break it to me hard

Step 1.
Find a way back to the mangrove.

Step 2.
Find Australis, Aurora, and Magnus.

Step 3.
Make every apology I can think of.

Three steps. Three easy steps, right? That was all it would take to bring her home again. She would repeat these three steps over and over in her head until they became ingrained in her psyche. Mangrove. Family. Apology.

Her explanations wouldn't matter to Australis. He was a tough nut to crack. He had once been her everything; they practically raised each other until Aurora came back into the picture. Australis never had forgiven her though...She had left her two pups without anyone to rear them. They had tot each themselves to hunt, and then Zlata had left him.

She felt so stupid. It hadn't been so long ago, but all of Alacritis smelled of death, and it had sent the girl running back to Ludicael to ensure her family's safety. They would have a lot of work to do, but Zlata knew that they could all pull through.

Zlata allowed her body to stop just before the border of Ludicael, and gave herself the permission to smile. This was it. She could smell it! Her family would be just across this scent marker if she played her cards right. Who now was even alpha of Ludicael? Word on the wind had it that someone new had taken over, but who? Silver eyes would squint in thought as her brain picked through old memories. The only wolves she could think of were Aurora, Song, and Novel. Well if rumors were true, then Song couldn't help her. And she was not quite ready to confront Aurora. Perhaps Novel had taken on a position to accept?

Without a second thought the silver girl would tilt her muzzle to the sky, ebony ears flattening against her skull as she let out the youthful howl she had never yet practiced. It was summoning Novel directly in hopes that she would remember her voice, though matured by now.