Great Bear Wilderness since the darkness covered us

[size=medium]"in the land of gods and monsters,
I was an angel"[/size]

[size=small]Even after his departure, after his decision to voyage to the unknown and abandonment of the Spine, the Ostrega last name had not been wiped out of the place entirely. Like pests, the good type of course, a pair of Ostrega siblings had winded up within the ranks, and with the same spontainety, they had begun to earn a certain liking from the Queen. And even with the knowledge they were somehow related to the man that had caused so much damaged, and at the same time repaired so many things, in the Spine, she continued to regard them with the same regal naturality that she possesed over her subordinates.
But even then, the thought of him, even in passing, always managed to make an appereance in her mind.

Had he found what he was looking for?
A place to spread his own roots? A place without her?
The reason of his departure not having specified during their last conversation and Cara's mouth being to full of herself to allow her to ask had left her in the dark. The most sure thing was that he had. Even if he lacked the fierce determination and recklessness Cara carried in her veins, Mordecai had also proved to be efficient.
Efficiently annoying to the power-thirsty Queen at the time, and now an efficiently reminiscing image in her memory.

And it was now, as the pale Queen of the Spine moved mechnically over her established patrol route of the day that the thought of him managed to weave into her brain again. Would he also be a parent in the Spring? Harlyn, whom she also often missed in her nostalgic reveries, had seemed to be interested in him, hadn't she? What other reason could she have had to turn away -- given that this time animosity with Cara was not a factor?

The thoughts floated in her mind for a second before she momentarily dismiss them to make an impromtu stop along the way. Unelegantly, the female squatted down, unknowingly squashing Mordecai's dwindling doubt of the Spine's existance with the renovation of the border's scent markers and summoning with her thoughts alone.

As soon as his figure entered her line of vision, the female raised her tail over her back, a preventive gesture that portreyed the female's sudden surprise by his return. It was him; she knew as soon as his umistakable scent reached her flaring nostrils. "What are you doing here?" she asked, her tail held erect over her back in a display of the dominance her voice lacked.
While their goodby had been peaceful, it didn't meant their hello would also be so.

[/size]