Dawnlark Plains peanut butter & jelly

it had been three? four days since he'd caught atreus' scent. longer? ancelin now slunk guiltily through the plains. he had been spending more time following augur, and less with — 
well, now he was here. ancelin hunted for the stale end of his brother's trail, getting more and more sick as he realized how far from the rise it led.
eventually he stopped with a whine. hadn't he said something about a river? 
maybe that's where atreus had gone.
but ancelin stood rooted. he had never traveled so far before.

princess isas, as she was known to @Mother Temptress, had wandered entirely too far from safety. the curly-tailed girl herself was unaware of this, of course. as far as she knew, the worst thing that could have happened to her already had. her safety - the being she had not even known long enough to recognize as her true mother - had left her long ago, and that had been the most terrible thing that could happen to anyone. but she had a new safety now. she had mother.
so in her ignorance, masked as confidence, isas wandered far enough to see a strange boy. a strange, pale boy who looked nothing like her or mother. he hadn't spotted her yet, but she thought he must see her soon. he was just... standing there. she watched him, unwittingly mirroring his stance, then glanced around. was he looking for something? watching something she hadn't spotted yet?

skippable, just establishing some info (also i wanna stalk) <3

la princesse ésus. 

her most precious lump of coal, awaiting, so poised, the right pressure to make it a glistening diamant. 

the mistress had played the not-bear's game, indulged the ravings of a madthing. each court needed its fool, non? but now things had gotten confusing - la petite ésus resembling the fallen queen more each day!

was there truth, in what the poorly-bred beast had said? was her regality so bright, it made even the lowest beasts reach for her light, like spring blooms for the sun?

mayhap she'd need consider, that la princesse was not a mockery - but a proper title for child of royalty.

but, those were thoughts of exhaustion, creeping over the la demoiselle as she curled against the trunk of a great pine tree. 

rest, rest now, and think the thoughts of making a jester an heir, in the night's chilling clarity.

ancelin spun; he bristled. and then he snorted. she was older than him, but not bigger, and resembled a cat or a fox more than anything.
he did not approach, but his tail swayed once.
and then he did gingerly end some distance between them, for his was a friendly spirit.
"hey. i'm looking for my brother. he's like -- dark brown. black nose." idle. vague.

sorry for the wait!

the boy seemed startled by her at first. she didn't know what to make of his bristling, but he calmed quickly enough. then he was coming closer, words on his lips. isas was delighted, but it didn't show; her expression remained as apathetic as ever.
your brother? you lost him? she wondered. or he lost you? he didn't seem very upset about it, she thought. maybe he lost his brother all the time, the way she was always losing her playthings. maybe he had more brothers at home.

no worries! <3

ancelin's senses were all on fire. he looked around the flat plain. "yeah," he began distractedly. "i mean — no. no, he ran off. didn't want to be home."
he peered suspiciously at the other. "you seen him or what?"

hmmm. that was odd. isas had never heard of someone not wanting home to be home. is it home if he doesn't want it to be? she wondered aloud. maybe home is where he went.
the boy wanted to know if she saw his brother. she looked, but they were alone. no. do you see him? she was curious now. was his brother invisible? was that how he had gotten away?

he didn't know. this was weird. ancelin's ears folded and he backed away.
something was wrong. something else was watching.
"uh, yeah. i mean, no." another step. "well! see you around!" ancelin said cheerily and then moved to go.