Blackfeather Woods searching every room, I am not free

It was odd, going from lone wolf to pack after so long of roughing it alone. Overwhelming in every way, leaving her unsure, camera shy, avoiding her new pack mates as best she could while trying to stay low and forget why she was here.

She respected Maggie and Jawahir, really, she did, but Nephele was still shoved into the water head first on this particular endeavor. So, she ranged away from the Mesa, just for a day trip, seeking solitude where she could find it. She enjoyed the not having to hunt, to take from the cache and vanish to do her guarding duties as Sabah, but for the moment...she just wanted to be Nephele, alone. And the wood she found helped with that, helped with her ranging across a meadow until she was swallowed by it. She walked, and she walked, and she walked, until she was fairly certain she was alone, and then she allowed herself to tip over and curl beneath the roots of a tree.

She was alright, well fed, had a secure place to sleep for the night, every night, for however long she felt she could have it. So why did she feel like..this? Tight in the chest, avoidant of those who should be family if all of the stories she knew about packs were right? Nephele may have been badly socialized and generally incompetent in social situations, but she couldn’t say she didn’t mind being in a pack, but she definitely minded at least a little. 

The former thief lifted her leg and sat it over her nose to block her eyesight for the moment.

Ugh. Feelings were hard and they sucked.

Sȳndor isse se bantis,
ānogar isse se tubis
mirre se skoriot jā
ūndegon Sheogorath. . .

Skipping like a girl, hopping over tree limbs — they seemed much larger, but oh! how she could fly — she made her way through the forest, hoping to get to the altar to bring blessings to her Lord. Not that she had anything yet. But she was looking.

Sȳndor isse se—

She tripped over the dark gray wolf, sending her headlong toward the ground. She recovered gracefully enough and whirled, eyes wild, spittle flying from the corners of her mouth.

WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MAEGI'S FOREST?!

A caterpillar climbed a stump nearby; it seemed to swell to twice its size and was vibrant against the dull, dark brown of rotting wood. Maegi caught the sight of it and immediately started to laugh, then snapped her gaze back to the woman.

You shouldn't be here, she said, still smiling, voice sing-song.

Nephele didn’t impersonate a log often, but when she did, she tripped people.

Today, she tripped a crazy person. It happens. More often than you think, really. She’d generally been trying to catch her breath and get her bearings after being used as a prop when the wolf spun and she...well.

Shrieked, shot to her feet, and got the hell away. Six feet at least, eyes wide as globes.

UH-! Fuck, why did today of all days have to be the one she tripped someone with a complex? The gods had a sense of fucked up humor, and Nephele was realizing more and more than she was the punchline. Her tongue flicked out nervously to drag across the pad of her nose. They couldn’t rain check the crazy for when she was in a better state of mind, could they?

Uh, I just wanted to go for a walk, I didn’t know this was your place, I’ll just goooooooo-! Back away slowly, avert eye contact Nephele, you aren’t dying today.

Bull-shit, replied Maegi, and shook her head with a giggle. She stared down the woman. Took in those teal eyes. They rolled like the sea; she swore she could find waves within them. Like staring out on the island. Like. . .

She gasped, and stepped back. VAATI! she exclaimed. You're one of Vaati's, of course. Maegi would recognize his eyes anywhere; so, so blue. . .

Vaati. Naturally, he'd send a child to claim the woods in his name, rather than drag his pathetic self around here again. He'd failed once, he'd fail a thousand times before he died. She supposed that was one thing they had in common—constant failure.

Where'd they get that from, anyway?

You had better not bring Damien around, she warned. Though. . .is he dead? Maegi very much hopes he's dead.

She hummed gently to herself, a childlike tune: Morghe, morghe, Damien iksis morghe. . .

Okay, she could do this. What did she do when people like this came around the Monkshood?

Well, generally she ran like hell but that wasn’t an option, was it? The woman knew the woods, she’d be hunted for sport, and Nephele wasn’t about that life. Deep breaths, old girl, and appease.

She slapped on a smile, tried not to look so nervous, and rapidly nodded.

Oh yes, very dead, six feet under in fact! Her voice came out high pitched, a nervous trill to it that would almost be comparable to the shriek of a violin played very very badly.

Nevermind she didn’t know a Damien. Sorry, whoever the hell you were, but you were her only hope.

Buried him myself! Yep!

She let out a deep breath, a gusty sigh, and smiled broadly. O, Sheogorath riddan sagon, she said joyously, turning her gaze up to the sky. No, wait, he was down below—or beyond—or whatever the hell the Void was. She snorted. Good riddance.

Her brows knitted together. So. . .niece, Maegi said, sizing the woman up. Nothing seemed right, though. All the dimensions were off, and she was too distracted by those cerulean eyes to take much stock in physics. Why have you been sent here, now? Is brother plotting his great, glorious comeback?

A flock of crows came fluttering down all a sudden, startled by something in the trees. A landed hawk, or perhaps a vulture. She might have ducked at the sudden maelstrom but was awestruck at the beauty of all that rippling darkness, those many pairs of beady eyes.

They welcome you, she remarked, voice a bit wry. One shat on her head, and she felt the sudden warmth and wetness on her temple. It slid down her cheek, dribbling down her chin. It smelled putrid.

Ah, to be home again. . .

Oh dear lords.

Nephele muttered a prayer under her breath to whoever was listening as she stared at the woman like she’d grown a second head. Or been shit on by a bird and didn’t freak out, which was Nephele’s reality now. Yay.

I’m afraid I don’t know. Yes good, play helpless as you can, that’s the way to do it. Be a spy, be a thief, even if you really aren’t one anymore and you were shit at it from the start and were just kinda the customer service line.

I wasn’t privy to the information, if you can believe it. Kept out of the loop. Soooooooooo I came here myself. Just to. Have a look around. See if daddy dearest was gonna drop by and surprise him. She wanted to go home yesterday. No more hanging out in the woods for her, she’d happily go back to the Mesa and never come back down again. Yeah, that was her schedule now. Fuck leaving.

Breathe Nephele. Having a panic attack right now wasn’t in the books.

Something switched within her. The birds retreated, the forest returned to quiet once more, and yet Maegi found her joy at having found a kinswoman wiped out. The pleasant movement of trees, the ever-so-gentle vibration in the air—it all dissipated.

She saw red. And she heard Anansi's death-scream, clear as the moment it had rang out, on an endless loop inside her head.

You don't have what it takes, she said, snarling, rounding upon the woman with a furious visage. You don't know the stuff of nightmares. Maegi has seen things you'll never know.

Have your children died before your eyes? Have your family been driven from their home? Has your mother told you that she hated you, that she wished she'd killed you before you were born?

Maegi lunged, and all around her, the world burst into flame. 

GET OUT! GET OUT! GET OUT!

"GET OUT! GET OUT!"

"MISERIA—" 
Smoke in her throat.

"HYPNOS!"
doomed

"I hate you."
Just a girl.

GET THE FUCK OUT OF THESE WOODS!

Her shriek may have been insignificant in the greater scheme of things, but in this moment, as the blood roared in her ears and her heart beat fast enough to burst. . .it could have shattered mountains.

She lunged, the madwoman did, but Nephele had been backing up from the moment she’d spun. In her entire life, it was moments like this where she knew it was either run or die.

So she chose run.

She didn’t say anything else, tucked her tail, and bolted like a coward. Because she was one, there was no shame in it for her. Staying alive was more important than personal pride, and besides. She’d never had much in the way of pride for herself. She’d leave the madwoman to her gibberings, leave the woods to their hauntings, leave everything and everyone she passed in her dust.

Nephele wouldn’t stop running until she was back on the Mesa. And even when she was there, she’d run until she found somewhere safe, high up, and surrounded on all sides to hide.

No more wanderings for her, at least not into the woods.

She took chase. Of course, even with her familiarity with the woods, rusty as it was, her clubbed foot soon found her lagging behind. 

Eventually, she pulled up hard, a cloud of old leaves and dirt floating up around her.

Stardust on earth. It sparkled, and smelled of the most homely things. 

Maegi began to laugh, then, sending hysterical howls in the direction of the retreating woman. Echoing off the trees, reverberating in her heart. 

Still chuckling, she gathered herself again, preening at her chest fur as if nothing at all had occurred.

She needed a bath. She smelled of fungus and bird shit. But after that. . .

Let's go home, Maegi, she murmured, and turned westward.