Sedna had taken her leave some days ago, under the pretence of finding the growing grounds of familiar herbs. She had no way to gather them, nor transport them over long distances currently, making note that perhaps she would need to track down someone who could make her one of those pouches or bags she had seen others take with them on such journeys. Of course, if she found something truely worthwhile she would carry it back clutched in her jaws, but that in itself had its limitations.

The wood around her was something astonishing, like nothing she had ever seen if she was honest. She was so busy looking up, that she noticed far too late a familiar scent right as she bumped into another warm and shaggy body. The girl skittered backwards, teeth bared and fur bristling, making her appear much larger than she was. When her eyes finally focused on just who she had run into the growl died in her throat, eyes narrowing with unveiled hatred. What was she doing here? The Archer-Lyall was sure the fall had killed her.

"speech".

a monster, a monster, and it keeps getting stronger

Much like her unwilling companion, the Avalon had her burning eyes turned skyward...well, what little of it there was to see between the towering treetops. She was almost certain she could climb up to the clouds like her little squirrel friend if he had the patience to teach her how to place her paws right.

The unexpected collision with her rear though, sent the smaller wolf reeling forwards with a high pitched yelp, her tail tucking out of instinct and her ears pinning back against her skull to make herself as small as possible in contrast to the silver woman’s bigness. There was something about her scent that made the brown girl tremble and her head throb. She cowered lower just wishing the world would swallow her whole. She didn’t know who this wolf was, but she was almost certain she didn’t want to know either.

"Percy". "Theo".

do I have to run and hide?

The scream of a yelp from the other wolf got the Archer-Lyall’s blood pounding, and again, they were on the mountain. There was no rumbling thunder to cover the larger woman’s growl this time, no flash in the dark illuminating clashing bodies. What had they been fighting over anyway? Oh, that was right. Again, the bitter taste came back in her throat, she didn’t even see the small red squirrel clinging among the darker brown fur of the other wolf. She was caught somewhere between then and now, just as disgusted with the other woman’s unquestioning submission as she had been with her overconfidence before. Why was it such a struggle for the girl to just... to just?

She hadn’t made a move to unravel herself from her place on the ground, there was no string of accusations tumbling from the other girls lips. Was she truely a ghost? "Are you real?"

"speech".

a monster, a monster, and it keeps getting stronger

The tension in the air was so thick you could cut it with a blade. The other wolf didn’t ease her aggressive stance no matter how much the Avalon tried to make herself smaller. Her eyes were squeezed tightly shut, waiting for the inevitable sting of teeth in her fur, what came instead though, might have shaken her even more than any physical attack.

Her eyes opened but looked anywhere except for on the woman in front of her"I-y-yes?" Her answer wasn’t nearly so certain as she thought she had been. Was this all a dream instead?

"Percy". "Theo".

do I have to run and hide?

The uncertainty in the other wolf’s response perhaps annoyed her more than the way she cowered there. At least she had the common sense not to stare, and the Archer-Lyall allowed herself a chance to set her footing, really looking at the ghost from her past with more certainty now that she knew the other wasn’t likely to retaliate for events of the past. "I thought you were dead." It was barely a whisper, laced with regret. She only regained her composure when she noted the angry look on the red rat that clung to the other woman’s neck. "And you," she addressed the squirrel with narrowed eyes, "Do you know who I am? What I’ve done?" He must if he was looking at her with such disdain. Her silver eyes settled on the T-shaped scar over the other woman’s temple. Clearly she didn’t remember. Sedna had to wonder if she would ever remember anything ever again.

"speech".

a monster, a monster, and it keeps getting stronger

Theo inhaled sharply as those cold, colourless eyes fell on him, small limbs gripping onto Percy for deal life, silently willing the wolf to get up to run and run and not look back, lest the hellion before them decided to finish what she started. His blood froze as all her attention was turned to him, but he always lacked the sense for self preservation his larger companion seemed to have in spades, for now. "’Course I do." It was hard to growl imposingly from such a small body, but boy was he going to try. He could feel the wolf trembling beneath him, and his desire to protect her was just as strong as ever. The woman before them was nothing more than a big bully, and she shouldn’t be able to have this sort of power over someone that didn’t even remember her. It wasn’t fair!

"Percy". "Theo".

do I have to run and hide?

Sedna spared herself a smirk for the plucky little rodent, her stance relaxing and her head lowering in silent apology to the squirrel that had been burdened with the fallout of her mistakes. She sighed heavily, "I imagine you already do more than your fair share, but do you want to help her? Maybe try to get some memory back, or at least hold onto the new ones?" The hard edge was gone from her voice. She was trying to be better, really she was, but there had always been something about the Avalon that put the Archer child on edge. After all, she was her mother’s daughter. Sedna closed the distance between them, nudging her cold nose unsympathetically into the brown girls ear. She had the look of so many Archers but she lacked the height. Maybe under other circumstances, they could have even been friends. "Get up, I won’t hurt you... this time." The latter was added with a smirk, and a tease in her tone. It wasn’t like the Archer-Lyall to make promises like that, but she figured when faced with a chance to at least somewhat atone for one of her previous misdeeds, well, she’d be a fool to pass it up, and it wouldn’t hurt to have the other woman thinking she owed her one.

"speech".

a monster, a monster, and it keeps getting stronger

The girls face scrunched when the cold wetness entered her ear, her neck retracting in on itself, though she lacked a turtle shell to provide her any protection. She had heard the words the other woman spoke to Theo, the defensive way he had responded, and her ears turned momentarily forward, though her head hung low as she rose up from her place on the ground, still fighting back momentary tremours that made their way through her body.

"Y-you know me?" Percy ignored the sharp, sudden tug on her ears, looking the silver woman over again, though the sight and sent of her made the darker woman’s head throb with a dull, skull splitting pressure. There was something of a storm in the way the other woman moved, the way the colours of her coat shifted and the low sound of a growl came from her chest. The Avalon was sure she didn’t really want to know the answer to her question, but now that it was out in the open, she didn’t have any excuse to take it back.

"Percy". "Theo".

do I have to run and hide?

The question was simple enough, what the Archer-Lyall hadn’t expected was the gut-churning blackness that roiled in her chest and begged her to give the girl the answer that she wanted. As a healer, she tried to do minimal harm (well, most of the time, as long as it suited her... there was still the incident with the nightshade rabbits, but that was a secret between herself and a dead man, and this one little incident that she thought had been dealt with but clearly hadn’t and she was yet to decide which way she would jump on this one...)

She looked the other woman in the eyes blankly, giving into her darkness just this once, after all, playing nice was so exhausting and she had more than had her fill of that lately. "I’m the reason you can’t remember me, or anyone else." She answered flatly, not bothering to see what effect her words had she turned her attention back to the squirrel on her back. "Chaga mushrooms, just a bite, daily. They grow up birch trees. You do know which trees are birch, don’t you?" Her tone was condescending.

All these emotions were exhausting to the girl and she still had a long way to travel. Her eyes passed over the Avalon once more, before turning as if she had never run into the woman in the first place. She continued north, entrusting the broken animal to her caring companion. Hopefully they would have the sense to stay away from the Armada, and if they happened to scent Sedna on the breeze they would turn around and go the other way. It would work out best for everyone that way.

Sedna exit

"speech".

a monster, a monster, and it keeps getting stronger

I’m the reason... Suddenly the girl was back home again, she was looking for her mother, who was overdue from a scouting mission and she knew they were on bad terms with the neighbours that stood between her mother and home. She had bailed up the silver child, accusing her of... of what, really? Her friend had gone missing, and they found him dead in the forest, a rabbit skin between his paws and the smell of them and now her mother was missing too. She didn’t hear the words the woman spoke to Theo, too wrapped up in long lost memories, shaking like a leaf in a hurricane, barely holding on. Her head throbbed and throbbed and the young wolf shook and wretched, bile burning her throat as she remembered. She remembered it all. The fight, and the thunder, the mud and the slip, and the fall.

Everything went black, and the earth rose up to meet her.

Percy exit

"Percy". "Theo".

do I have to run and hide?