He left Art and Briar catching up, and left in the direction the Aegis had pointed him in. Apparently he might have some issue in finding her. She had a habit of coming and going as she pleased, erratic and unpredictable. But she had last been seen out on the grounds, so he had a starting point.

He left at a light trott, heading in a general direction, and searching for her scent. He was almost afraid he wouldn’t recognise it when he found it. So catching it gave him some relief. It was different, and changed, as she had grown older and lost the scent of his pack and gained others. But it was Io, of that there was no doubt. He found her crouching on the ground, fiddling with something in her paws that he could not see. “Io? Iolaire?” he asked softly. Crouching down beside her.

"Speech"

With her home flooded and the mushrooms and crystals pushing closer and closer to the skull where she lived, Iolaire had retreated to the strong walls of the castle that her mother had called home. The castle where her younger siblings now resided. It was hard to see them like that. It was hard to see anyone. They were all dead. Drifting along. Wraiths in a blowing world. Most of them didn't even realize that they were dead. It was unfortunate. As Io sprawled out in the dark grass, she fiddled with a little contraption. In her white tipped paws, she held a tiny prototype for a new sledge that she planned to craft in the winter. A little string tied to the front was pulled along between two dexterous digits and she surveyed the way that it moved over the grass. What changes could she make? What alterations were needed? A voice from behind and the heavy pressure of a presence beside her pulled the wily woman's green and gold eyes upwards. She blinked a few times, not entirely sure if the man beside her was real or not. When he didn't fade or disappear, Io's face screwed up slightly. "Ah, Sirius. You're dead too, I see." She gave her head a shake and went back to looking at her tiny sleigh. "Unfortunate," she added almost as an afterthought. "Speech"

A closer inspection showed a small sled, child-like in size but well crafted. Functional, almost. Her words were so close to Resin’s warning… he looked down at his paw. The gold still clinging to his toes, reminding of the woman he had spoken to. He had a feeling he would need her strength for this conversation.

“I’m not that easy to kill, Io. Others have tried, but I’m still here.” he said gently, crouching down beside her. “Is that a cart pulled by hummingbirds?” he teased gently, reaching a paw over to touch to her own. Giving her ample opportunity to pull away. He had no idea how she would react to being touched. He had so much he wished to talk to her about. He ached to ask about Roan, but he was not so foolish as all that. He ached to ask her to come home, but all good things took time.

"Speech"

Her dead brother's words met her ears and brought about a chuckle from the emaciated fae. "A prototype. I'm going to carve a lifesize version at some, though I don't know who will pull it." Wrinkling her nose a bit at the sudden conundrum that she'd posed for herself, the black, grey and white fae looked around. "Maybe The Hallows should raises horses. Or get a moose or something. A moose could surely pull a sleigh, right?" Wild fantasies flitted through the fragile mind as she imagined trying to wrangle a moose into a harness.

Suddenly Sirius' paw was atop hers and Iolaire looked at it for a long moment. He was dead. She was dead. The touch didn't surprise her, but it was a foreign feeling. Not many bothered to touch her and she didn't bother in return. A little hmmph, left her throat and she forced a smile up at the man, her eyes crinkling at the corners. "How long have you been dead then? It's been a while for me. You don't seem used to it yet." Extracting her paw from beneath his own, she went back to inspecting her little wooden cart.

"Speech"

“If you wish a moose to pull it, I’ll catch you one myself.” he promised. It would need to be young, or they would never teach it to pull such a contraption. For a moment he found his mind considering the problem, turning it around in his head… and then he shook it. The present. That was what was important. Perhaps there would be time in their future to capture something that his sister could use.

She let him hold her paw over hers for a few moments, and then pulled it free, asking him a question he struggled to answer. “No time at all, I hope. And not for a long time yet. I have new grandchildren recently pushed into this world. I would like to see them grow. Wouldn’t you like to meet them, Io?” he asked softly. He didn’t try to place his paw again. He rested it gently in the earth, aching to pull the other wolf into his arms.

"Speech"

Sirius promised her a moose and Iolaire laughed aloud, a bit of her old life in that chuckle. "You might need to be a little bigger to catch me a moose, brother." Teeth flashed as she grinned, but she never really got her gaze close to his as though it was difficult to meet his gaze. In some ways it was. Looking into the eyes of one that she had reminded her of one that was lost. But if he was lost... why was he not here with her in the afterlife? Just as quickly as she smiled, Iolaire's expression dropped into a fretful frown. She tried not to think about why Roan wasn't here with her in the land of the dead. Again Sirius assured her that he wasn't dead. She didn't believe him, of course. He was just in denial. She supposed that it was acceptable to believe that you were alive while you were dead since the land of the dead was nothing more than another plane of existence. According to him, he even had dead grandchildren being born on this plane. How nice was that? He asked if she wanted to meet them and again Io wrinkled her dusty blue nose. "Why would they want to meet me?" She was just old and mad. The looks that she got from the other wolves in the world assured her of that. She was welcome here with her mother's adopted children, but even they had a way about them that made her think they believed she was fragile. Hmm, maybe she was. "Speech"

He gave her a grin through bared lips. “I’ll take that gamble” he teased, even if he had become a little more cautious and mellowed his later years. He simply liked to hear the sound of her laugher. It was a noise he was not sure he would ever hear again. Once more, he had to fight the urge to pull her closer. Hold her tight, and breathe in the familiar scent of her. He had lost Resin, and Io was the only wolf left he called sibling.

As for her question… “Because you are family, and because they should love you as I do.” he said simply. But even that wasn’t all of it… “And because you are the greatest healer I know, and I wish for them to learn from you.” he admitted. He thought of what Sedna had said. He knew he had given little thought to the healing aspect of his pack. Perhaps Armada would have fared better if he had had more healers.


"Speech"

The man's answer gave her pause and she considered it for a moment. A long moment. Then that familiar, contemplative hum left her and she shrugged. "I don't know. I'm not much of anything anymore, Sirius. Just sand on the breeze. Snow in the air. Dust in the wind. To and fro, I drift along. Here and there. In and out. All about. No place for too long. Easy to get lost sitting still, me." Again she shrugged. "I could meet them, but I doubt I'd stay for long." It was hard to stay in one place. When she sat still, she remembered. That was the last thing that Iolaire wanted. "Why are you here?" One dark ear flicked to catch his answer, but she still didn't look at him. The fiddling of her paws had stilled though as though she was truly paying attention. Why had he come all this way? Surely their meeting was just a coincidence. "Speech"

“I would like that very much” he said gently, not willing to push her. If there was one thing he had learned in his long life, it was patience. He could, and would, wait and give her time. As much as she needed. She would always be his sister, and he would treat this version of her with love and patience. As she had once treated him, when he was injured, or when he needed her aid. She had been there, and it hurt him to know he had missed out on being there for her.

“Re-- Er. I heard that you were here, so I came immediately to see you.” he said, wincing at the word that had almost slipped from his muzzle. This wolf, who thought herself dead, who had suffered loss… he did not know what would trigger her, but he felt it prudent to avoid the name of their mother. He rubbed his paw across the gold coating his paw once more. Wondering if he shouldn’t have asked Resin further advice before letting her go.


"Speech"

He'd heard that she was here? "Mmm," she said, once again contemplatively. "Little birds everywhere. Always watching and sharing secrets. Funny that they should tell you that I'm here. I've been here the whole time. She didn't blame him for not finding her sooner. She hadn't exactly sought him out either. It had been sheer chance that she'd come across this new batch of Carpathians. Who else had she seen? "Did you know Deathbelle is dead too? I saw her once, crying out in the mist." Io shrugged again, noncommittally. "We were separated. Things are strange in this place." She couldn't even say for certain that it had been Deathbelle, but she was pretty sure that it had been. "I wonder what happened to her sometimes, but it's fleeting. Everything is." Back in the world of the living, she'd loved the woman. Now... what was love? What was anything? "Speech"

“Then I wish they’d told me sooner.” He said, making no effort to correct her assumption. He would not mention their mother, uncertain how she would react. How she treated this line she had drawn in the dirt and called ‘death’ when the true dead could sometimes walk among them.

Io mentioned Deathbelle, and Seer visibly flinched. She might as well have whipped him across the mouth with the reaction he involuntarily gave. Crying out in the mist There was something broken inside of him, that would always be broken for as long as Deathbelle hurt. But, to live, he pretended it did not exist inside of him.

“I broke her heart.” He said plainly, honestly, laying himself bare.

"Speech"

He'd broken Deathbelle's heart? "Why would you do that?" She asked with a wrinkled nose. "Aren't you two lifelong friends?" There had been some thing about him being her servant once upon a dream. However long ago that was and in whatever world. That things had come so far for her to be broken... it just wasn't right. "I know we're all dead, but it obviously makes you feel bad. Shouldn't you try to mend that bridge?" That made the most logical sense to her. Logic was usually right. "Are you going to stay the night at the castle?" Like flipping a switch, the woman changed the subject. "You should see the meat that they have in that place. Beats eating mice and grasshoppers." Enki caught her food when he went hunting, but Io liked to provide for herself, as always. She was a stellar mouse catcher, if she did say so herself. "Speech"

“My childhood best friend, and someone who knew me like no one else did. But… It seems life makes everything complicated. I very much wish that I could make it up to her. I would give much to bring her back into my life, to be my friend again. But I can not give her the one thing she wants most from me.” He explained softly. Opening up to this simplistic, almost childlike-version of his dear sister.

“I plan to” he agreed, he had already made the long journey down. And, he had no doubt Briar would not wish to leave again immediately after arriving. “Have you been… living off mice and grasshoppers?” he asked gently. Very grateful that she had least felt comfortable eating and taking what she needed from the castle. Perhaps he ought to talk to Art about it, as well. See if he wanted any repayment for the kindness he was showing his sister.


"Speech"

The sorrow in Sirius' voice brought Iolaire's paw out to gently pat his own. "If it's meant to be, it will be. All you can do is try if it's important to you." She didn't understand what could have transpired between the pair and she didn't ask. Iolaire wasn't a digger. Not anymore. If information was given, she would take it, but rarely did she ask questions of others anymore. They seemed... inconsequential in this state. Perhaps that was cold of her, but she'd taken to death a lot more quickly and more easily than most. She imagined they'd all get to this jaded state eventually. "Dying off of them, sure." She corrected with a little chuckle. "Funny how one still works up an appetite while being dead. No one knows how death works until you die. Who could have suspected that we'd be hungry?" She was thin and boney and her pelt no longer gleamed with the care that she used to take with it. So many things had changed in her life and death and her own hygiene was one of those things. The dirt of the road clung to her coat, making it dingy grey rather than the stark, obsidian of old. Did she care though? Not one whit. Inconsequential. Just like everything else. "Speech"

He gave Io a small smile as she patted his paw gently. From what he could gather, her thoughts seemed flitty, like she struggled to keep her mind on one thing at a time. It made her a little erratic. It was like… it was like she thought she was living in a dreamscape and treated it as such. As though she didn’t trust this reality. It hurt his heart to see her that way. “Thank you, Io.” he said simply.

He shuddered at her correction, though he understood what she meant. She believed she was dead, and made a joke of it. He thought of the truly dead people he had met, and knew she didn’t have the right of it. Naiche knew no hunger, nor did Resin. He reached out a paw again, touching to her own, looking at the gold marking there, and swallowing a lump past his throat. Had Resin seen her like this, then?

“It’s been a long trip down to Auster. I think I’m in need of a bath, do you know where I can those here?” he asked her. Not entirely the truth. He was hoping he could wrestle Io into one as well. Ot at least splash a little bit of water on her faded coat. He did not like to see her like this. How could he help her? How could he, when he was certain she did not want to be helped. She couldn’t accept the death of her love, he understood that. He truly did.

"Speech"

"It's strange, isn't it?" She asked, once again eyeing the miniature in her paws which she turned over again and again rhythmically. "There one minute, gone the next, back again and it's like no time has passed." Was she talking about the time between life and death or the time between their last meeting? Even she wasn't sure of that answer. Everything was so... muddled. Unclear. She was doing the best that she could. Sirius then asked after a bath and Io offered up another contemplative hum. "I haven't explored the place, but I imagine there would be a bath somewhere. If not, there's an entire ocean just beyond to dunk yourself in, if you please." Little things like that were beyond Io these days, so she hadn't even thought to look for baths. "I suppose we could try to find the baths if you want?" Her head gave a little tilt as she questioned Sirius. "Speech"

He eyes her wearily as she spoke of being there and back again. Io… he was starting to see, needed someone to watch over her. Watching her now, he was starting to fret that she was in a place where she could slip away, and join the dead in the night. It made him want to clutch her tightly, even if that was not what she needed. How could he help her? There had to be a way. He couldn’t leave her like this!

“I imagine so.” He agreed softly. ‘I don’t realise a dip in the ocean. Yes, let's have a look around, shall we? I’m sure Art won’t mind.” Did he know how bad she was? She needed… Why hadn’t Roan come? The dead could walk. So why hadn’t Roan had come to her, and helped with the grief that blocked her mind?


"Speech"

As Sirius agreed that he'd like to search for the baths, Iolaire got to her paws for the first time since their meeting. Nonchalantly, she tossed the little wooden sleigh into the grass, completely forgotten. If she wanted it later, she'd find it. Perhaps she'd never craft the full size sledge at all. Who knew in this crazy world? It a flight of fancy took her, she would remember and build it. If not, it would be another long forgotten idea. Dirt and debris clung to the tiny woman's pelt as she led Sirius into the castle. Before they began to explore, she ducked into the great hall like some sneaking thief and snatched a small piece of jerky off of the table with her dexterous little digits. After shoving the whole thing in her mouth at once, she began to trek up the long stone stairwell. Together the pair peeked into rooms, careful not to wake anyone or disturb things that shouldn't have been disturbed. "There should be a bloody map for this maze," she mumbled before pushing open one more door. And there it was, a long stone room with a big basin in the center for bathing. "Tadaaaaa..." she exclaimed. "Go get clean, Mr Prim and Proper." Io scoffed jokingly. "Too good to take a dunk in the sea..." The woman shook her head and gave her eyes a roll, but there was a little grin on her face. "Speech"

The Warlord followed quietly after Io as she led him into the castle. Her small slay tossed to the earth like it was of no importance. That seemed to be a common trait with Io now. Nothing mattered, nothing was permanent. He did twitch a brow when she snagged a piece of jerky and crammed it into her maw. He made no comment on that, either. Simply observing, considering, and worrying. He was already forming an idea, and it was likely a terrible one.

“Ah, so it is” he said back with a gentle smile for his sister. Stepping into the room with basins. “Can you reach behind my ears, Io? My old paws don’t bend like they used to.” he said, which was barely the truth as he stepped into the water. Laughing good naturedly at her teasing. Her teasing gave him the illusion that things were not admiss, and he craved the sound of it.

"Speech"

Once in the bathing chamber, a metal pump needed to be worked to pull the water upwards from beneath the castle. It wouldn't exactly be warm water without being heated over the fire that... didn't even exist in the hearth. It had gone out some time ago and there weren't even any embers remaining. Sirius was up for a cold bath, it seemed. The giant man slid into the water and asked if she would get his ears. Io raised a brow questioningly, but stepped forward, taking up a stone crock in her paws. She then filled it with water and poured it over her brother's head, wetting him thoroughly. You had to get wet before you got clean, right? Taking up a bar of soap that was sitting beside the tub, Io lathered a bit and worked the soap into the back of Sirius' head and ears, reaching as much of him as she could without tipping into the tub herself. Once that was complete, she doused him with water again, ridding him of the soapy mixture and leaving his coat clean. "Good enough?" she asked, already taking a step back from the edge of the tub. "Speech"