Northstar Vale It's bad when you annoy yourself.

She'd returned home after a brief tour of the old homestead. The trees there still held Reiko's carvings, the basic four-cornered flowers, and roaming through them brought back many good memories; she stifled the bad ones. Until she came to the intended meeting place for the pack's counsel, and saw that the carved trees there had been cut too deeply. They were dead—leafless, grey among the greenery around them. It was a soul-sucking moment that brought tears to Ibis' eyes.

It was also the moment she deigned to return home. Away from the Emberwood, up and in to the mountains, and then down again in to the valley. A few days of hard work, and she was home again—rightfully so. But the images of those trees were burned in to her mind.

She rested for a few hours and then felt too antsy to remain still, so Ibis got to her paws and began to roam the area. Her path crossed by a smallish lake (more like a pond, she thought) and from her vantage point along its bank, she thought she could see Reiko. Her friend was no doubt worrying over her; but thoughts of their last conversation filled her head too, and so she was reluctant to approach.

As she did, the call of a loon sounded across the water. The echo was haunting, but the song made her smile despite how brief it was. She drew up behind where Reiko was standing in wait, presumably as interested in the bird as Ibis was. With a smile on her face, she offered a peaceable greeting: Reiko, ah, I know we had a bit of a spat before, but... I wanted to apologize. Before she knew it she was talking through the awkwardness of the moment, but it made her feel immediately better.