Totoka River erwachsen

the soft trickle of water beneath ice. snow underfoot, ice between her pawpads and sheathing her limbs. fog, thick and heavy, making eerily silent the scene. the sylph moves on, the stillness all around a balm. 

she is rather unlike her brothers and sisters in that her love has never been for the sea, truly. it has been for what lies before; the shore, the strand. the soft calls of shorebirds in the springtime; the rasp of reeds against her pelt, tide pools cradling life and life on that narrow divide. yes, that is her realm. 

she pauses, then, as a paw slips past the snow and into the half-frozen mud that lays below. the sensation has her jolt, withdrawing the limb to examine the grim that clings stubbornly to it now. a tired sigh, and the sylph continues on. 

almost heavenly, was the sight before her. she thought that the sea gods themselves would fall out of the waters to the mainlands, but all that stayed was the silence that the fog has given. surprisingly enjoyable, ruò walked foward with an interest, dull blue eyes and a ashen pelt that felt within these grays areas.

but she still preferred sitting within the ocean, then the murky feeling beneath her paws. the frozen waters was more comforting. even more so, when a sigh seemed to come alongside her, a figure in the distance, she could almost see who it was, but not enough to believe it could be. a short gruff to the other, ruò's presence to be known.

she is not along among the mists; the comes the low sound of another. the woman shifts her trajectory, making to close the distance between them. she has seen many faces in her travels, but this one stems from an earlier memory, etched with warmth and familiarity. " sister? is that you? " she calls, stilling as the edges of the ashen woman's feature become more obvious through the fog.

a voice came, making it easier for ruo to navigate. though it was not the sister she would've wished, but a cousin. xing, a more distant cousin to ruò, but of the same family nontheless. she had seen the dove around, but never officially met. her head shook, and called out her name softly.

"明霞."

the name that comes through the mists is familiar, and at once the woman moves to close the distance between them, tail wafting. " oh, but it is! " she calls, gladness at finding family here, of all places, writ obviously across her features. " sister, cousin, it is me - 明霞 " she had been on her own a long while; of her own volition, but lonely none the less. she had roved from pack to pack, finding teachers where she may, but with her third year approaching, she was eager to settle once more.

"others?" the siren looked around, wondering if the other cousins came along too. she met a few already- and would think xia would be joining alongside them, not knowing how long she had been by herself. it was a fair assumption. however she was the same before meeting them as well, alone and wandering, and joining the new clan.. perhaps she too joined them. ruo doesn't really hear much.

at her cousin's question, the woman shakes her head softly. " none that I have found, " she replies in the common tongue. she'd been away for a long while, and it had been only whispers, rumours, that had drawn her to this place. " but I have heard they are here, somewhere. close." she reveals, wondering whether it is chance of some other motive that had drawn her reclusive cousin here too.

"岛." surely her cousin had seen the large land mass while visiting this area. it was in front, and perhaps they could see it from afar. ruò faced to the western north, where that place may be. she had met ying there, and knowing that she was there, the other sisters were surely close. xia would be wise to meet up with them at the isle, it would be her best chance the siren thought.

the woman is one of few words, and so does she limit her own unconsciously. the healer nods, having seen the isle only in passing; it was fitting, though, that they should choose the place for themselves. " you will be there, too? " she asks, curious. surely it is why she is here, but Xia remembers her cousin as being somewhat distant.

ruò nodded, already finding a herself at peace to where they chose. surrounded by waters, and not too many would tresspass on an island, for what fool would cross waters to a claimed territory? it was idle, and she would follow alongsode the fools if she did not lay within the isle's beaches. Besides.. nothing else to do.