Twisted Slough With a dare comes a promise.

Her legs ached as she climbed, small paws sinking into the gritty mix with each step, but Kai relished the dull pain. Pain meant she was alive; pain meant she could still feel. 

It was a fear of hers that the apathy, the emptiness, she'd suffered from after her escape meant she truly had passed through the veil into the realm of the dead. 

It was hard to believe herself to be dead, to be cursed at all, atop the ridge as Cry's dark muzzle pointed out their destination. Something light jumped in her chest, a possessive sort of joy - for she'd not had a place to call sanctuary since leaving the cove. There was not much she could make out from this distance, aside from the dark outline of trees, yet it didn't matter what the forest contained - not to the sea witch.

"Home," she murmured, the word soft with hope.

Home. Family. Things she had never truly experienced.

Not until Cry, the thought came unbidden and she glanced to him with gratitude. "Thank you," she mouthed, the words nearly forgotten. Shyly, she touched her muzzle to him again with companionship - uncertain if it would make him uncomfortable. 

"Home," she whispered again, nearly inaudible, perhaps to herself or perhaps to the avian creature that hopped to the top of her head to see what was so interesting, a smile gracing her features.