Ghost Lion Crag In the hall of the mountain king.

North; it was not the direction home was in for Hydra. But, I can go with you some of the way, then, Hydra decided. It would give her a little more time with Towhee, and she could help her search all the while. As Towhee spoke of Sugar's scent, Hydra stored it and thought if it simultaneously. Her nostrils flared to drink in the scents around them, though Spring was not at all carried by the wind. Hydra perpetually likely smelled of Winter, if she had to be attributed a season, due to ever navigating the icier reaches of the Spear. 

Towhee responded, and Hydra felt for her; Hydra was lucky enough to be surrounded by mostly all of her own family, siblings and littermates alike. Hydra herself felt much the same as Towhee now—time had shifted perspective—though it was all, really, circumstantial. If they left in bad faith, and when they were needed, Hydra likely would not look upon them with much kindness and sisterly love. Towhee spoke to Hydra's own importance to her, putting words to the things that Hydra herself had been feeling and thinking alike, and by the time Towhee had finished speaking her own expression was a mirror of her friend—

Sister by choice, then, she answered; it worked. For all that they had both endured, this moment was a bright light among it. Towhee was more than a friend to her; her protective and fond regard of her had always been like that of a sister, she realized—so the idea that Towhee had come to made sense to the Ostrega. And her children had one more fierce aunt to protect them in their lifetime. Feeling lighter for it, Hydra drifted to the side of Towhee to join her, for a time, in her search.

Hydra's search was twofold; she sought Isi, as well, but felt by now that if the girl was not dead, she had elected to leave by choice. For Dragomir she would continue to seek her out, though, as she knew it was important to him. Thinking of that for a moment, Hydra moved to gather her friends attention as she looked to Towhee. I am looking for someone, too, Hydra drawled, though I did not say as much to start because the truth of it is, she might be dead. Given the upheaval of everything around them, it was a natural conclusion to come to... and she did not want to waste the time of others better spent on pursuing tasks for the still, most certainly, living. Her name is Isi; she will look full-grown by now, though she is yet an adult herself, and Hydra went on to explain to Towhee how she looked. She grimaced, If she has not passed, I think she may have taken after their mother, who elected to abandon her and their relations when struck by lightning—a sign from the Heavens, she said— Here, Hydra ever-maintained her dignity and did not snort, though her muzzle wrinkled in distaste to reveal precisely what she thought about that before she went on: there has been no sign of a struggle, or anything of the sort. She has been through much, though... If nature has not claimed her in these times, perhaps if you come across her she might like to know she is being looked for. Towhee was a wolf she trusted to deliver, should she come across any with that name and appearance both. For all that had left her, chosen to forget her... they had not.

But Hydra hoped she was dead, truth be told. Each day with no trace of her was another day Isilme rest in her grave; that would be much better than the alternative for Dragomir, who Hydra felt fiercely protective of by now. He did not deserve that, so it was for his sake she hoped that it was death that kept her from her brother—for there was nothing else that could justify her abandonment of him without a single word.