It'd been a long time since Ara had left the mainlands. On the brief vacation that she and Novel had taken far from lands most familiar to them, so many years ago, they had briefly adventured to some of the islands that were visible off the coast. She'd never been the biggest fan of swimming but she knew that navigating to different terrains often led her to a larger variety of herbs, and that was something that definitely interested her. The last time she'd ended up on an island - not this exact one, but one significantly farther to the north - she'd met someone in need of help. Briefly she thought of the woman, hoping that her leg had healed quickly and she was faring well.

Truthfully, she found herself hoping that nobody would need her assistance today, though if it proved necessary she would help willingly and without complaint. Though she had always been the independent sort, she was definitely altruistic to the core; a trait she'd definitely not inherited from her father. A slight grin teased her lips as she recalled her parents as her paws hit solid ground as swimming became walking. She was chilled to the core, and briny ocean water dripped freely from her coat as she ambled up the sandy beach.

Ara had never been here before. From a distance she had seen the ruins, a hardly discernible mess of rock and rubble that made even less sense as she rounded on it. She'd heard tales of the beasts who walked on two legs, who lived in these strange dens -- she remembered the one that she'd known from her childhood, when she'd been part of the Seracia pack. It seemed as though nature had sought to reclaim what was originally theirs. Vegetation had overtaken much of the islands, trees springing high all around, vines and moss climbing over the walls of the crumbling structure. Curious, she padded closer, lifting her nose to test the scents in the air. This place was not claimed by any pack, though she hadn't expected it to be. She wondered how much prey she would even encounter here, if any. Surely this was a sanctuary for birds, though she doubted much else found this world very hospitable.

Something caught her eye as moved onward, gingerly padding over a pile of smooth broken glass, worn away by the ocean's tides. Though its edges had been smoothed, she was wary of the foreign matter and had little interest in testing it. Wedged under a small pile of bricks she saw something strange. Using her nose, she pushed some of the rubble to the side, taking a protruding piece of cloth in her mouth, she tugged it free from the wreckage. It was a tattered satchel, made of cloth, now fraying at the edges. Novel had found something like it once.

Briefly her heart lurched in her chest as she studied it, jaws unhinging as she dropped the handle and stared with pained eyes. For a moment she had thought it might've been her wife's, but she quickly decided it wasn't recognizable. It didn't make the thing any less easier to look at, though she recognized its usefulness. Ara studied it quietly for a long moment before sighing sharply. Making the decision to keep it, she lowered her head and slipped her nose under it, jerking her skull up under it until the strap fell over her neck. It wasn't terribly comfortable, but it was something she could find a use for, she figured.

"Ergh! U-uncle I-I don't think I can do it!" She coughed and sputtered as salt water attacked her tongue, the girl swallowing a bit of it and was disgusted that water could be so salty! "You're doing fine, Quake. I'm right here," She was afraid of swimming in these waters, but her uncle had somehow managed to convince her to agree to this endurance training. She knew he was doing it to get her mind off of her heat, and to help her train in the event she had to protect herself. She wasn't a fighter, after all, and her uncle knew that without his help, she would not even consider doing any sort of training for that particular field unless she was forced to. This however, she had agreed to because he had said there were herbs that she might not be able to find on the mainland. So he was accompanying her, knowing full well she had never swam in the ocean or gone as far as they were going now. She kicked out wildly with her paws at first until she got a steady rhythm going. Now she had to focus and get her breathing under control, and somehow quell the rising panic that threatened to take over every time a wave came at her. But through it all, her uncle had kept his pace slow to match hers so she wouldn't be as afraid as she might have been were she alone. Before she knew it, the island got closer and soon she felt her claws scrabbling at the sand and broken shells beneath her feet. She scrambled onto the shore as quickly as possible, her uncle following at a slower pace with a smirk. Once she was on dry sand, she panted and shook her coat free of as much water as she could. She then decided to try and groom down some of her fur, but as soon as she did the first stroke, she flinched away from herself. "Eeeww! Why is it so s-salty?" She whined, her body shivering as she tried to warm up in the sun. Her uncle simply chuckled as he too came to join her on the sand. The pair had made it. "W-what do we do now?" She questioned, crimson gaze turning to meet his similar gaze. "Well, you are going to see if you can find anything you haven't seen on the mainland. I am going to go investigate something. I'll call for you when it's time to go." Before she could say anything else, he had gotten up and ran up the beach. "W-what!? U-uncle Kakashi!" Too late. Not even her calling him did any good. "What do I do now..." She flicked her ears with uncertainty as she looked around. Her fur stuck up in odd angles as it started to dry with the sun's help, but sand stuck to her feet and legs which made her feel kind of itchy. Sighing, she decided she oughta have a look around, so she started down the beach in the opposite way her uncle had gone. She wandered a bit, heading a little inland and noticed that there were things she had never seen before. What lived here? Or rather, what used to live here? She hadn't heard stories about humans before, so she didn't know that this place was once inhabited by them. There were a lot of interesting things she saw, however. The structures that once stood proud and strong, were now crumbled and being taken back by nature. Beneath her feet, old debris and smooth shards of glass touched her, and she would occasionally lean down to sniff and nose them. Brows furrowed as she tried to put a name to what she was finding, but without knowing what any of it was, it was pretty impossible for her. Focused on her findings, she didn't quite notice right away the other she-wolf that also had come to visit the island. It wasn't until the winds brought her the pack scent mingled with the sea. Raising her head, she saw her. It was another she-wolf, and suddenly she got a little scared. It was a stranger, and Quake wasn't quite sure what to do with Kakashi gone. What if this woman was hostile? She supposed she could fight if she had to, but she would probably end up running instead. On top of that, she was exhausted from their swim to the island which in turn left her in no position to fight. She flicked her tail and ears with uncertainty, but the more she got the scent of the she-wolf, the more she sort of calmed down. She smelled like the neighboring pack...Fiori. The pack her father had fled to instead of coming back to Abaven. They were a peaceful pack weren't they? So this woman wouldn't harm her...right? Hesitantly, the young girl began to approach, head down in a submissive posture. "E-excuse me...d-do you know what this place is c-called?" She asked, stopping a couple of yards away. "Speak"

Ara felt quickly foolish for feeling as she had -- hope, mingled with fear for what it meant if this satchel did belong to her wife -- but it was hard to not let her mind slip into such somber thoughts. Quickly she regained her composure as she tugged the handle over her head, tipping her head up until it settled in a better position over her shoulders. She could only hope that she'd manage to hang on to the satchel until she got back to the mainland. Any herbs she found here likely wouldn't survive the journey, unless she carried them in her mouth, so she'd have to be careful about what she gathered. There was little sense in gathering herbs needlessly, only to abandon them here. Better leave them to grow for the next creature who might need them. Inhaling sharply, she moved from her stationary position, trying to get her mind back on track.

The breeze hadn't worked in her favor, so Ara hadn't noticed the arrival of another until she heard her gentle pawsteps. Feeling a bit frazzled, expecting to be alone here, Ara lifted her head to face the strange from a distance, her blue eyes clear and nonthreatening. The stranger seemed a bit timid, fearful even if she had to guess, and not at all dangerous. Her own head lowered slightly, tail curling against her hind legs to signify she wasn't a threat, either. She had no claim to this place, and would happy make her departure if anyone pressed the issue.

The girl was significantly younger than her, far too young to be called a child but close enough to the age of her own sons to consider her anything but. Ara's face twisted into a gentle smile. "Hello there," Ara offered, her voice soft as she took a few tentative steps forward. She was hyper-aware of the satchel that was draped around her shoulders, wondering briefly how the tattered cloth might look to the stranger. "I'm not sure, to be honest. It's my first time here." Though she wasn't much of an extrovert, she did crave conversation and company on occasion, and she decided this woman was a welcome distraction from her somber thoughts. "It's beautiful though, isn't it?" Ara's gaze left Quake to settle back on the buildings in the distance, wishing she knew why they had existed and how they had been put there -- the mystery of it all, though, made it all the more lovely.

Oops. The woman had noticed her, and if Quake were more fearful than she already was, than she might be shaking like a little chihuahua. She took a deep breath, trying to calm her racing heart, though when she saw the woman's posture and the way she presented herself, she did begin to calm down a little more. It seemed the woman was not going to attack her, and she definitely wasn't showing any hostility towards her being here. She swallowed back the fear that had kept creeping up on her, ears flicking nervously as she listened to the woman. She was a bit disappointed that the woman didn't know this place anymore than she did, but she supposed that was a given. After all, the structures she could see nearby were not made by any creature that she knew of, so there was no way anyone else would know how they got here either, right? She looked up at the buildings, the wild growth that had overtaken it and the way it crumbled, though still seemed to retain its beauty. At least, in her perspective. She wondered what it might have looked like in its glory days, in the days that it had first appeared. "It is beautiful...I've never seen anything like it." She admitted. And for once, her stutter didn't reveal itself. Maybe because she was momentarily distracted, or maybe she didn't feel as fearful as she did before. Or maybe she just didn't realize it, who knew. Turning her crimson gaze back to the woman, she noted that the she-wolf was much older than she was, maybe closer to her uncle's age, though even her uncle was older than this woman. Quake considered him ancient, and was probably the oldest wolf she knew. "Y-you're from Fiori, right?" She figured she'd ask, though the scent was obvious to her. "I-I'm from Abaven, I came here w-with my uncle.." She trailed off for a moment, looking around to see if he'd make one of his surprise appearances as he usually did, but with her luck, he probably wouldn't. When her uncle was on a mission, he seldom left it to do anything else until he was done, though she didn't know what he was up to anyway. Maybe scouting to see if the place was safe? She only wondered. "Speak"

Ara was grateful that the stranger seemed to calm not long after she saw that she meant no harm. Simple conversation was all she was after, and she would be content even if she was denied that. Not all wolves were interested in conversation, and she understood fully if she was among those wolves. She didn't seem totally opposed to talking, though; she admitted it was beautiful here, and Ara nodded slowly in repeated agreement. "Right?" The woman said simply, letting a sigh leave her lips. There was so much of the world she had yet to see, though she had a feeling few places would compare to this one. Still, she was partial to the forests, in particular those with willow trees and redbud trees, but this place did retain a particular type of beauty.

When Quake asked if she was from Fiori, she nodded easily. Though she wasn't as involved in the happenings of the pack as she knew she ought to be, she still felt very much like a member. "Ah, I know of Abaven," The pack was run by family - if she could still consider the Destructions her family. She really wasn't sure, and she found her posture faltering slightly as her mind lost track of their conversation for a moment. "I've heard good things about that pack. Do you enjoy it there?"

Briefly she found herself wondering if maybe she was a Destruction, but nothing about her appearance was familiar. Many Destruction wolves bore similar markings, and this wolf didn't strike her as similar at all. It didn't mean it wasn't a possibility, though. "My name's Ara, by the way," the woman offered after a short pause. It'd been awhile since she had abandoned her surname, feeling strange for using it after her wife's prolonged absence, though sometimes it still felt strange to refrain from using it too.