Barrow Fields At least that’s what I could read

she seemed possessed of an interminable longing, sneaking wistful gazes towards Ankrya Sound. it was a difficult question she posed -- what made it so not special? -- and he had to carefully consider his response, certain to be found lacking in profundity. "it's colder." he rationalized first. "food is slim pickings." he added after a moment. all of his complaints were anchored in resource privation, but he figured that was as good a reason as any for his decree. "maybe i'm jaded to it? i grew up there." he shrugged. when he thought of the strand, tired memories amalagated in other past ashes came to settle on his mental windowsill; a grey sooty film he was unable to dust away. he briefly wondered if her windowsill was anything like his. 

he didn't want to dash her hopes against the rocks with his negative critique, however, and pricked his ears alertly, shrugging off the roughcast drabness of his previous words. "can't beat the sunset though." he compromised, eying her sidelong to gauge her responsiveness. "that's pretty special." 

he followed the imprints of his initial arrival, which had become rimed inscriptions, routes darkened by paw-tread, as they walked in union further away from the hinterlands. Lycaon didn't mind this girl's unassuming presence the least bit, and could concieve somewhat of an understanding as she alluded to the yearning inside of her as being something unidentified and haunted with uncertainty. "i think i feel that way too, sometimes." he offered, empathizing with her lack of sureness. his experience of life was in avulsions of emotion -- and unsureness was a dagger that often pricked him. "sometimes i'm homesick even though... this is home." it sounded sort of absurd, but he hoped she might infer the meaning behind it. what did ihe mean by it, anyway? it was the existential dread that frivoled his sense of self far and away. 

after asking about Wylla he hung on her every next word. unfortunately, she had not encountered his vulpine sister. it was one of those circumstances in which she had all the fortune, and misfortune had him. Lycaon slouched somewhat visibly, ears pancaked on his head as the prospect of getting a trace of his sister drained along with hopefulness. "oh." he uttered, prepared for the dead-end but resistent to facing it. Kaori presented a willingness to humor him, which he appreciated and tried to reciprocate with whatever particulars came to mind. "um..." he tried to call to mind the details Ingram had shared about their hunt gone dialectical, on the day they'd all fallen away from one another, and squinted towards the shadowclad female. his ears, somehow, flattened lower against his head. "a good while? i haven't seen her in a year... or so... she wasn't really missing for that whole time, just... to me. and now she's literally missing, i think Ingram said he hasn't seen her in months." knowing he was loading the barrel of a long, convaluted story, he tried to prune initial confusion by backtracking someways. "Ingram is my brother."  yeah, that about clears it up.

she was considerate and offered to help, despite her own strife, and there was profuse gratitude in his voice. "it's okay, you really don't have to do that. if you see anyone matching her description you now know where to find me, though." he said, and hupped over a frost-interred logstrewn across their path. the one and only thing he asked of the ground beneath his feet was for it to be infallible and predictable, so when his legs punched deep holes into an embankment of snow on the other side and he was promptly buried up to his neck, he looked up at Kaori (presumably smart enough not to jump sally-ho over blockades in the darkness) with outright shock splashed across his face.

it was also then that he realized that he hadn't even introduced himself yet, and in casual, Lycaon fashion, he took the opportunity to do so as he was put, essentially, six feet under. "it's Lycaon, by the way." he revealed through a garrote of snow before struggling forward, shifting maybe five inches with notable effort.