Herbalists' Cache and i'd beg you, but you know i'm never home

please let @Korei Julia & @Alya post first
other tags for reference!

He tries to tell himself this isn't all because he needs a break — he's not that selfish, right? It feels like it anyway. He's made sure to let @Delight and @Eris know where he's going; they're both too sick to really stop him anyway. And they need the herbs. Watching the cats start to falter and die has done nothing for morale, he knows — he can't let his packmates end up the same.
So he takes Korei, who seems the least sick, and gives the Maplewood a wide berth on the way to their destination. He has no desire to run into any Morningside wolves right now — perhaps Sebastian would be useful, but he's not willing to chance it. When they arrive at the forest he'd had in mind, he pauses and glances at Korei, speaking for the first time since they'd departed the Sanctuary. We'll have to hurry. I — it's probably not a good idea to be gone for too long. Even if he really, really doesn't miss the smell of cat pee.

Korei Julia was the least sick, that she knew for now. So, she and Alarian headed out to find herbs to help everyone. They needed to help the others, and she was determined to do so, despite how sick she was. She even looked sick, her fur all shaggy and her gaze tired. "I know...I know. We get a few things...then we can help the others." The situation had been bad, and she needed to help it.

After seeing the extent of the burns inflicted by the fire, Alya had ventured out of the Maplewood for the first time since arriving. She gave the marsh a wide berth and found herself in a vertiable treasure trove of plants. The Moonspear girl recognized precious few of them, but she gathered together the things she thought might help Sunny's burns, and the cracked paw pads of the girl that'd bothered her all afternoon the day before.

And then the wind shifted, and Alya froze in her tracks. There was a foul scent on the breeze, but underneath that was one she knew very well. Slowly, Alya hobbled toward it, and was soon rewarded with the unmistakable profile of her sister.

"Korei," she said, announcing her presence. A funny, unnameable feeling was trying to rise up in her chest, only to be ruthlessly squashed down. "We all thought you were dead." The words were delivered in an emotionless deadpan.

He's starting to search for herbs when he hears the sound of another's approach, slow and uneven. He turns just as the dark girl says Korei's name — wait, what? Immediately it's obvious what's happening; some character from his friend's past that she refuses to speak about, some ghost drawn up from the ground to add to their chaos.
He doesn't say anything. Instead he looks at Korei expectantly, but there's concern in his expression, too. He's pretty well past the days of trying to be some sort of savior to her or anyone, but he's not above telling some random girl to get lost if that's what needs to happen. Anyone related to Korei can't be that bad, right?

Korei began her search, and froze at someone speaking her name. That voice...she lifted her gaze and was right. Which one it was, she didn't really recall as they all seemed the same and it had been quite some time. "Hydra? Alya? Or are you Lyra?" she asked, glancing away for a moment to keep looking. Till the Cerberus sister spoke again.

"It's better off that way...they didn't want me around, you should know that enough" she replied back. Her family Korei had put behind her when she left.

"Does it matter?" Alya replied, the urge to obfuscate too ingrained and automatic to be stopped. Even here, because the words were true. Korei had betrayed them all the same amount. Hydra more than herself or Lyra, perhaps, but did Korei not know that the Cerberus shared all pains?

The next words struck the Moonspear girl dumb for several long seconds. This, she allowed to show on her face - a popping of her eyes and slight parting of her jaws. "How can you think that?" she asked when she'd found her voice once more. "That losing one daughter, one sister - that'd we'd just be okay with another one being gone? That we'd want that?" Part of her wanted to sneer that the family hadn't cared one way or another, that they'd hardly even noticed Korei was gone. But those were her emotions talking, and she knew better than to unleash them, here.

Alya made her voice small. "We were devastated. We looked for you everywhere - but we were looking for a body. We didn't think you'd just gotten up and walked away."

Which was patently untrue; they'd all thought her a deserter, and they'd been right. It wasn't until weeks and months had passed that Alya had started considering her littermate dead.

Things get juicy really fast, and Alarian can't decide who to look at — Hydra/Alya/Lyra or Korei? Korei had left her family without a word? Holy shit — he's almost proud of her in a weird, twisted sort of way (mostly horrified, though), but he's too distracted by the dark girl's words to process it right now. He notes several things belatedly — her apparent injury, the scent of Morningside around her (great — but wait, Korei isn't from Morningside... right?)
He leans closer to Korei instinctively, touching his shoulder to hers, and murmurs only for her ears: I'm here. Just tell me if you want to leave. He doesn't have anything better to say; he doesn't know the story, Korei would never tell him — so all he can do is linger protectively near his friend, feeling guilty for dragging her out here at all. If not for him, she'd be resting at the Sanctuary where she needs to be — not here, doing this.
And he really hopes the dark girl doesn't take this sickness back to Morningside.

To her, no. It did not really matter which was speaking to her. She glanced to Alarian, and was touched by his words. She shook his head. He was going to know eventually, as well as the fact that if someone else were not here then she might break a bit. 

And then the Cerb sister drew out the big words. Korei turned her head slightly at her. "How can I think that?" She turned now that she could face them. "Do you know what it was like? To be blamed for your sister falling off a cliff? For not being brave enough to do anything? To be looked down on like the little bird that would never leave the nest?" Korei's voice broke a bit. So they had looked for her, had cared...but part of her didn't believe it. She was upset, and for once in her life, angry. "And what would you have done? Find someone to blame? What if I simply died from a fall? Or drowned? Who could you all blame then?"

Alya wanted to stop the stupid things that were coming out of Korei's mouth with violence, but she knew it would get her nowhere. She had to keep her head, and think about herself rather than retribution. "No one wanted you to leave the nest!" Alya shot back. "You're the only one that's left, and we hated it. And what do you mean we blamed you? It had nothing to do with you, and you're just using her death to justify your abandonment."

The words had gotten a little heated toward the end, but now Alya drew her head back and sucked in a calming breath. "If you'd died, there'd be no one to blame but you," she said after a moment. "If it had turned out someone had taken you, we would have killed them for you. Every one of us would have fought and bled for you. But you threw that in our face and left." And here, Alya did not have to act. It was the truth, and Korei's reasons for leaving were a mystery to her. "I don't understand why you left. Not a word to our mother, not a word to Daddy, not a word to any of us. You just let us worry, let us agonize. Why?"

feel free to skip me from here unless ali is addressed or things get particularly heated ❤

He nods slowly as he watches Korei shake her head; he understands, he thinks. Nothing could have pulled him away from that first meeting with Zamael, nevermind that he'd run away himself — so he steps back a bit and settles on his haunches, trying not to feel too weird about the whole thing. Korei needs him, and he can't exactly abandon her here anyway — perhaps if she were someone else, someone more likely to find their way home in one piece.
But she's not, so he sits back and tries to pretend he isn't listening, that he's not super interested in everything going on here, and that his presence isn't awkward in any way. A hefty order, but he manages it by staring intently at a single dying leaf hanging from a nearby bush, piecing the story together as he watches the way it trembles with the breeze every so often.

Korei had always felt she was the little one. And not like the little sister, no she felt like the little runt, being picked on or put down. The Cerberus sister spoke as if no one blamed her. "He did...Papa did..." There was a certain venom to those words. Loser, screw up. Her fault she fell. Her fault for distracting Papa. "You three...the shining examples of Papa's pride. And then there was me. The let down, the weak one." This wasn't about Galaxy anymore. 


"You all tried being nice, only to turn on me soon after. And Papa..." Only Mama had ever truly been there for her...that was until Korei tried to tell her about Galaxy, about the wolf they believed to have killed her. These feelings she always felt. "I was always trying to impress Papa. Nothing I did would. I tried to learn to fight, tried to be braver. All he ever said was do better, don't screw up...you'll always be a pathetic loser." Those last words she spoke as if echoing them.

Alya's expression turned stormy as soon as their father was brought up, her temper crackling like wild lightning. "You have no right to call him that," Alya thundered, his voice as calm and slow as ever. Only her volume showed how much she wanted to lash out. "He was a hurt, grieving man when he said that, Korei. And we turned on you? You never even spoke to me, KJ! And what happened to your lessons with Hydra? Did she tell you to stop trying? Did she tell you to run away and roll in cat piss? NO!"

She was bearing her teeth in a silent snarl, her breaths coming uneven as red-hot anger pulsed in her vision. The only thing holding her back from attacking was the sharp pain in her hind leg. "Face it, Korei. The only difference between us and you is effort. We were willing to try, willing to set aside our worries and do what we could for the family. Willing to do what we could for you. And you just ran." This wasn't going well - she had to get ahold of herself.

Alya sucked in a ragged breath, and that worked well with the mask of grief she then donned. Her voice was low and gravelly when she spoke again. "We were never willing to give up on you. We kept trying and trying - we did everything we could for you. But you're right - a strong woman wouldn't have run away to hide. You are weak. You're worthless."

She wanted to turn and sweep away, because she was prone to dramatics (obviously), but her leg just wouldn't allow for that kind of motion. Instead, she stood her ground and stared Korei down, willing her to look away in shame and slink off back to where she'd come from.

She flinched but didn't back down at the thundering tone. She narrowed down which sister this was. "Alya...when he called me a screw up, it was before she died. You never knew cause I didn't tell anyone. And Hydra did teach me to fight, Lyra helped me once...but after, when I pleaded that we shouldn't have to kill another you turned on me." It was always how she had seen it. She always thought they saw so little of her, always looked down on her. 

Korei did something she'd never done...she growled a deep guttural growl, burning in her eyes. Her hackles rising, her head lowering covering her neck. One would easily know exactly what this stance was.

Alya, who was very much of the school of thought that Killing Definitely Solved Problems, did not understand this stance at all. Too, she couldn't help but be smug as she delivered the news: "That boy that killed Galaxy went on to attack his pregnant sister, and to almost kill another of them." Hydra had told her these things, and her source had been Towhee, who Alya had always thought of as a forthright (if somewhat dull) creature. "He was a threat. Threats need to be dealt with. We should have killed him when we had the chance."

And, speaking of threats, Alya did not miss her sister's. The blatant show of aggression ate away at her resolve, but Alya knew she was in no shape to fight. Oh, she didn't doubt her ability to win, but to win without further injuring her leg? Impossible. And she needed to get home. She wasn't Korei.

"Come and fight me, then," said Alya, her voice solemn. "You turned your back on us, Korei. You didn't want us to kill our sister's murderer? We didn't. I'm not going to hold back for your sake again."

This threat - this offer of death - was given in a quiet, even tone. If that was what Korei wanted, that was what she would get.

He doesn't yet know how he feels about all that he's learned, but it's clearly time for him to step in. His own hackles lift just barely as he steps slightly in front of Korei, facing her but keeping one ear turned toward the dark stranger. Korei, we need to go home, He urges quietly, skin prickling uncomfortably. This can't end well.
He gestures in the direction of Broken Boulder and takes a couple steps, pausing to see if Korei will follow before he continues. There's more he could say, should say maybe — and he will later, but right now he can only focus on getting Korei home safe. He can't lose her, too.

Korei growled how she wanted to run her down. Her sister was showing no kindness her way, she wanted to charge to show her up. Even as Alarian urged her to, she could simply not let this go. The fact of one of her sisters being pregnant completely skimmed past her mind. Korei snarled, curling her lip up. 

But even as she was thinking this over, fighting. This was not something she was ever up for. This would change her, forever if she acted on this. She tried to think over how to take this, but these angered feelings...

Alya's blue eyes snapped to the man beside her sister for the first time. She'd noted his size, but not any particulars when she'd come upon them. Once again, she discounted him. His countenance suggested that he Didn't Wanna Tangle, which was smart, in Alya's opinion.

Korei, however, still had blood in her eyes. The dark sister waited patiently, but she felt she knew how this would end. This was Korei Julia. If she'd had the guts to fight, she would still be one of them. This pained the dark girl more than she wanted to admit. For a moment, she imagined Korei as she might have been - another sister to rely on, to gossip with, to take on trips, to love. Oh, she could never come close to what the Cerberus shared, but neither could their mother or father. It was just the way of things.

And the way of Korei seemed to be that she ran. Alya waited for this eventuality, even as she wished (ardently) for her sister to be another wolf, a better wolf. Even if it was the sort of wolf that attacked her. Even if it was the sort of wolf she had to kill.

He swallows hard when Korei refuses to move or speak to him. It's seeming more like it might come to a fight, though it's the last thing he'd ever expected from his friend — all he can think is that Delight is going to kill him (if he lives to do it, a tiny helpful voice chimes, reminding him that they've failed to gather herbs).
Korei, He tries again, finally turning reluctantly to assess the other girl's expression. He's quick to decide it's not good — part of him wants to bring up the lingering scent of Morningside wolves, the alliance Dawn had established, but he has a feeling Morningside is not where the siblings are from. So he glances back to Korei, taking a deep breath and silently pleading for her not to do this. He really doesn't want to have to bite that girl — but he will.

Korei was breathing heavily, she wanted to fight. She felt she wanted to take Alya on...but there was a voice of reason. She turned to Alarian, and her expression softened slightly. As soon as she turned to Alya...and she coughed and it was a harsh cough. The stress of the situation, she coughed. She'd forgotten how sick she was, and shook her head. Korei had forgotten the purpose of this outing. "Need...need to get those herbs" she murmured, the sickness coming by.

Alya continued to stand where she was, silently observing the pair. She was unwilling to move and give away her weakness, even if it looked as though there wasn't going to be a fight. It was almost a relief, but more than anything, it filled the Moonspear girl with thick, deadening sorrow. Her expression, however, was unreadable beyond being watchful.

Korei, she thought, was lucky it was her and not Hydra or Lyra that'd found her. Even so, she knew she'd tell her sisters about finding Korei at the soonest opportunity. This was news that even overshadowed what had happened in the vale.

This in mind, she steeled herself for the pain that was to come, and turned her back on Korei to head back toward Morningside. She did not limp until she was far, far out of Korei and the stranger's view. Only then did she allow herself to break down into breathless sobs of pain. Her leg was killing her.

It was her leg.

pping korei w permission to wrap this up !

He's ready to abandon their purpose entirely if it means getting back home without anyone getting hurt — but he's absolutely not going to complain if Korei wants to redirect her focus there. Especially when the dark girl turns to leave, though his chest tightens with sympathy; he's on his friend's side, of course, but how can he not feel something for her? He knows what it's like to lose a sibling, to have them turn away — and if she truly has done something to justify Korei's abandonment (which he suspects), then he only relates to her more for it.
He takes a breath and focuses fully on Korei when he's sure her sister is gone. I'm sorry, He offers quietly, a faint sympathetic grimace tugging at his features. If you need to talk — well, let's get this done and get home safe first. But I'm here. When he gets agreement from Korei, he leads her a little deeper into the forest to search for herbs, careful to avoid the dark girl's scent trail.