Sun Mote Copse Dance of the sugar plum fairy.

She hadn't ranged very far today, though she'd sworn to keep an eye out for Isi and Raleska as well as Sugar, so she'd spent much of the morning searching near Two Rivers Isle and and Grouse Thicket. She returned home now, empty-handed, but still feeling fresh enough for a border patrol. As soon as she hit the periphery, she began to march along the now familiar route, holding what felt like the world's biggest sigh in her chest.

Toward the end of her circuit, Towhee caught movement in the distance and paused to watch the figure moving toward the copse. When she could pick out details—like the general shape and colors—her heart began to jackhammer in her chest. She darted forward, stopped and squinted. Her orange eyes flew wide when she realized, It's really her! "Sugar!" Towhee bellowed, now charging toward her.

It felt like her heart stopped in her chest when she reached the girl and saw that she was absolutely covered in blood. "Sugar," Towhee hissed, wondering how she was on her feet. There was so much blood, the mercenary could scarcely believe she was alive. But beneath her gruesome paint job, Sugar looked more or less just like herself, if a tiny bit thinner.

Black eyes met Towhee's fiery gaze. Sugar's lips formed the words, "I'm okay." Perhaps noticing the apprehension on the mercenary's face, she looked down at herself, then up at Towhee again, making sure to catch her eye. "It's not mine," was all she said, pausing before adding, "Can we go home now?"

Towhee nodded and pressed close to Sugar, though her little sister didn't seem to need the support. What had happened to her? Where had she been all this time? Whose blood was she covered in? Her lips parted to ask all of this and more when, instead, she gently queried, "Do you want to talk about it?"

Sugar didn't answer right away, though she eventually shook her head and repeated, "I'm okay."

Nothing else was said by either one of them until they reached the border. Only then did Sugar say, "Wait. I want to get cleaned up." With Towhee's help and a lot of melted snow, they scrubbed the worst of the blood and gore from Sugar's pelt. When they were finished, she still looked a little bedraggled and dirty, though it was a big improvement.

"Okay," was all Sugar said before they then began moving in the direction of the den where @Elwood, @Finley, @Avery and @Penn kept house.

I won't be posting separately with Sugar, so this is readily available for nabbage. :)

Edit: I updated the timestamp to Friday the 13th. >:)