Blacktail Deer Plateau He already knows that my love is fire

If one was to ask Nieve why she hadn't sought her sister out, she wouldn't have a good answer. She might bluster that she'd been too busy or hadn't realized her sibling was home, but neither was true. She might claim that she wanted to give her sibling space rather than crowding her, for surely Rosalyn and Erzulie were laving attention upon her, but that wasn't right either. The truth was that Nieve was afraid Clementine was going to just disappear again, and she wasn't sure she could handle reconnecting with her sister only for her to leave again, so she'd avoided her.

It was a pretty juvenile thing to do. So was the surge of guilty panic she felt when a voice sounded nearby and her blue eyes lifted to meet the rosy figure of the very sibling she'd avoided. Clementine had fully grown into a rounded wolf, not overweight but definitely stockier than Nieve's long-limbed and reedy physique. Both of them were decidedly underweight presently thanks to the lack of large game, but it wasn't like the pair were destined to be hardy interior wolves anyway, coming from coastal stock.

Good catch, her sister complimented, forcing Nieve to swallow down the guilt that lodged in her throat. Clem, she said, surprising herself with the warmth in her tone. But why shouldn't she be warm, inviting, welcoming? This was her sister and Nieve was so, so glad she was okay. What was the point in pretending otherwise just because she was afraid to lose her again? It all seemed so stupid and silly now. Welcome home, she added, smiling a watery smile and forgetting entirely about filling the cache.