Dragoncrest Cliffs And the most she will do

AW! Going for her rogue specialty

Lilia's curiosity got the better of her. When she'd gone to look for Quennell, he'd left the Silver Moraine, and had disappeared. With a new snow fallen, she found it nearly impossible to track him, and assumed that he'd made the choice to leave. Maybe he felt humiliated, having to be cared for, and had left so that he wouldn't have to turn down her offer to take him back to the Rise. She felt slighted, but in spite of that, she travelled through the tangle toward the borders of Sapphique with a plump hare in her jaws. 

She was learning how to negotiate peacefully with other packs- and figured the hare might be a good way to break the ice, if Quennell wasn't the one to greet her at the borders. She figured if anywhere, he would've gone back to the oceanside pack.

*steals*

She'd been lingering near the border, unsure of what to do. She wanted to flee. Wanted to leave it all behind, to start a new life elsewhere.

Except the guilt would burden her anywhere she went.

She couldn't run from her conscience.

Instead, Lilitu saw the girl with prey and moved in that direction, slowly, quietly. She gave a weak chuff and nodded slowly, acknowledging the other's presence.

Yes? she croaked; her voice broke. She hadn't spoken aloud in in days.

I'm gonna have the worst time telling the difference between "lilia" and "lilitu" XD

She imagined what she might say to Quennell, if she discovered he had come back to his homelands. Perhaps she should be offended that he'd left, unappreciative of her care. Maybe she should be merciful, for the amount he'd gone through, and try to win him back by being sympathetic. Was she being too kind in bringing a meal at all? No...Not when there was a chance he wouldn't be the one to greet her. She still wanted to have something to bargain with. 

The one who approached put a pause in Lilia's trivial thoughts. The woman was scarred, and had a distant look to her eyes. She seemed wary, and weary of her own wariness at the same time. The pack still existed, then- but how much trouble had the bear cost? There was a hoarseness to the woman's voice, almost as if she'd been weeping. Lilia flattened her ears. 

Maybe being curious came at a cost. 

"I uh...I'm Lilia, I'm from uRedtail Rithe. I'm a friendth with Quennell, an' he told me...There'd been a bear attack, tho...I came to thee how...How everyone wath...Doing, after? Oh, an' I brought...Thome food." She spoke with attempted empathy, though she had been caught off guard by how haunted the greyed woman looked.

Lilitu reached forward, snatched the food, brought it across the border. Sorry, she murmured, then howled to @Mireille and Chacal. They'll be better to answer you.

She let out a deep breath. Redtail Rise, you say? Tell me about your pack.

The prey-scent was heady in her nostrils and she found it hard to concentrate elsewhere. Still, she did so, focusing upon the other's visage instead.

Her vision still swam.

just inhaled my soda pop and choked and spluttered at that gif, i say soda pop to infuriate everyone from every US region at once

it was a good thing that a feminine voice rose up; mireille would not have tolerated a summons from any man at that moment. she shoved away from the tide-pools she had been attempting to fish, cracked her last clam; she chewed its meat as she came to join lilitu and the stranger who smelled of redtail.
"has de bear come to de rise?" she asked in a voice made rugged by grief.

Woah. 

Her ears flicked back. The pack was definitely hurting; the woman apologized but Lilia, stunned, simply shrugged and shook her head dismissively. If they needed food that bad, she could have it. The realization that her neighbouring pack had been weakened this much left a foul taste in her mouth that was oddly delicious at the same time. Avicus might be pleased to know that misfortune had come to those who had refused to join them in battle. 

The woman called for Chacal, so she assumed that the jackal-woman had survived. 

Why was this woman asking about her pack? She must be new, Lilia thought. Uninformed. That might mean she wouldn't have to share too much information. "We're uh, jutht to the eatht of the brambleth," She said, meaning the Tangle. "Our leaduh'th name ith Avicuth," She said. Her lips twitched faintly when she spoke the Wealda's name, knowing that she couldn't pronounce it properly. Ironic, considering that Avicus herself was incapable of pronouncing it the way others did as well. "We live by a mountain, in the foretht," She said. Vague details that were free to share; and spreading Avicus' name, she felt, could do them no harm. 

From the woods that bordered the territory drew a wolf not unlike her own leader in colour, though her face was freckled and her eyes bright and green. Her voice, as well, was rough-edged. A blade that had been blunted in battle. 

"No." She said, with a shake of her head. Mireille's concern was reassuring, though. "I thaw..." She was here to get information, not give it- but considering the circumstances, she didn't see any harm in letting them know. "I'm thorry, I'm...I heard. I met Njord, an' thome woman an their kid. Thaid there wath a bear attack, an' that it wath....Bad." She said. "I found Quennell about a week aftuh....Did he come back here? He wathn't where I left him when I went to catch him thome food..."

When Mireille approached, Lilitu stepped back.

The girl knew about the bear attack, about the deserter Quennell—

Lilitu had words, but she held them tight. Didn't dare let them slip. Her eyes merely strayed sidelong toward Mireille, assessing the situation.

An ally, Lilia was. But how close?

quennell. her eyes narrowed on the young wolf, not in anger but in surprise. "my brot'er been missin' a while," she said in that same muted tone.
and yet. "since de bear."
ears stood tall. her brother lived, and she had this rise hunter to thank for it.
njord; another brother. had the other child born to meerkat been lost?
"thank you. i was worried he too died." mireille felt a touch of her spirit returning. she would inform @Chacal once this meeting had ended. "can you tell me which way he be goin'?"

Quennell was her brother? She supposed she could see a bit of a resemblance, though the two definitely sounded different when they spoke. Mireille spoke more like the Chacal, she thought; so perhaps they were related as well, though Quennell hadn't referred to Chacal as his sister. Their family dynamics like had a few tangles here and there, she decided. 

"Well, I thaw him aftuh, tho he thurvived, an' I fed him, though I ain't theen him thinth." She said, with a shake of her head. "Eatht of here, in the mountainth near the glacier. That'th where I theen him latht." She said softly. She felt slighted, but perhaps she wasn't the only one he'd run away from. If he hadn't come back to Sapphique...Then perhaps he'd decided to ditch on all of them. She hoped that was the case, anyway. She would prefer him to be a runaway rather than being a carcass. 

Something about Mireille's phrasing occurred to her only after she'd explained where Quennell had been seen last, and she froze. "You lotht...You lotht otherth?" She questioned quietly. "Avicuth would...Want to thend her thympathieth...She knowth thome of your memberth," She said with a tip of her head. She wanted the names- but at the same time, felt that was something that could only be given, not demanded.

mireille's lips tensed. "we lost my maman erzulie. an' my brot'er, sobo. my ot'er mot'er, she pursued de bear."
the glacier. quennell was alive. her heart hurt; she wanted to run to him but stayed rooted beside lilitu. "tell avicus t'ank you. i want to come visit, ah. soon. when dis all be past."
as much as it could be.
"an' for takin' care of quen. he be needin' it," mouth wanting to smile but only twisting.

sorry for holding this up!

She could feel Mireille's pain, and was shocked to learn that one of the pack's leaders (or so she assumed) had been killed. She took note of the names, as they would need to be reported to Avicus, who might make more sense of them. 

"You'd be welcome." She offered, even though it wasn't her place to say. But she thought in light of the situation, their relationship with Sapphique might change; if the bear came again, it would be too easy for it to go East, rather than West. She accepted the thanks graciously, and bid the mourning travellers adieu, before taking the news to her leader.