Arrow Lake it's broken

the first of the false trails led them back through the sunspires and towards arrow lake.

a good diversion. one donovan would be careful going after, though renard didn't think he'd bother. there was no other way his meeting with ursus could end when he refused to even let his overseer put nyra in her place.

her path through the lake didn't escape their notice. the boulder she'd indicated as gravesite was still there. they doubted donovan knew of its significance but, half-concealed in the dappled shadow of the leaves, drew a level glance around the trees as she rubbed past. they'd rather not have anyone sneaking up on them.

they gave an approving nod, and the crunch of footfalls in the brush rose.

they caught the silvergrey bristle of praimfaya's hackles in their peripheral, but their own fur remained flat on their back, grin sharp as they looked after the sound, drawing back to the commander's side. a few days wasn't enough that the saints would know they were missing, and they had no intention of giving it up for free. if this was a saint.

it wasn't.

it was donovan's meeting going exactly as well as they'd expected. the violet-eyed shadow who nyra had challenged, who'd stood against merrick's request, rose from the dark, and praimfaya tucked her chin down as she turned to face her, murmuring what they thought was a greeting.

they weren't on ursus land, but both of them still smelled strongly of the saints. and she'd come this far. that didn't seem very... forgiving.

at praimfaya's shoulder. renard looked the blackbird over, lowering their head over their own vulnerable throat. they hadn't seen enough of her to even begin to predict a reaction. neither did they know exactly how deep a hole donovan had dug himself.

they tipped their muzzle to her. "here for nyra?"