Fia had finally taken the responsibility of a patrol given the circumstance of the new pack next door. The time alone was... deadly. It was becoming deadly to her. To those who knew her best, Avacyn and Saracyn, she may not have seemed remotely the same sister that left. She was still quiet, kept to herself. But she was different. It was like an energy about her. Like static.

She made her way to their home island after she had done her job, looking less than enthused. She went back and forth between wanting to drink tonight or not, she tried not to do it too often but it was hard not to. Deep in her mind she knew it was becoming a problem, but she tried to ignore those feelings that tried to stop her from destroying herself. It was better to try to drown out and forget everything. When given the opportunity, the wine would win.

However, when she went to the stores the shelves were empty. She stood for a moment and stared like a fire was burning through her after she had decided yes, she would need the bottle after a 'hard' days work. She took a deep breath and turned to leave the stores with a curl in her lip as she exited. She felt gross, like a child. God, what had become of her? She took a moment before nearly stomping off to make her way up the mountains and back to her den.

"Fia"

Fiametta was back home again, and Saracyn was… glad, he supposed. As they’d grown up together and Sara had mellowed out with age, he’d come to appreciate the middling Mendacium pup more and more. Plus having one of his kin disappearing was a concerning notion, not just for her sake, but for the reputation of the family too. How would it look to the rest of Ardent if they knew a wolf of alpha blood had gone missing without a trace? Thank the gods she had returned to them whole. But the state in which she’d returned had Saracyn questioning her wellbeing—as well as what the hell had happened to her in her absence. Fia was not the same wolf she was when she’d gone missing. The worst possible scenario immediately popped into the Commander’s mind, but he dared not entertain it. No Mendacium would ever be made a victim of.

Evening took over from day, Saracyn finishing up his routine duties as Commander to make sure the pack was safe with the newest dangers right on their doorstep. Night patrols were being run along the western borders and the crimson speckled brute was heading back to his den for the evening. He reached the base of the mountain path just as Fia was heading up as well, likely going back to her own den for the night too. There was an anxious energy about her; a restlessness that seemed to radiate from her like an aura. Sara studied her for a moment with narrowed brows, picking up his pace to close the distance and catch up to her. "Someone's in a sour mood," he called out to her to get her attention, a wry half smirk on his lips. As he came closer, his glowing facial marking gently illuminated their faces in the dark. "What bit your ass?"

"Saracyn Mendacium"

As her soft paws pounded across the hard surface of the mountain trail, she would stop as Sara had called out at her. Her brother was always welcome to her, beside Avacyn. Sara had been pretty brutish in the past, but it had never bothered Fia. She saw her two older siblings as the closest wolves to her. Though she did believe Avacyn to be more understanding on an emotional level. Maybe she'd be surprised one day.

As she stopped and turned toward Saracyn, a humored scoff ran over her maw as she shook her head softly. "I don't suppose you have a treasure of liquor hidden somewhere?" Had Saracyn not stopped her, she would have went back and sulked in her den. But if he was willing to bear the burden of her presence then she would ask. "There was much more than a few days worth the last I was in the stores." The most explanation he was going to get for now. No matter if he refused her anyways, she was expecting to go to bed empty handed.

"Fia"