A glutton for punishment, Valentine found himself once more in the old Arcanum lands. He hadn't left Imperium with the intention of seeking them out, but once he'd started in that direction he couldn't break free of its pull. What drug him in he couldn't quite say. A vain hope, perhaps? Whatever the reason, he found himself on the edge of the plains staring in. There wasn't a border to keep him out, but thoughtless habit halted his progress. Silence reined for several minutes as he lost himself in thought. When it occurred to him that to outsiders he looked like a weirdo glaring daggers into the distance, Valentine decided it was time to head home. There wasn't anything here for him. The weight of that thought settled heavily across his shoulders. He needed to just let go. His heart heavy, Valentine ambled away from the old border. ""

The real question was why she kept coming back here. It was becoming more and more obvious that she wasn’t going to find anything, the scents of the pack had all but faded and wherever her mother and siblings were they weren’t looking for her… at least not here.

That didn’t really seem to stop her though and she plodded numbly through the tall grasses though they were browned and dried from winter they still rose tall enough to more or less hide her from the gaze of others. This of course also obscured her own sight line which made looking for her family seem even more futile.

But perhaps her luck was about to break as she caught movement in front of her. The wolf was large and the colors were familiar. With a slight wagging of her tail the girl pounded through the grass, bursting from the brown stalks to see…

Not her father.

The golden girl stopped, the smile dropping from her face and her tail hanging limply behind her. She stared at the retreating form and a small whine lifted from her lips. Freya plopped onto her haunches in defeat.

""

Lost in thought, Valentine almost didn't catch the sound behind him. He froze as it reached his ears. For several long moments he remained frozen as his preoccupied mind tried to make sense of what he'd heard. Finally it occurred to him to turn. At first he didn't recognize her. It had been so long since he'd seen her in Arc, even longer since they'd been together on the island as kids. He blinked and then squinted as he studied the distant, defeated form. It clicked suddenly. Freya. Ears pricking curiously, Valentine stepped closer. "Freya?" he queried, "Is that you?" For siblings they weren't very close. Actually, it would be fair to say they didn't really know one another at all. All they really had in common (as far as he knew) was that rat bastard Taurig. It was a lousy connection at best and really, was it any wonder they knew so little about one another when that hot mess was the only thing they shared? ""