Silvertip Mountain it is your blood in my veins, tell me how i'm supposed to forget

@Alya, other tags for reference.

Having @Kahlil hanging around reminds her of @Anatha. They are nothing alike by any means but having someone young, someone she feels compelled to take care of, is a weird comfort she’d gotten used to. Keeping his scent within range, she searches the lower reaches of the mountain. It does not look the same as when she’d seen it last. Nothing has ever been easy and the few moments of peace she’s ever given are always disrupted. Her cheeks burn, blinking back a sudden pain in the back of her eyes, and she turns to a trail that leads further up the slopes.

Helping Grayday take care of his children, then the girls on the island, and now, this boy, has easily become second nature. She’d never seen any of them as her own, per se, but a responsibility nonetheless. A big sister, maybe. The thought causes her stomach to turn and she glances ahead as the boy runs off, disappearing from view. She opens her mouth to speak and call him back but she resists and lets him do whatever he wants. He’s survived this long on his own, more or less, and who is she to stop him? She does not expect him to go too far and so she continues through on her own.

Eventually Cascada has to stop. Her chest hurts far more than she anticipated coming here. It doesn’t even look like anyone lived here at all and every memory she has is tainted by the absence. A promise once held her hope returning to Silvertip but without him at her side, it doesn’t feel quite right. Her cheeks burn and she struggles to breathe as anxiety places itself deep within her heart. Green eyes close off from the sunlight while her steps begin to lose their purpose.

Zapping Alya over here. No idea when this happens on her personal timeline XD

Mountains had always intrigued her. She'd lived on one ever since she'd been born, and hadn't ventured onto flat land until she was almost fully grown. For all those early months, she'd lived her life staring out at the other peaks, never quite able to grasp that the proud, distant pikes were just like her home.

Sitting on the westerly side of Silvertip Mountain and staring off toward home, she couldn't help but wonder at the size of the world.

Her attention soon waned; there were more exciting things around than landscapes, and one of them was heading in her direction, showing sure signs of being a flatlandian. She didn't seem to have her mountain legs or lungs yet, and Alya decided that she warrented a bit of investigation. Alya left her perch and moved a bit closer, until she could see the sad green of the other girl's eyes. A strange feeling twisted in her stomach, but she pushed it away.

"Hey," she said brightly, taking a few more hesitant steps forward. "Are you okay? Looks like the altitude might be getting to you."

Lost somewhere in her overlapping and competing thoughts, Cascada does not hear the other wolf approach. She barely hears the greeting but when she snaps her head to attention, she zeroes in on the dark coat but nothing is familiar. She blinks and shakes her head a few times, straightening her legs and sucking in a breath to compose herself. “No, no,” she mumbles, licks her lips, and glances around to see if @Drogon is anywhere to be found.

“I’m… just,” she pauses, swiveling her head around. Her stomach rumbles. “I was born here.” Information that once felt personal no longer feels true on her tongue. Adeline had been born here. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been back,” she observes with a discomforting twist of her lips, sliding her tongue along the sides of her muzzle a second later. Her green gaze locks with the dark, feminine form she hadn’t much observed until now.

Alya's ears flickered, and she was about to say that the woman didn't look like she'd been born on a mountain - but then she went on, and Alya was glad she'd kept quiet. Obviously, there were some high emotions associated with this place, even if she hadn't lived here in a long time.

"I was born on a mountain, too," said Alya, swinging her muzzle around toward Moonspear. "That one." But her gaze quickly turned back to the other girl, ears pressed forward in curiosity. "I'm Alya," she introduced, giving a gentle wag of her tail.

Cascada looks in the direction Alya points but takes it at face value. She’d never really left the mountain to know what is around them. It wasn’t until they moved south east to Easthollow that she’d really explored and, now, she’s perpetually on the move.

“I’m Cascada,” she introduces though it feels empty not to add where she’s from. She isn’t likely returning to Undersea, as much as she’ll miss one or two wolves, but it is not for her. The ocean continues to put a divide between them. Her lips part as if she’s going to speak again but her teeth snap shut, silencing the thoughts building.

Alya's gaze softened from politely curious to something like sympathy. She could never understand quite what the girl was going through, having lost very little in her short little life - but that didn't mean she couldn't see the sorrow writ in the lines of the other's face.

"Hey, don't be sad," said Alya, closing the distance between them and fluttering around the other, reluctant to touch without permission but aching to curl up with her and offer comfort, the same as her sisters would do for her. "None of that, now, okay?" It was a weak attempt at humor, and Alya immediately regretted it. She said some really dumb stuff, sometimes. "Shit - I'm sorry, Cascada. I never say the right thing...."

Would you like to wrap this up? :)

She flinches when the other rushes forward, expecting some kind of touch. The soft warmth of another wrapped around her would make everything feel a little better but it is not from Ayla that she wants it. When the touch does not come, she looks around to find her fluttering nearby and speaking, stumbling of words that don’t fit the situation. The sudden overbearing worry of a stranger leaves her flustered and incapable of brushing off the hurt inside her chest but all she knows is she can’t let it out. Cascada steels her jaw and straightens her face, struggling to keep the façade when it would be easy to topple over into release. The young girl sucks in a breath and shakes her head, taking a step back to give her space from the other before she turns to leave. “I should go,” she murmurs, finding the only way to keep her voice steady in a time of weakness. Silvertip isn’t for her anymore and she should have known that but in the wake of broken promises, she thought she’d find answers she had all along.

It's actually Alya, not Ayla XD

"He - "

Alya stopped short of calling after the woman. Better not, she thought to herself, halfway between regret and cowardly relief. It was hard, talking to people, and Cascada's sorrow seemed almost too big for words. If she'd been Lyra or Hydra, or even one of her other packmates... Alya didn't know for certain. It just came naturally, in those situations. A shoulder to lean on, a lingering look, an impromptu hunt. Speech was rarely necessary between herself and her sisters, and she just didn't know how to comfort someone with whom she did not share such a bond.

It made her plans somewhat daunting, but Alya was still determined to go through with them. The dark girl turned and went back the way she'd come.