She knows this market. She knows its blind spots, and she knows how to slip in as unnoticed as possible. Nose low to the ground, Hazel is tracking. She's tracking someone in specific, the only one she actually wants to see. In the midst of chaos, she'd returned to Boreas, somewhat begrudgingly. Still, she wouldn't let Sedna and Whisper make their return unprotected. There's news, and news that should only come from her. Halo was safe, stowed carefully under Warden's eye, with the protection of the Scowlie... but aging is a bitch.

It had been mere days since her return, though the quickest she'd been able to get north. With the tremors, the strange happenings, the bizarre goings on, travel was difficult. Hindered by the shifting beneath her paws and dangerous prey, and all the things in between. Still, little would keep her from finding Spider. She'd done much to fracture their relationship, and that's on her. The best she can do is own it and move on, apologize to the kid, and start her whole fucking life over.

Dodging where she had an inclination patrols might be, playing to the blind spots in the guard posts, Hazel would just bank on shit not changing. Moving through the market and keeping her head down, she steeled herself. An attempt to track Spider, and a hope to have the hard conversation, brings her to the edges of property where guests were allowed. A grey afternoon spreading high above her, Hazel is dully aware how thin a crowd there is. It leaves little for her to blend in with.

Hazel, The General

table coding by bunni ♥

The news of the infected prey and wolves had prompted the start of checkpoints in the Armada. Messy things for the moment as the pack sort to get itself organised amidst the chaos. There was talk of closing the market, but nothing definitive had happened yet. So Wylan still needed to do his duties, and today that running security in the Market. He was supposed to be assessing every wolf (by look) if they were infected, and trying not to disturb the business as it went on throughout the day. Or at least, disturb it as little as possible.

He was trying to get a look at every wolf that entered, and was moving among the crowd when one wolf in particular caught his eye. Wings pulled tightly against his side so he could not knock anything over, the young wolf hurried forward. “Hazel? Hazel, is that you?” he asked. She had been around most of his childhood. She was, in many ways, a sibling to him. Through their shared love of… he dismissed the thought before the name could surface. The worry and hurt there was struggling to dim.


"Wylan Fatalis"

Her proximity to the beasts, to the chaos, had gotten her sick. Then, it's hard for Hazel to not look like shit, these days. She uses her isolation as an excuse. Being out on her own wasn't easy, what was a girl to do? All Hazel needed to do was keep it together for whatever this meeting was, and then she was free of obligation. She could figure out what to do with herself after, as a general with no army.

Hazel isn't on her own for long. A boy she'd recognize anywhere, rushing to greet her. Wings wrapped tightly around his sides, taller, older-- but he's still Wylan. Hazel steps forward for a beat, reaching as if to hug him, before thinking better of it. Backing off, shying away, and then steadying herself. "Hey, look at you. You've gotten so big." Or whatever it was she was supposed to say to her half brother. There's as much warmth as she can muster in those words, but it's... well, she's trying.

"I have... news. If you'd like to speak somewhere privately." Delivering her message in the middle of the market wasn't the best choice, Hazel knew as much. There'd be no telling how it would be received, after all.

Hazel, The General

table coding by bunni ♥

When the reddish wolf stopped, Wylan was able to get a proper look at them. It was Hazel! “Hazel,I’ve missed you!”He moved forward, raising a paw - but she stepped back. He hesitated, momentarily thrown. It had looked as if she had been about to hug him, too. The sudden distance highlighted the time between them. He found himself wondering at the places she had been, the things she had seen. She looked different, and he couldn’t quite place why.

“Uhh… yeah, of course” he quickly agreed, leading her to one of the side rooms of the market. They were sometimes available for rent, but for now they were completely empty. He sat on the edge of one of the beds, and eyed her. Curious and a little worried. “Is it… is it mum, is she okay? Have you seen her?”

"Wylan Fatalis"

The distance stretching between them, it's more than the miles beneath her feet. Hazel is gaunt, more wiry than she'd been among the Armada. No longer well fed, surviving on spite alone. There wouldn't be any mistaking this for thriving, but she's here. She's alive. Still, with her latest contact with the worms, she doesn't want to get any closer to the boy. There'd be no endangering them, at least if she could help it. "I missed you too." Her tone is somber, jaw set.

Drawing into one of the empty stalls, Hazel finds she still knows this place. Feeling like a ghost within it, something resting heavily on her chest. "When I left, it was with intent to find her. She's safe, with Warden and Sedna's family, but--" there's a sudden sheepishness to her tone. Still, no one else could deliver the news. It has to be Hazel, and Hazel alone. "She can't travel anymore. Arthritis came on fast and strong, her movement is... limited. She sends her love, her apologies, all of it." Hazel's gaze casts away, chewing at the inside of her freshly-wounded cheek.

"The trip back would have killed her, but staying away is k--" is killing her too. She can't bring herself to say it. "Is weighing on her more than you can know. I'm sorry, Wylan." The words fill the space between them, her tone hushed and gentle. For as much as she doesn't want to introduce any grossness the worms have brought to her system to the Armada, she has to reach. To offer the hug, if he'll take it. Clarity in just how bony, just how ragged Hazel actually is, under her relatively well kept coat.

Hazel, The General

table coding by bunni ♥

Away from the bustle of the market, he had a better chance to study her. She looked… leaner, sadder, older. Something inside of him started to bunch up into a tight little knot of worry. Why had she left? Her and Halo and Warden, they had all started something for him. An understanding of what loss felt like, and he remembered the sleepless nights with Oleander, wondering if their mother would ever come home.

She started to speak of his mother, and he leaned forward. An intense expression on his face. Starving for any tidbit of the beautiful healer that had birthed him. His expression fell. Sudden, and painful. His mother wasn’t coming home? “But… we’re here. Isn’t there… isn’t there any way? We have the hot springs, and I’d care for her…” He was looking somehow up at Hazel, as if she the taller, and not just the older.

Then Hazel was reaching for him, and he pulled his head under her chin, curling up against her. Against Hazel, who had seen his mum, who was his older sibling. His voice was choked by unshed tears, and muffled by her fur. “It’s not the same without her. Without you. I miss our den, I miss everyone together. I broke my wing, the den got crushed by the treehouse falling..” he’d been in that treehouse, and his recovery had been long and painful, and attributed to a lot of his emotional distress. He’d needed her. His mother.


"Wylan Fatalis"