She felt only one true reason to keep living, and it was not to be found in the Hallows. While she had managed to relax a little she knew she didn’t belong in Auster anymore than she belonged in the Armada. Ulric and Tamsyn weren’t about to hold her against her will, and as far as she was concerned they met out any promise they had made. Deathbelle was alive and healthy when Tamsyn wished her good luck and returned once they reached Habari’s border. The days she was gone felt like an eternity. When everyday was a challenge to get through days felt like weeks.

Deathbelle didn’t know if or when Sirius had met with Recluse so the once Empress stopped at the border. Hesitating now that she was alone for the first time since.. She tried not to think about it because that only made her decision harder. Return to Habari, to her niece and to her children, or turn and disappear. No one would ever know where she went, she’d dissolve into memory and would slowly be forgotten. It sounded peaceful and alluring compared to the fight that it took to face her mistakes. To try and fight for her children.

Instead of making a real decision she lowered herself to her haunches and hung her head as the sun set over the pack lands. She lowered her gaze in reverence to the mountain that had ultimately been the beginning of her undoing and sat in silence.

Veigar was slowly growing into himself - he was no longer a small pup, now tall and gangly and slowly reaching his adult height - and though he was less naive he was no less aimless. He had no parents in Habari and he clung to any adult who'd give him the time of day, overly eager to please. With his somewhat frantic need to impress those around him came a much more eager, energetic boy; sometimes it took being loud and boisterous and over-enthusiastic to stand out among the rest of the youth in Habari and he was willing to do whatever it took to be noticed, however it made his peers look at him.

It'd been a long while since he'd seen Deathbelle, and though he missed her he wouldn't worry too much over her absence. Everyone in life left, eventually - his father had gone before he was born and his mother was little more than a hazy, distant memory. He remembered her smell and her voice, though little else. Somewhere deep down he knew everyone else was temporary and would eventually leave him - though Deathbelle's scent suddenly drifting toward him seemed to jerk him abruptly from his somber thoughts. She was home! Without hesitating he scrambled up onto all fours and headed toward the redbud forest in search of her. Once she was close, he tipped his head back toward the setting sun and let loose a call to tell her he was coming - and no doubt alert everyone else in the process - but he was simply happy she was home. It wasn't long before he bounded into her, seemingly oblivious to her mood as he rushed to embrace her, silently thrilled that he was the first one to find her.

She sighed softly to herself, Deathbelle was still internally debating her place here in Habari. More so her place on earth, it seemed like all of her problems had become so small. Nothing felt like it mattered, she both wanted to disappear, and yearned to charge forward and take back what had been taken from her. Her hope was gone, and the latter option was and would be impossible and she knew that fact. Her brow furrowed further as her heart continued to break. She was alone now and the state she was in did not lend to her mental stability. The one Empress felt like she was on the edge of a precipice, she could take a step forward and end all of her suffering, or she could step back and reevaluate where and what her life was going to go.

Before she could fully make any kind of choice there was a familiar voice that reached her mismatched ear. The sound of relief and the joy that she heard in that voice nearly brought her to her knees and it did bring tears into her eyes. His not so tiny feet carried him towards her, his long legs galloping into her thin frame. She lost her breath but not by the force of him it was his determination and his unconditional love as he wrapped his arms around her.

”Veigar.” She uttered softly as she put her speckled arms around him. She hadn’t realized just how much she missed him, and at that moments she knew she needed him. Needed this unabashed affection and love. ”Hey, I love you, you know that right?” She asked him softly as she buried her features into his neck and let the tears flow from her eyes. Her heart was broken beyond repair but she could feel it beating again for this sweet boy.

Family was a concept Veigar didn't quite grasp. Anyone who cared enough to give him guidance felt like family - as he grew older he was beginning to understand that he didn't have family in the same way most wolves did. His parents were gone, and though there were wolves around him who cared for him, they would never be quite the same as blood. Even Deathbelle had her own children, children who would no doubt come before him if it came down to it - and though he wouldn't let those thoughts consume him they were still there, ever-present. They followed him like a dark rain cloud, looming and threatening to spill open.

But all he cared about now was that Deathbelle was home, and it was he that had found her. Not one of her children. They were nowhere to be found. He buried himself in her scruff, so overjoyed with her presence that he hardly noticed that she'd begun to cry. It took a long while for him to register it as he enjoyed the moment of embrace. Feeling loved and accepted was intoxicating to the young boy, and he basked in the feeling for a long uninterrupted moment before he pulled away just slightly. "I love you too, Deathbelle. What's wrong? Did I do something?" He didn't think so but he couldn't help the worries from creeping in. He wracked his brain for anything that could've upset her, that either he had done or someone else might've.

Deathbelle had her many flaws and mistakes underneath her belt, a lifetime of bad decisions and regrets. A life filled with many regrets. That was why she was even here, blessed to have any part of the young innocent life before her. And yet she was trying to exacerbate those mistakes and make them again. Or make that final decision and hurt those who still cared about her even more. Her mind was far too often stuck on the wrongs, and that was why she was so delicate right now, riding the razor’s edge.

Belle held onto Veigar for a long time, and he clung to her in earnest as well. There wasn’t much brightness the once Empress had to look at anymore. The life she once knew was over and she’d become a shell of herself. What was left clung to Veigar as her arms did now. No one had come but him, he was the one who really cared after everything she had done.

He pulled away from her, only enough that their eyes could meet and the boy could speak up sweetly, he returned her sentiment and those words meant the world to her. ”No, Veigar.” She tried to assure him as she blubbered through the overwhelming emotions. ”You’ve done everything right, it’s me… It’s me that’s made all of the mistakes.” She cried softly, knowing he didn’t deserve to see her like this but the woman couldn’t help the emotions. There were far too many feelings and her regrets were piled far too high.