Now that she had found her way back to Boreas and the world seemed like it was going to end whether she liked it or not, Makara figured she should pay the Armada a visit. It had been uncomfortable avoiding the territories for so long, like an itch right between her shoulder blades that she couldn't scratch on her own. Makara had danced around it long enough - now that the sun's rays still shone an eerie red and the tremors seemed to reappear at will in Auster or Boreas alike, it was time to see who was still kicking around up north. She found herself recoiling inward the closer she got towards Armada territory. Azure's impatience and disgust, Hanako's disinterest - the overwhelming feeling that no matter what she did it would never be enough. She had been damned from the very start by her allergies and general sickliness, then doubly cursed by her own endlessly running motor mouth.

Coming home filled her with dread.

But if the world was ending, she'd like to see the tall pines of the north one last time. Makara wavered at the border, unsure who to call for, before sending a curious howl out to any of her remaining family.

Speech

A howl at the border sounded… familiar. Almost as if… but that couldn't be so. He tilted his head upwards, and moved slowly to the entrance of the Col. His steps were cautious, almost reluctant as he pulled into view of the howler. The white frame and red markings sure looked like that of his sister. But could that be?

“Makara?” He asked, voice soft and uncertain. “How… I thought…” He’d been sure Makara was no longer of this world. He had been convinced that Azure had done something to her. As their father had taken Calypso away one day. He’d returned without her, and he had never seen his almost-twin sister again.

"Speech"

She wasn't sure who would answer her, although she hoped it wasn't her father or mother. It had been so long... surely some things had changed since she'd last been home, but she knew Azure wouldn't relinquish his hold save devastating natural disaster or divine intervention. When Basilisk showed up in his stead, she wondered which one it had been. For once, Makara was grateful that her glasses fogged up from the change in temperature. He couldn't see her eyes get a bit glassy behind the lenses. She hadn't seen him in years and it stirred something within her now, some still present need to be accepted just as she was. Glasses, booties, allergies, mile-a-minute mouth and all.

Had he taken after Azure in the end, after all? Would he welcome her with the Fatalis name, or strip her of it and turn her out? Or worse, somehow, would he look upon her with their mother's indifference? Makara took a deep breath, as she knew it would take her some time to try and tell her story in a way that made sense but didn't beg any sympathy from him. She wasn't sure if he was the type of wolf to feel sympathy at all. They may as well have been strangers now.

"Hello, Basilisk - so sorry to darken the Armada's doorstep again, I'm sure the years between have been much quieter in my absence. I... I..." she stammered for a second, not quite sure how to continue. The poor joke she made didn't help smooth things out the way she wanted it to. "I didn't run away, or leave - not on purpose. I was out exploring, I'd just found the most interesting artefact deep in some caves - frankly, I can't remember where now, Glowshroom Cavern, maybe, or deep beneath Mount Volkan - when the earth gave out from beneath me. The entire upper cavern system I'd be exploring caved in, and I was trapped down there for what felt like - well, it didn't feel like, it was months. Maybe even a year. I lost track of time, I ate the most disgusting things... fat, slimy grubs. Things that I don't think have ever seen the light of day," she laughed nervously and for too long before wiping the lens of her goggles off on her shoulder. With her lens clear, he might be able to see that tears were starting to form.

"I was so turned around by the time I got above ground again, it took me nearly twice as long to find my way home. I have good reason to believe some of the tunnels I was trapped in might have even crossed beneath oceans. I never... I never meant to leave," she ended softly. Even if I didn't feel like I ever belonged here. It wasn't choice that had separated her for so long, although she didn't want to admit that she'd been back in Boreas for a half season before making her way here. "When the earth began to quake again, and this terrible red sun," she squinted up at the sky, that dim light still coloring the land a sickly red, "I knew I had to come back. I wanted to see..." My home? My family? Would they even have her? Did she want to give up her freedom and become a pack wolf again? "I just needed to see this place again," Makara ended, hanging her head slightly. "Who is still...?" she didn't want to finish the sentence. Who was still living here? Who is still alive? Did she have to fear Azure's arrival shortly?

Speech

Basilisk stared at her. Perhaps still not quit believing she was alive. That she was here. While she was talking a mile a minute (and hey! He’d almost forgotten that about her) he reached over and touched a paw lightly to her shoulder. Applying a tiny bit of pressure as he pushed gently. Definitely physical. Not a ghost… probably.

She was still talking, but he wasn’t taking in as much as he could or perhaps should have. Especially for the Warlord of the pack, answering a summons at his border. But it was his sister! He hadn’t had one of those in years. Would he still recognise things about her? Was she still the same? She sounded the same, talking and talking, and talking… except she seemed to be wrapping up now.

When he was finally able to get a word in edgeways, he didn’t actually use it to speak. Instead, he stepped forward, sweeping his arms around her and pulling her in close. “You're alive!” He gasped. Was that tears in his eyes, in his voice? No. It was the dust. He inconspicuously wiped at one of his eyes. “You're alive.” he said more softly, and loosened his grasp on her. Was she still breathing after that bear hug? His thoughts were a ragged mess. “Are you.. Staying. Or just a visit?” he wasn’t sure he could handle ‘just a visit’ not this time. Not from her.


"Speech"

Makara resisted the urge to flinch when he reached out to touch her. It had been such a long time since she'd been touched by another wolf - first because she'd been trapped underground alone so long, and by the time she'd reached the surface again other wolves had at first seemed alien. She didn't welcome physical contact and found it difficult to initiate on her own. For a moment when he reached out, she was struck by their size difference and transported to a different time, when Azure would buffet her. But there was real warmth to Bas' tentative pat, as if he was trying to make sure she was real.

When her tale wound down, he enveloped her in a hug that took her breath away. Was that a tear he wiped away? Perhaps he had made it out of childhood unscarred, or at least not so deeply maimed, by their parents. Makara was rigid and stiff at first, so unused to being touched, but after a moment she melted into his embrace and buried her face in his chest, inhaling a smell that was somehow familiar and entirely new.

"I'm alive," she repeated, wriggling slightly when he loosened his grasp so that she wasn't speaking muffled words into his chest, but not so much that left his embrace. It was... nice. Makara was surprised by how sorely she missed the casual affections of wolves you knew well. She'd been a vagabond for her entire life now. Was she ready to come home? "I... I don't know if I know how to stay in one place," Makara admitted. It wasn't a no, but she couldn't answer when her mind was racing with thoughts and questions. "What is it like here now? I'm not sure I could be of much use to you," she murmured, turning her face away from him again as her glasses misted up from the inside.

Speech

What was it like here? To him it was home. It was both the same and vastly different. But could he really put his paw on what exactly was different about it? He'd give it his best shot. For his sister, who had come after so long. “Let's see…” he said thoughtfully. Not one for long winded explanations, but knowing he'd have a lot to say about this. “Azure and Hana left before I became Alpha.” did they deserve the title ‘parents?’ he wasn't feeling charitable enough right then to grant it to them.


“After our grandfather passed the pack on to me, Aunt Kitsune challenged me for leadership not minutes after Sirius left. I won, but she was injured in the fight. Most of her litter siblings disagreed with how I handled it and left. I expanded the Armada, and was forced to change one of the territories when a plague struck the woods. I…. Have a wife and children. Levi is our only sibling who stayed. Calypso and Morgawr vanished about the time you did. I thought our father had… done something to you. To all of you. He walked out of the pack with Calypso one day and I never saw her again.” There were a lot of different emotions in his voice as he unloaded years of information on her. More than he usually allowed anyone but Ignita to see.

Something in her finally seemed to settle when he said Azure and Hana had left. Now that she knew that with certainty, she breathed a little easier. It felt foolish to be an adult and still afraid of your father, but the man had been a dark shadow on her entire childhood. He had seemed to exist only to tear her down. Azure simply walking away from all of this - the glory, the weight of leadership that he could press down on those beneath him, that feeling of superiority - it didn't seem possible. But if Basilisk said so, it must be true. The way he did not deign to call them mother and father told her enough about how he felt.

"I loved the woods when we first arrived here, it must have been difficult to make that choice. But now..." she stared around at the bustling market, the mountain standing tall like a fortress all around them. "This is incredible. It's beautiful. I haven't seen such prosperity since I made my way back to Boreas. Packs, yes, but nothing like this." Granted, she hadn't explored Auster much yet. She knew once upon a time that the Hallows ruled a castle there, but she didn't know if it still stood.

Her heart hitched. A wife. Children. She was an aunt. Suddenly, the time that had passed between them felt like an eternity. Makara felt like she had such little to show for it. She had knowledge, memories and experiences, unforgettable archaeological digs... but no legacy. No love. Hardly any company at all in the intervening years. There were times when she had taken to talking to herself when she was trapped underground. Now, the soft chatter of the market echoed all around them. If she stayed here, she would never be alone again. "I... I don't know what to say. I can't believe Azure would leave all of this, but he could be volatile and unpredictable at the best of times. All I can say is, I am so glad you were the one to greet me. And to know that Levi is here, and that you - that you - " she stammered again and Makara had to flip her spiked goggles up as her eyes were watering too much to be comfortable, "that you have children and a wife... and I've been gone all of this time - " Her tears spilled over, hot and uncomfortable. Makara still felt like Azure was waiting around the corner to beat her for crying. "I don't want to miss anything else. I... I would stay, if you'll have me, but I don't know how to be part of something any longer. I'm not as skilled as I should be, I-I'm awkward, I have trouble staying in one place for too long... but I want to stay," Makara finished and stepped back, looking up at him and hoping for the one thing she had never received from her family: unconditional acceptance.

Speech

With some reluctance, he sighed softly and explained a little further. “Our grandfather has a girlfriend. Azure hinted that if he was forced to interact with the wolf that replaced his mother, one of them - of Azure or Sirius- would die. He claims that's why he left.” There was doubt in his voice. When had their stubborn father ever walked away from anything he wanted? But that was what Azure had told him, and all he had to go on.


Was his sister's eyes watering? She seemed to be struggling with the idea that he was a father. “None of our parents or siblings came to the wedding. But I don't blame you.” A hint of some emotion in his voice indicated who he did blame. 


She voiced her concern as if afraid he would reject her. Emotion welled in his voice again, and he was uncomfortable with dealing with it. “Please stay. Meet my family. We can train you, if you wish.”

Makara took his words at face value, although she too had her doubts that Azure would remain gone forever. He would haunt her for much longer than she'd like to admit. Basilisk seemed to be struggling with all of the feelings this was bringing up, and she didn't blame him. It was all too much. Mak hadn't expected what she would find when she came here, much less that she would want to stay. It would take time to process this new normal and come around to the idea that she was finally home. "Yes, I would like that very much."

Speech

That settled it then. He took in a soft breath, settling his emotions and forcing them back down. It was hard to suppress them entirely in the face of who had returned, but he managed to an acceptable degree. “Then welcome to the Armada. You can take a few days to decide on a rank, but make yourself at home in the meanwhile.” He said, inviting her across the border, which he would have done earlier if he hadn't been distracted with catching up. 


“Will you come meet the family?” He asked, knowing he was likely piling a lot onto her at once. Coming home in and of itself was overwhelming “My wife, Ignita is a scholar.”

Makara tentatively stepped across the border to the other side, entering the bustling marketplace in earnest. Basilisk seemed to retreat within himself a little, becoming more businesslike in the face of all these feelings from the past rushing to the surface. Mak flipped her goggles back down and tightened the laces on all of her booties, trying to wrap her head around the monumental decision she'd made to stay here. "Oh, yes, I'd love to meet her," Makara said eagerly, trying to keep her expectations in check. She didn't want to scare her new sister-in-law away with a million questions, but her excitement was already building.

Speech

Basilisk allowed a grin to peek through at her excitement, and led the way. Taking her passed the marketplace, ignoring the bustle inside. He led her past the market guards and into the quieter Col beyond. He raised his head then, calling out for Ignita and his children. There was someone here they all should meet.


They'd never had an Auntie before, so this would be a shockingly fun experience for them. He stood by his sister's side, still reeling from the fact his sister was here while he waited for Ignita to show up. He had a feeling the two of them would get along like a house on fire. She kept wanting to make friends with the slaves. Perhaps here was someone it would be easier for her to get along with.

With her own goggles set over her eyes to help her focus, Ignita had sat down on the warlord's balcony, overlooking the Col with some paper and her vine charcoal. Intent on capturing the light and the activity of the others below. It was a little more difficult to find the time and space to draw when the little ones had been much younger, but now they were intent on getting themselves in trouble and exploring every crack and fissure of their territory she had a bit more breathing room to work.

She was just working on capturing the figures down in the Col after she had placed the skyline and without thinking she marked the position of her husband and a wolf next to him.

That was when she tilted her head to hear him call across the terrain. Someone they should meet?

Ignita pushed her steampunk goggles over her forehead and placed a weighty rock over her drawing to come back to later. She sauntered easily down the steps toward them, her head tilted and her eyes bright with curiosity. Who was this?

She could read the barely contained joy in his eyes, something only she could perhaps read in him. His body practically oozed delight though he stamped it down. It made her even more eager to pick up her pace and meet this stranger.

"Hello! Who do I owe the pleasure of meeting?" She greeted warmly, her tail wagging back and forth, a bright gleam in her eyes and delight at looking over this stranger. She tilted her head the other way as she caught her strange accessories and glanced at Bas. The shape of her features and the mark over her eyes, hiding behind the glass of the girl's silver goggles, denoted the strong family resemblance! Perhaps this was who Selene had taken after!

"Speech"

Who's this?? What?? Selene was racing her way through the passages of the strange Caves of the Past and had just barreled her was back outside when she heard her daddy calling her!

Puppy paws scrambled over the earth eager to beat everyone at the race to be the first one there! She stumbled only once! The minuscule albino baby came over the ground like a flash of lightning to weave her way through her father's feet and bounce in a tight circle in front of the new stranger. Right! She was a princess! She had to act like a Princess!

She slammed her bottom down next to her mama, her little white tail still waving back forth hard enough her mother thought she start flying with it.

"HAI" Selene half yelled with her tongue lolling, "I'mSheleen! Oops! I'm Selene! Who's this Daddy?" She asked, trying her best not to scramble over the ground and run around the small party.

"Selene"

His father was calling for them, and he was never one to ignore the Warlords howl. Except when he knew he was in trouble, which was rather often. Okay, so he mostly kind of maybe didn’t ignore his father. Besides, this call sounded like it would lead to something interesting. When had their father introduced them to someone? Other than when they had been too small to leave the den.

Selene and his mother had beaten him here, but he skidded to a stop in front of the stranger-wolf. Someone who wore glasses like their mother did. He looked up at the other wolf, immediately invading their personal space. He ignored Selene, who was circling them with excitement. Instead, he raised his paws and put them on the wolf's stranger. The universal puppy signal for let me up! “Hi! You look kind of like my mum. Are you sisters?”

"Speech"

Even though he'd asked if she wanted to meet his family, Makara still somehow hadn't expected them to all come right now. Surely she'd have a bit longer to catch her breath, right? She felt as if she'd just found her footing again when his petite mate appeared, sporting a similar pair of goggles atop her head. If she had felt more comfortable here, perhaps she'd have cracked a joke - but they had only just found each other again, and she was reluctant to push her luck. Her eyes widened behind the lenses of her goggles as a tiny slip of a girl came racing out, legs and paws akimbo, speak-shouting her name.

Something cracked inside of her, but she resisted the urge to hide her face and cry. Instead, she offered them all a wobbly smile, because she could see the both of them in Basilisk's children, reflected back at her like a mirror. And although Bas was strong and imposing and she didn't know what he was like as a leader or a husband, she could see the pride and true affection clearly written on his face. He wouldn't treat these children like they'd had been treated. It was healing seeing him with his family, like the bruises Azure and Hanako had left on her heart were finally, finally beginning to fade. She saw so much of herself in Selene, who she knew would not be silenced and squashed like she had, and Citadel was a towering duplicate of his father with a built-in crown fit for a prince.

"Hello," she said, finding herself shy for a moment. Makara wasn't sure she'd ever felt shy before. "I hope this doesn't as too much of a shock or surprise, but I'm Makara. I'm Basilisk's sister and - and your aunt," she directed the second part to the children, smiling wide. As she recovered from her atypical bout of shyness, the words poured forth and wouldn't stop. "I really can't explain what it means to me to meet you all. I grew up here in the Armada but I haven't been here since I was a child. I'd always liked to explore - this world is covered in artefacts, remnants of the past from some species long since passed from this place, I was simply fascinated by all of it. I still am. Before my second birthday, I was caught in a deep cave in while I was exploring by myself. I fell through to undiscovered tunnels and I was lost for a long, long time - " she cut herself off and took a breath, redirecting her tale. She didn't want to frighten the children and they didn't need to know how long she had been trapped alone underground.

"By the time I found my way to the surface, I was further away from home than I'd ever been. I don't believe I was still even on the same continent. It took me a long, long time to make my way back to Boreas, and what with all that's going on..." She gestured with a paw towards the angry eye of the red sun and that eerie light that still suffused the land. "It seemed time to come home. I needed to see who was here, and how I could help, as we discover why this is happening. I'm honored to be meeting you, really, so grateful to be welcomed home," her words were coming faster and tripping over themselves now in their rush to get out. "But - all this is to say - hello, and thank you for having me. No, I'm not quite your mother's sister - not by blood - but... I would like to get to know you all. I would like to be her sister, and your auntie," she replied to Citadel finally, offering Ignita a shy (shy?! She truly had never been shy) smile as she spoke. To little Selene, she leaned down and greeted her at her level. "And hello to you too, Selene."

Speech

His wife arrived first, and Basilisk pulled her gently closer, before indicating with a flourishing paw towards the wolf he had arrived with. “Ignita, meet my sister. Makara Fatalis, Makara, my lovely wife. Ignita Fatalis.” an introduction he thought he would never make. Selene came scrambling in, and started racing around them. She was a restless wolf, and it showed in her voice and body as she attempted to remain there.

Citadel showed up next, and after a moment it was clear their other children weren’t going to heed the call, or would be late for it. “Jamie and Balrog haven’t been feeling well lately, and I’m not sure where Iskandor has gotten to, but I’ll introduce you when I can.”

His sister had much to say, and he fell silent for her to speak her piece. Explaining to his wife where she had gotten to, the story Basilisk had heard at the border. As she did so, he noticed his son moving out of the corner of his eye. “Citadel, your Auntie isn’t a climbing tree. Paws on the ground unless permission is given, please.” He scolded him.


"Jamie"||"Iskandor"||"Selene"||"Citadel"||"Selene"||"Balrog"||"Ignita"||"Basilisk"