Spotted Eagle Mountain where the wind blows

She'd first gone back to the woods where she and her sisters were reunited the first time. She'd hoped that, perhaps, the place would prove miracles to them a second time. But Phippa was not there, and Vinnira had moved on with less bounce in her step, but no less determination.

Along the spine of the mountain she'd travelled, looking down below at the many forests that covered the valley. Was Phi in that one, or this one over here? Vi checked them all, but there was no Phi.

She lies on a jutting ridge on the slope of a sharp mountain, looking down on the land below. Today, she will begin her jourey back to Easthollow, with the hope that Phiipa will have returned in her absence burning in her breast. For now, though, she closes her eyes and breathes in the clean, mountain air. For now, she pretends she is living in a happier time, a simpler one.

@Keoni

she moves north, now. 
away from the others, and though there is an odd sadness in leaving the band of free youth, there is greater want to return home. the lingering scent and odd bit of the plantain the russet girl had carefully placed on the girl's face reminds her still of the healer, Rose. And Rannoch, and the one called Rain, and many others besides. 

alone, she is wary, fearful. she knows she nears the place that, a week ago now, she encountered the obsidian assassin. she slightest noise sends her ears- slightly shredded, yet still intact- to prick up atop her skull, her gaze to scan the area with darting gaze.

it is late morning when she comes across another wolf for the first time. she freezes completely, in plain sight, staring at the woman. she does not know her- her scent, she ought to, though the wind is still and she can not pick it up from here.

Vi lifts her head when she see a blot of white movement in the distance. Her eyes track it until it becomes a young wolf, and then for a few minutes longer while she tries to convince herself her eyes are not lying to her. Isn't this the girl? The one that'd gone missing alongside Phi? Vi couldn't remember her name, despite promising @Valette to keep an eye out for her as well while she looked around for signs of Phi.

"Keke?" she calls. No, that isn't right... oh yeah! "Kenai! That is you!"

Vi hops down from her perch and begins trotting toward the other, excited at the prospect of seeing a familiar face. Too, she wonders if Kenai will have news of Phi - maybe they'd been together? For some reason?

an unfamiliar word is called out, and the girl stills, preparing to leave. others make her nervous, still, though the slightest similarity between the odd word and her name has her stay, and when the woman amends herself to something not quite there, but close, and she realises that while she does not know this one, she must be of the same pack. she quivers with joy, and excitement, and nervousness, and though she is still for a time, she rushes forth to greet the other when she comes close, head bobbing in shivering happiness. she recognises the scent of home, then, and an excited whine leaves her maw. she does not see the fear in this one's eyes, so perhaps she is right- perhaps, to some extent, she is better.

Where have you been? Have you seen Phiipa? In her mind, Vi is already scolding the other girl. It's in her nature to boss and hen-peck, though she normally restrains herself to her sisters. High emotions were about the only thing that could get her bossing strangers, not that she considered Kenai to be that. She was a cub of the pack, and therefore partly Vi's responsibility, and therefore perfectly eligible for a bit of scolding. (At least, that was what her current state was telling her.)

But when Vi drew near enough to say these things, it became clear that the girl was having just as horrible a time as she was, if not worse.

"Are you alright?" she asked, all anger leaving her as she saw the state of the poor girl. She'd ask about Phiipa later.

"are you alright?"
somehow, the words broke down the courage she had been carrying the past few days. the fact that someone from home was speaking them, and faintly she could scent Valette and Steady and Nikai on the other's pelt, and almost imagine them here. she trembled, ears slicked back, and she offered no answer beside moving her muzzle to the other's shoulder and breathing in the scents of home. 

home. her jaws parted a fraction and a breath of air whistled through her jaws, as if trying to whisper the word. her ruined tongue was unable to make word from sound, and thus she did not try beyond that, as she had frantically attempted when she had first realised that her maw no longer worked in the way it should.

Vi shifts uncomfortably but returns a small nuzzle for the girl's greeting, wondering what was the matter. For the moment, her lack of speech didn't ring and alarm bells Vi's mind - mostly, she was thinking about how she really wasn't great around pups - even when they were nearly-grown pups that she'd never even known when they were small.

Some things would just never sit right with her.

"It's okay," she says lamely, feeling the weight of Keoni's saddness but unable to see the reason for it. "You're a bit cut up, but Krypton can fix you right up, I bet," she adds. Private, Vi thinks it's a bit more gruesome than 'a bit cup up', but obviously, she isn't going to say that to Keoni.

the woman's reassurance, however lame, still has effect on the torn up girl. nodding to agree with her statement -yes, Krypton would help her- her eyes blink closed in relief, and the sudden overwhelming urge to be home right now. soon, they are off- Keoni following the woman tirelessly, thoughts of home the only ones on her mind.