It was almost stifling to be surrounded by places and people that she was expected to know. Perhaps that was what led her to the border of Insomnia. So she could see somewhere that would not only feel new, but actually be new, as well. It led her to the open expanse just below a mountain. There was a waterfall so big, she could hear it roaring even before she saw it. She made sure to keep well away from the quickly moving water there.

She knew her mothers companions were close by, but she still felt strangely exposed out here. She couldn’t remember her captive hurting her, but perhaps he had? She found herself hunching in on herself a little, the further she moved from Insomnia. Was she safe out here? Perhaps she should turn back. Perhaps this entire venture had been a foolish idea.


"Speech"

His mother had gone out herb collecting, and Warden tagged along happily. Spending time with her was nice, but spending time exploring? That was even better. He was excited to get to do and see more, to get to venture away from the Armada's homeland. There is no thoughts in his head about danger, no thoughts in his head about the risks involved with straying. Mr. Racoon watched somewhere close by, dutiful as ever, as he wandered from his mother's line of sight.

He knows better than to think he's alone out here. He thinks about his lessons with his father, with his grandfather. Warden stepped as quietly as possible, without slowing his pace. Curious, stormy-eyed, the boy catches sight of something. A shadow, hunched up around herself. A girl. She smelled funny, that much he could tell. Still, a shift in the breeze gave him away. Heck. She moved like she was uncomfortable, like she was... hm. Like she was trying to avoid something? Warden is still too far to make out the detail in the girl. Instead, he calls out. "What are you hiding from?"

"Speech"

The wind changed, brushing a scent towards her, but her memories were all a fog of confusion. So much so that she could no longer tell if it was something she could recognise or not. She spent so much time trying to connect the memory to something, she forgot that it meant that someone was there.

When a voice reached out to her, she jumped, and then ducked down. The small wolf flattened herself to the grass and then looked about her. Searching for the source of the noise - and finding a white pup a little ways into the distance. She felt her heart rate start to slow again, and somewhat sheepishly climbed back to her paws. “Oh… hello. I’m not sure, actually” She admitted. Keeping her words vague. Was this another wolf she was supposed to recognize? Had memories and history with, locked inside her mind? It was exhausting trying to keep track.


"Speech"

She jumped. She ducked. She looked... scared. Warden watches the girl, watches as she tries to sort out exactly how to react. In just a moment she righted herself, stepped back up, and all Warden could do was watch. Quietly, carefully watch. Thinking for a long moment, processing what exactly she was doing. She didn't know what she was scared of.

Warden's brows drew together, creasing in the middle. He couldn't help himself, no. Drawing closer, remaining light on his feet and purposeful in his steps. Watching her carefully, but with great interest. "What do you mean you're not sure?" The boy presses, stopping once more, closer to the girl. Every look was careful, measured. Curious, perhaps unyieldingly so. "Are you scared of me?" His tone was soft, not unlike his mother's. Though the words were coarser than he likely intended, the boy... well, he wants to know. He didn't think he was scary, at least.
"Speech"

The white wolf came a little closer, and she could see the brush of blue across his sides, light and traced like wings. Such a unique pattern, something she felt surely would spark a memory if it was there… right? But the boy walked towards her, his steps gentle and unafraid. Did he know her? He didn’t ask her name or offer his own. Perhaps he did expect her to know it already.

“I… no, I don’t think so, not of you” She said, wondering how much to say. Oh... there was no helping it, she just needed to come clean. “Look, I’m sorry. If I know you, I don’t remember you, something happened and well, my head is kind of a fog at the moment. I don’t remember anyone, so if we were friends, I don’t have any memories of it right now.” Her mother thought they would come back, once the drug had fully left her system. She just had to hope that was true.


"Speech"

The girl that stood before him was older than Warden had first thought. He'd misjudged based on her slight stature, but that was an honest mistake in his mind. She was little, like the pup that lived upstairs in the treehouse. As for names, Warden may have forgotten his manners. Oops, hopefully Mr. Raccoon wouldn't tell on him.

At least she wasn't scared of him. Warden would only learn later not to care what others think... no, at this stage, the boy wants badly to be liked. His ears twitched at her admission, his head quirking to the side. She doesn't have memories. "We've never met," he offered the information. Granted, Warden could have messed with her. Could have, but he chose not to. "I'm Warden Fatalis." The boy is well spoken, clear and direct. He'd forgotten his manners earlier, but it was better late than never. "If you don't remember anyone, how do you remember you?"

"Speech"

Well, that was a relief. She didn’t have to pretend anything that wasn’t there. Almost without meaning to, a smile broke across her face. Her eyes jumped upwards for a second, meeting his eyes before she glanced down again. It was easy to feel overwhelmed at the moment, and it was a surprising relief to meet someone she didn’t ‘know.’

“I'm Cryptis, but you can call me Triss.” She said, taking a couple steps closer to the younger wolf. At his question, she found herself shrugging. “I did, for a little while.” She wasn’t sure how much of the story to tell. How much she wanted to tell. Right now, there wasn’t a lot of emotional connection to the telling, but she had a feeling that might change if that fog ever went away. “I was kidnapped by a wolf who fed me a tonic every day that affected my memories. To make me more… docile, I guess. When my mum rescued me, I didn’t remember my name. It’s kind of starting to come back now. But it's slow, really slow.”


"Speech"

She smiled, now. That was good. Warden was glad she smiled, actually, because if she'd carried on being all weird about stuff and scared, he probably wouldn't have known what to do. Truthfully, Warden wasn't really sure what to do regardless. All of the other wolves in the Armada just... knew him. They were all related, or sort-of related. In one way or another, bonds of blood or pact seemed to do the same thing.

Triss, she's called. Warden watched her carefully, wondering if everything she said was true. Were there really wolves so awful that they were kidnapping kids and being awful to them? He thinks about the kind of justice that you could get in that kind of situation, and then quickly tires of that line of questioning. Instead, his mind flickered back to the girl. "My mum is the best healer, maybe she could fix your memory." Well, Halo was the best healer Warden knew, at least. It's with pride that he offers her help, perhaps signing Halo up for something that's way above her paygrade.

"Speech"

Triss considered that for a long moment, surprised by the offer. Then she thought about what it would mean, to follow Warden to wherever his mother was. Away from Insomnia, and thought of his own mother. She would lose her mind, and the thought of following anyone - even this pup - away at the moment brought knots to her stomach. She wanted to knock that line of thought off as quickly as she could. “Oh, no, that’s okay. I’ve been looked at by a healer. They said it’s the tonic, and it just needs time.” She explained.

She scuffed a paw in the earth, wondering where to go from here. Were conversations always hard, or was that the brain fog just making it all so difficult? Sometimes it was just so hard to think, and doing so left her breathless. Well, that or her asthma. Her mother had warned her about excess exercise, in case her memory had robbed her of that knowledge.


"Speech"

Warden briefly narrows his eyes, processing what the girl says. She's been looked at, they say her memories would come back in time. How much time would it take? What would she do when she got her memories back? Would she be different than she was now, less scared of everything? Warden held back. He was trying not to scare her more, after all. Bombarding her with questions probably wouldn't feel very good.

"You wanna harass the fish in the falls with me?" He suggested, tail wagging behind him. The pool at the base of the falls had some shallow water, or at least, Warden was pretty sure it did. If Triss was still here and hadn't turned tail and run yet, that meant she wanted to be his friend, right? He'd have to tell his siblings all about it when he got home. He was pretty sure he was the first one to make a friend outside the Armada, like it was some kind of contest.

"Speech"

She was beyond grateful when the white wolf offered a suggestion. She found herself nodding, even before she had finished processing his words. “I’d like that, I’d like that a lot” She admitted, and he earned another shy little smile from her. She was getting awfully familiar with the look of his paws by now.

“Have you been to these falls before? Do you know how to fish?” She asked him as she started to move towards the stream. Keeping far enough away from the rapids that the water wasn’t as quickly moving here. She didn’t know if she knew how to fish - which might as well be the same thing as not knowing at all, right now.

"Speech"

Warden offers a smile of his own, happy that they've decided on something to do. His steps were high and confident, leading the way as they wander to the water's edge. At the banks, it's calmer at least. It's calm and he doesn't have to worry about like, drowning or something. Yeesh, that's something to worry about. Halo had warned him not to go too deep, but how deep was too deep? He couldn't be too sure.

"I haven't been to the falls, this is the first time." He shook his head. Warden would have asked if she'd been out here, but then, it seemed like maybe another thing she couldn't remember. "I can fish though," he lied. Warden had watched the hunters do some fishing in the Cove, this had to be pretty much the same thing, right? He could mimic what they'd done. He puffed out his chest some, standing up a little straighter. "Do you like fish?" Like fish, like to fish. Was that a neutral enough question? Warden drew closer to the edge, peering in to see if he could spot them from where he stood on the banks before starting to wade in.

"Speech"

It was weird enough not knowing friends you apparently grew up with. It was even weirder to not know things about yourself. As they approached the water's edge, she was mindful of the fact that she wasn’t sure if she knew how to swim. It would be quick to find out if she threw herself in and her body acted right. Obviously she knew how to breathe, walk, and talk. Wouldn’t swimming be a similar skill? For some reason, she had no desire to test her theory.

She shrugged at his question, and gave him a smile. “Guess we’ll find out?” She offered, assuming they were successful, of course. “So, what do I need to do?” She asked, since apparently he knew what he was doing. At least one of them did.

As she moved closer to the water, she found herself interested in learning a little more about this wolf. Especially since she was apparently learning these things for the first time. “So, where do you come from, Warden?”

"Speech"

Thankfully, it seemed to be a low season for the river. Warden didn't know what the seasons shifting and changing did to the flow of water here, but this didn't look like it was too bad. He waded in carefully, picking his feet up high. It wasn't too cold, not quite yet. Warden figured it might be soon, with winter coming and all.

Oh heck, she wanted to know how. Like he was going to teach her... shoot. How did he teach someone if he didn't actually know how himself? Still, he was in too deep already. "You uh, here. First you need to figure out where the fish are." That sounded... like it was right? Why would you try to fish somewhere if you didn't know fish were there. Warden watched carefully, waiting for a fish to show up. That would buy him some time to think, probably. He would play it cool.

"I'm from the Armada, it's that way," he gestured with his muzzle. "Where're you from?" He asked, thinking that was probably polite. Hopefully she remembered that much, otherwise she'd have a heck of a time getting home later.
"Speech"

Watching him wade into the water, she realised she was going to need to get in, too. She gave the surface a look of trepidation, silently telling the current to behave. She carefully dipped in one toe, grimacing at the cold. If Warden hadn’t already waded in, stoic as could be, she might have chickened out. As it was, she decided she was the type of person that didn’t want to be less than the person she was with. With a sigh, she stuck in one paw, then the other. Smaller than Warden, she didn’t go out very far at all.

Figure out where the fish were. Alright, well that seemed simple enough. She squinted at the water, pointing her nose directly down, and seeing some fish swim by. Not too close, however. “There!” She said in delight, seeing one swim in their direction.

“Oh yeah, the Armada. Of course.” She agreed, before shooting him a cheeky grin. She actually lifted her head up, meeting his eyes for a moment before forgetting she was shy. Actually, she was starting to feel a little less shy with Warden. Was this what it had been like with her friends in Insomnia? Had things just been… easy? “I’m from Insomnia, it's just one land over” She explained, raising a paw and pointing.


"Speech"

To be just as much as Warden was probably a tall order. The boy was headstrong, he was a lot. He could be even more, though most days he didn’t want to risk exhausting his mother too much. She tried her best, dad too. Being too much for them wouldn’t reflect well, and was perhaps the only thing that would convince Warden to minimize himself.

Oh shoot, she’d found the fish. Warden shifted to stand next to Triss, looking intently down into the water. He stands tall, trying to focus as much as he can on the fish. “Then we take our nets and—“ Warden realizes just now. They have no nets. This isn’t like the fishing in the Armada, where they simply tangled up the fish in the nets (listen that’s his perception of it, at least) and caught them easy as pie.

“Shoot, we don’t have nets.” He deflates, a bit. “Maybe it’s the same if we just grab them?” The boy questions, now far less sure he could convincingly guess at exactly how fishing worked. Maybe he could play it off well enough. He could try. That, and she’s distracted him now, with talks of packs. “I’ve never been to Insomnia before. Or any other pack actually. Is it nice there?” Right, he’d follow this train of thought, still happily standing in the cold water.

Triss blinked, looking over at Warden. Eyes up and on his face once more. As if she was slowly but surely forgetting to be shy around this wolf. “Oh, we’re net fishing” She said in a tone that said ‘now it all makes sense’ she raised a paw out of the water, pretended to bundle it up, and then ‘throw’ it over the surface. Her empty hand hovering there. “Think that’ll catch anything?” She was definitely teasing him.

“I uh… I don’t actually remember” She said, flushing a little at his question. Her paw falling back into the water with a splash. “There's all these people I’m supposed to know, they have a whole past with me, and right now I don’t remember any of it. It feels like I’m letting them down. What about Armada? I don’t know if I’ve ever heard of that pack. But what’s it like?” She asked, trying to change the subject back to things that could actually be talked about. There were only so many variations of ‘I don’t remember’ that she could give him.


"Speech"