Dawnlark Plains I will be there like mercy; I will find you through it all

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With the stranger's confirmation, Andalusia felt the final threads of her uncertainty unravel, and she turned to watch the plains, her heart soaring as high as the clouds above. Morningside. These plains seemed an inconspicuous place for a pack, humble in its display of grandeur. But then, that seemed to suit Sebastian. She had never known him as anything but gentle regardless of the strength he possessed.

And from what little she gleaned from this man Aditya, he seemed the soul for this place, too. A hint of surprise curled her voice, and she felt her grin grow brighter. "You know of Moonspear." How intricate the relations of these Wilds. No matter how long she roved these lands, she was sure that would always surprise her.

"I - " but what words she'd prepared disappeared as the mirage of a shadow blinked to life on the verge of the horizon, and her eyes and ears turned toward the vision of him which consumed her.

He approached without fanfare or noise; he carried himself like she remembered, if not a little tired, a little worn, finally showing his age - but who was she to talk? She could see the wounds that Blackfeather had inflicted on him, the ugly patch on his shoulder she imagined would never heal, the empty air where his tail should have been. She saw the confusion in his eyes, felt the weight of an invisible expanse dividing him from her, as if they were still miles apart.

Her eyes shadowed, and she remained trained on the cusp of the border, unwilling to press nearer this man who held a wall against her. She could see that he was thinking, uncertain - and she waited, uncertain herself. What had they done to him? She felt the seed of something dark squeeze its fingers around her chest - but the anger simmered at bay when he uttered her name, and she nodded, her face cracked with a gentle grin. Yes. Yes, yes. "Yes," her voice ran quiet, forgetting Aditya's presence there. The word was for him.

Sebastian drew closer, reached out - and she closed her eyes when he leaned in to tap her shoulder as if not quite believing she was there - and yet in that so familiar way - and she pressed her nose toward, to feel him the same. And whatever veil shrouded his eyes was suddenly torn away.

His energy sucked her words clean from her lips, and she laughed instead - laughing, and laughing as she swung toward him with an embrace both gentle and strong, covering his face in licks of affection before she wreathed about her dear brother and burrowed her nose against his better shoulder - to smell him, to feel him, to make up for every lost moment where she'd held herself back. How she'd missed him, how she'd been so, so scared. "I was so afraid," she breathed, and she buried her face in the mane of his fur and wept. For Sebastian, for the joy, for the fear. For everything.