Blackfeather Woods water's thicker than blood, but blood is sticky

She was still grappling with the fact that @Vaati had suddenly reappeared. A large part of her had never expected to see him again, and a smaller part of that idea wanted never to see him again. But the tiny, selfish wish had been denied, and so here they were. Back to where they'd started. Back to the beginning.

It wasn't, though. Not the beginning. It would never be so again.

Life had taken its toll on the both of them, with Maegi's face half-tattered and Vaati's body withered away, like a dying flower that had once been bold, beautiful. He was no longer her fearsome brute of a brother that could do no wrong; she was no longer the inquisitive little princess of the forest. And yet, something within him, his presence here, brought it out in her.

She felt lighter. Younger. Less weighed down. And although she knew that it wouldn't last (and would discover more tragedy sooner than she could anticipate) she relished it for what it was—an illusion. A wonderful, stupid illusion.

Maegi called for Vaati and then sat near the center of the Redgrove, eyes lifting to follow the movement of the crows above. Blue was settled on a low branch, and when her howl faded, he fluttered down to perch on her left shoulder, tough for as scrawny as it was.

vaati prowled forth to meet his sister's call, passing through the endarkened territory with ease... as though he had never left. it felt strange to walk the grounds he had denounced time and time again, the woods he had been ruler of and subsequently cast out of. his life had begun under the shadowy canopy trees, and no sooner later, it had become his undoing. most likely, he would die there. a reality he had no effort left in him to change. 

"this place hasn't changed. everything else has, but never the woods itself. it refuses to crumble though it's inhabitants may suffer." he muses -- slightly bitterly -- as he draws closer to the center of the grove, remembering suddenly that the bones of their ancestors lied beneath them. he pawed lightly at the ground, wondering how easy it would be to dig up the remains of the founders of their family. had life been easier for them than it was for the descendants of their cause? it strikes a sliver of resentment within him, knowing that the last few years of blackfeather's existence had been nothing more than a desperate attempt at survival rather than a flourishing enterprise as many before them had likely envisioned. it seemed the trials of time were no friend to any of them, least of all him.

I know, she remarked, turning to her brother as he approached. Every time I've come back, I think that. It just never changes. She watched him shuffle, intrigued and a little perplexed, but said nothing. She watched him, eyes raking over his thinning frame, his unkempt fur. What was once so majestic, wasted away.

What's happened to you, Vaati? Maegi asked, straight to the point. Cass was right. . .you look like shit. Have you been by the sea this whole time, or did you wander? Even old Kove, with the years wearing him down, hadn't looked quite this bad. She knew that Vaati was much younger. So what was up?

Whatever the cause, it disconcerted her to see him like this. Like an idol crumbling before her eyes, a legend lost his lustre.

maegi wasn't one to sugar coat anything, and he couldn't say that her blunt words didn't sting a tiny bit. "i didn't think i looked that bad." he joked, cracking a hint of a smile in the process. but the conversation moved on to more serious matters and the smile faded just as quickly. vaati took his time in responding to her question, having to think on it first before he opened his mouth.

"rusalka was a good home. but...  i became restless." a brief flick of his head indicated he did not think much of it, for that was usually the way things went with him. "nothing new i suppose." she knew how it was. maegi had been one of the first to experience his unfortunate flaw of being a flight risk. "i wandered and found nomadic pack. they mistook me for one of their own at first but allowed me to join and we travelled farther than i ever have before." he had gathered that his likeliness to some of their own had something to do with his father's heritage, but didn't think it relevant enough to mention. vaati doubted maegi could even recall the northern man who had tried to mend their mother, yet knowing her distaste for potema, figured it best to leave out. 

"but eventually it wasn't enough, and i didn't stop until i returned. i guess that's why i look so..." he glances down at himself. "... unlike myself." as much as maegi didn't like it, vaati liked it even less. it felt unsafe to be so underweight in comparison to how he once looked, and though he could feel himself slowly being restored to his formerly brutish frame... it was a slow process. vaati was an impatient man. 

She understood restlessness. It had been that which had brought her back to Blackfeather from Undersea. . .and which had drawn her away from the forest in the wake of the skirmish at the Redhawks' border. She nodded along with his story, though it didn't really all add up. She'd traveled a considerable amount and had never looked this haggard. Vaati was a much stronger wolf than she, so—

I'm glad you're back, Maegi admitted, pushing all of the questions and worries into the farthest reaches of her mind. Plenty of time to ruminate on them later; for now, she was grateful for the time with a brother she never expected to see again. Not just for my sake, but for the girls as well. They remind me of you in a lot of ways.

And they were Melonii. True Melonii, too, not traitors to the lineage as she saw Damien (and, funnily enough, how he likely saw her). She would always love them for that.