Dragoncrest Cliffs Dude, this is a Wendy's restaurant.

for @Val, mayhaps? AW tho, being vague with how much she knows about various injuries

This morning, Lilitu was feeling strong enough to leave the healing den. Not that she made it far. The young woman took a few teetering steps into the light, then sank down again, panting as she looked out at the nearby water and more or less wishing for death.

No, that wasn't fair. The Sapphique wolves had put too much into healing her; she'd feel guilty for wanting to die now.

She was alive, and she was here. But undoubtedly changed. She sprawled out on her belly, splaying her forelegs in front of her and placing her head on said legs. Ribs lifting, falling in a deep sigh. The sound of wind and nearby waves keeping her company, but not much else.

Well, besides her racing thoughts. And those never stopped.

val had yet to meet the newest bear-punching bag. when he came across her he gasped silently, for her silvery fur was bladed with troublesome wounds.

it appeared his mothers had not overstated the depth of lilitu's injuries -- they were grave and val marveled that she was alive at all. how many wolves now were touched by the spirit of the bear? val imagined merrick rolled in his grave with pleasure.

what are you thinking? val ventured as he caught her staring off into the waters.

The voice cut into her thoughts, and she turned, taking a couple seconds to register the question before she answered.

I dunno, she replied sullenly. 'Why,' I guess. Or how this happened.

She turned to the other wolf—he was around her own age, she thought, dark and lithe. Didn't look like the other wolves of tan and gold and russet that she'd encountered.

I'm missing an eye, right? Lilitu continued, though it wasn't a question. Her voice was bitter. I guess I'm also wondering how ugly I am.

She sighed, and stretched back out, looking toward the sea again.

i don’t think you’re ugly. val countered immediately, setting upon his heels. but yes, it looks like your eye may be lost. his voice was solemn yet full of hope. my maman is missing an eye and i think she is one of the most beautiful souls i know. now you have a battlescar and an impressive story to tell your children someday.

come to think of it, he’d never asked how rosalyn had lost it in the first place. you can’t think too hard about these things. sometimes the bear just comes. he frowned abstractly, remembering ursus with a bitter pang on his tongue. i’m val by the way.

He was good at this, Lilitu thought, immediately cushioning the truth with a compliment. (Or maybe he really meant it.) Either way, it brought a faint smile to her face, which grew at the mention of his Maman and the legacy she had left.

I'm Lilitu, she offered, once he'd given his own introduction. I didn't mean any offense about your mother—does she live here?

One thing he'd said, though, haunted her: 'Sometimes the bear just comes.' It brought to mind all the dreams, visions, nightmares. . .whatever you'd call them. The fact that when the bear did emerge, its terrifying form and visage was all too familiar to her.

She wondered what he knew. But it could wait. Mainly because the thought of asking scared her.

don't worry, val tried in that moment to make it known he hadn't been offended. you didn't insult me or her. his tail lightly swept at the snow as reassurance.

she does. that's rosalyn -- you may have met her wife, erzulie. val wasn't sure how many wolves lilitu had met yet - sapphique was close knit, but its parts were ever revolving. the faces that guarded the roja den could change at any given hour.

are you comfortable here? do you need anything? and where was it you came from?

She felt a cathartic relaxation as Val explained he wasn't offended, followed by an explanation of who everyone was. Erzulie, she thought she knew—the kind woman who'd helped her first, an older woman, clearly in charge.

Lilitu's tension faded and she nodded at his first question, then stilled at the next two.

I'm fine, Val, she said, glancing up at his dark visage, his bright eyes. He was handsome in a strange way, a windblown rakish young man. I'm from Brecheliant, she explained. It's way inland. But I was looking for my sister, Arielle.

She didn't even pursue that train of thought. If they knew Arielle, they'd respond, but she doubted that. It was merely an explanation, now, not a lifeline.

arielle.

val's blood turned cold.

any warmth that might have been visible to lilitu before drained. he forgot he'd offered help just seconds before.

arielle.

surely not the same one that tried to kill a child, that tried to tear his throat from his body -- surely not the bear-mad, raving creature -- surely just a coincidence... right?

his throat bobbed. arielle...? now that arielle's face was conjured in his memory, he almost thought he saw traces of it in lilitu. ursus arielle?

His face shifted, and she stiffened. She looked at him, and her jaw dropped as he spoke, her muzzle dipping forward to catch every word.

Yes, she whispered, eyes widening. My sister. You know her?!

Her heart was racing faster in her chest, and she could have risen to all four paws if she'd the strength. Instead, she was insistent upon Val's response and hopeful and oh—

Arielle! Her sister!

He knew where she was!

lady, your sister is batshit crazy. val nearly blurted. or was it bearshit crazy? either way: arielle was a deliberately repressed shadow in his memory. val was clearly discomfited by arielle's presence lingering in his mind.

he steeled himself. his gaze turned to lilitu, who now leaned close. her eye had that bright hint of longing desperation; her face spoke nothing but love.

val sighed.

i knew her, but it has been some time. did he spill that he insulted the clan of bears, practically spat in arielle's face by stealing a child that both she and her mate wished to murder? this seemed like a heavy topic for a first interaction -- besides, who knew if lilitu would even believe him?

i used to live in ursus. i -- his gaze searched the grey skies above. i thought aventus was my friend. but in any event, last i saw them they were -- an image of aventus face down in a pool of his own blood rose to val's mind. in bearclaw valley.

Her fascinated countenance turned to something of confusion, as Val spoke.

I never lived in Ursus, she answered, shoulders rising in query. Aventus? Who's that?

Arielle's life was obviously a foreign language to her. She could piece it together, bit by bit, but she'd never have the whole of it. And the way Val reacted, she wasn't sure she wanted to know.

But she did.

Where's my sister? she asked softly.

disconcerted as val was, his tensed shoulders softened as he learned lilitu did not know of aventus' fixture in arielle's life.

maybe it was a different arielle. oh, val hoped.

he was her mate. val swallowed, stifling the memories of his last encounter with them. it was better lilitu did not own an image in her head of her sister rounding upon a child to rip it to shreds.

of course, if it was even the same arielle. i don't know where she is. maybe it's a different arielle. i left that group nearly a year ago. but last i saw them they were in bearclaw valley. that's -- val measured the sun's position in the sky. very inland. almost entirely south of us.

Val's obvious discomfort got under her skin. She listened, mouth drying, and gave a small start when he mentioned 'Bearclaw Valley.' 

Not a different Arielle.

I'm sorry, Val, she responded after a moment of quiet, feeling awkward. I. . .didn't want to make you feel bad. I've been there—Bearclaw Valley. They're gone. And I'm not sure where she is.

The more she learned about Arielle, the worse it became. Lilitu's face sagged in a heavy frown, eyes—eye—darkening.

It's her, she murmured.

it hadn’t been val’s intention to discourage lilitu. he wondered at the pair’s lives that one would end a bear-maiden, the other nearly a bear-meal.

did you know that she worshipped bears? val tried a small smile, though it faded quickly when the severity of all those memories resurged. he wasn’t sad to learn that lilitu had visited bearclaw and it stood empty. he would never forget that forest — how even the trees and the red pine below seemed disposed and full of old wounds. i’m sorry. i hope you find her someday. he knew, in a deep way, what it was like to lose a sibling; he only hoped in her case it was not forever.

a call sounded from the roja den. val rose with a slight smile in apology, making his exit while the thought of lilitu's connection to his buried past gnawed upon him.