge—and wasn’t something so easily discovered. It made her response a bit more complicated, uncertain if she even had the right words to fully explain. “I am looking for something, but it isn’t related to a pack,” she settled on saying, ears popping back up shortly thereafter. “At least, I don’t think it is—I am not entirely sure.” Joining a pack run by and filled with those close to her age hadn’t offered her a purpose in life, leaving her to assume that no pack could give that to her. From her perspective, she needed to take a lengthy and experience-filled journey in order to discover her place in the world, where she stood and why she existed—the potential ineffectiveness of this never dawned on her.

Few had crossed paths with her during her travels, and even fewer since she’d reentered the wilds. Despite this, she took in his description and thought back over every interaction that she’d been a part of thus far, but came up empty-handed. “I have not,” she responded with a slow shake of her head, frowning at her inability to be of any help. “How long has she been missing? Do you need help finding her?” Although it wasn’t her own efforts that had pulled her and Airi back together, but some strange twist of fate instead, she hadn’t lost faith in herself. If one searched long enough and devoted a great deal of their time to the task, then they could find any creature that they set their mind to. This view on life, coupled with her eagerness to help others, prevented her from not offering her help, no matter how little she might actually be able to give.