Having spent far longer than intended in Boreas, Iskra was more than ready to make her way back to Auster. Well, ready might not be the entirely correct term, but she was tired of spending her time up north so making the trek back at long last sound better than sticking around where she'd been before. So Iskra found herself wandering through the large cedar trees she'd visited once before a long time ago now.

The trees were beautiful as she remembered, tall and lovely in their own way. She passed the falls she'd climbed once a long time ago, wandering down an unfamiliar trail and carefully picking her path as it split at several points, choosing the route that took her southwest. The plant life was fairly abundant, and she was quite enjoying her walk through the breathtaking scenery. Now... Which way from here? This point in the path split four ways, leaving her with a slightly more difficult choice this time.

After the meeting came to a close Razi had gone back to a very important task - picking a dang den! One might think it would be easy, for the canyon was riddled with dozens upon dozens of passable dens and passages that would certainly make great spots. Unfortunately an abundance of choices only made settling on one permanently that much more difficult. With a small headache beginning to manifest she'd decided to drop off a recently collected hide into the temporary den she'd been using during her search before heading out on patrol. A good, LONG walk might clear her mind a bit.

She made relatively good time circling the borders and freshening the scent marks, so Razi had decided to head out and do a little more exploring of the lands directly surrounding the Eclipse Empire's chosen territory. When she found herself back in the forest she thought she'd visited a time to two before,s he figured she may as well better familiarize herself with it so if she had to travel through the area she would know more of the best paths.

Several twists and turns later she had found a small stream. Or was it a river? She'd love to hear the exact point where one word fit better than the other. Stopping to take a drink, the dark woman sighed softly. She needed to do much more of this. The better she knew the area, the better she could serve her role as Ambassador. It was then that she heard someone walking nearby, pulling her attention from the stream. A pink figure appeared briefly in a break in the trees, clearly unaware of Razi. Hadn't she seen that wolf before?

Never one to be shy, she would stroll her way over to the starry-pelted lady, sanding parallel to her and eyeing the paths before them alongside the stranger. "I'd pick the one furthest to the right, it's the only one that won't dump you at the borders of the Eclipse Empire. Unless you were intending to visit the pack that rose from the ashes of your conquered home?" Why was the woman here? Was she planning on scouting out the newly formed pack? A vendetta against them for taking Talis, maybe? Razi's golden eyes narrowed a fraction, betraying her suspicion while the former Talis member scrambled to reply.

Minding her own business, trying to choose a good direction to go in, the last thing Iskra really had expected was to have some stranger approach outta the blue and offer commentary on where she needed to go. What we expect and what actually happens are rarely one and the same, and so Iskra found herself with an unexpected companion sitting nearby. At the woman’s words Iskra’s forehead wrinkled slightly. Where did- ohh, yes, this woman was at the challenge. That meant she was an Abraxas, family of Ashiel’s. Good to know.

Moving to step towards the suggested path Iskra shrugged, ”Thanks for the tip, love, and no  I have no business with the ‘Eclipse’. Unless- well, you see I do have business with one of your relatives. Malleus. Did he join, or?” she paused, waiting to hear the woman’s reply. Wait, would she even tell Iskra? The starry woman sure hoped so, since having to go ask around and call to both packs for answers she could just get now would be an annoying detour on this long overdue return.

The response from the red woman wasn’t exactly what Razi expected. Had this wolf not been as attached to the pack Razi’s nephew took as the other pack members? Ah, it didn’t matter anyways at this point, as long as the stranger wasn’t trying to pull the wool over her eyes and just pretending not to have some grudge. That thought had her remaining weary, just in case. ”I must admit your answer intrigues me.”

Studying the starscape in wolf form, she shrugged, a hint of a smile tracing over her lips. Gold eyes met blue and the Abraxas woman simply crooned in sing-song tones ”I will give you your answer if and only if you tell me what it is you want from him. Otherwise you’ll just have to take the extra time to figure it out yourself - but don’t worry, I’d be happy to escort you to our borders.” She was, after all, the Ambassador. The second path from the left was the quickest clear route to the border, she knew that much already from her brief explorations of the area.

It didn’t much matter toher whether or not the darker woman fully believed her, all that mattered was getting on her way already! She was dreadfully late by now, honestly it was sort of embarrassing and she really needed to spend the rest of the journey figuring out how to explain why she took ages to return. Did she have a grudge against the Abraxas? Not really, oddly enough. She didn’t fault them too much for the challenge. But that didn’t mean she liked them or understood why they did it. She just wasn’t necessarily on a path for revenge. A nonchalant shrug was her only real reply to this lady’s comment.

The next bit, spoken with saccharine sweetness that had Iskra feeling uncomfortable was a lot more unsettling. Lucky Iskra, she had nothing to hide. Meeting the liquid gold gaze of her apparent interviewer she smiled sweetly and chirped, ”We have a deal, I’m delivering him some useful herbs as part of it in return fo-” hold up! Scanning the area, she realized she was not carrying her bundle, and it was nowhere to be seen! ”Nononononooo!” she shrieked, racing around the immediate area in a panic as though someone had cut off her tail and she was trying to recover it.

When it was clear the collection of herbs she had prepared was now missing, she bounded over to Razi, stopping a little too close and pleaded, ”Will you please help me find the herbs? I can’t believe I lost them, they took forever to collect and I’m late enough as it is! Oh, Iskra you idiot!” Beside herself, Iskra was at a loss. Trailing her own scent was way harder than trailing someone else’s. Great, when did she even lose them?

Satisfied with what she heard, Razi was inclined to answer Iskra’s original question when the girl cut off, those blue eyes widening to a size they shouldn’t have been able to attain as a look of panic appeared on her rose-colored face. Taken aback by the other woman’s antics, Razi watched Iskra zip around like a chicken without a head. My my, what a sight. It left her feeling rather uncertain of what to do. That is, till the star-covered woman came bounding right up to her, basically nose to nose and begged for assistance. ”Uhm, I mean, I guess I could help?” The words had barely left her mouth, when she suddenly found herself following after the fretting stranger, looking quite bewildered but knowing she’d already agreed to assist. For her own sake she hoped this was an important enough matter to have disrupted her day with it.

”Okay, okay, calm down!” she commanded, silencing Iskra with her words and even getting her to sit down and face her. Good. ”What are we looking for? Describe it, and where you last had it.”

”Oh, thank you so much, thank you thank you!” she cried at Razi’s words, turning on her heels and racing to continue looking, running back and forth through the area and back down the trail she’d used to arrive at this point. The only thing that stopped her from continuing to go flying through the forest in a tizzy was the dark Abraxas woman’s loud, commanding tone. Suddenly she felt like a kid in trouble and promptly sat down sheepishly before her new acquaintance.

Thinking back to the bundle she’d been traveling with in her mouth for ages, it was easy to describe it in detail. ”It’s a relatively large bundle of herbs, probably this big” she said without hesitation, gesturing with her paw above the ground to gauge the rough size of the bundle, ”There are like a dozen different herbs in there of varying amounts, all wrapped up in a deer hide with leather strips tied around it. It’s hard to mistake for anything else, really.” Glancing at the stoic woman’s features nervously, she hoped she was doing a good job of relaying the needed description. Thinking back over her day she concentrated hard. When did she last have it? What was she doing?

Hmm…. Oh! Of course, how did she forget?!

Rising swiftly to her paws she grinned real wide, tail beginning to wag. ”I know! I was picking a trail back by the river? Stream? Whatever, but I set it down back there closer to the falls while I was deciding and i must have moved on without it.” She was all set to return, moving back along the semi-worn path when Iskra realized… She had no clue which way was back. Glancing to the dark and light lady eyeing her carefully, Iskra asked gently, ”Would, uhm, you be up for a little walk? I don’t know which trails I was on. Some navigator I am… Guess I need more practice.” Okay so she probably didn’t actually need help and was likely only lying t herself thinking she might, but now that she was calming down she kind of wanted to hang out with this pretty lady a little bit longer. Couldn’t hurt to just chat a little bit longer, right? Not like Iskra was trying to get in her pants, but she did want to hang around the woman a little bit longer. Maaaybe she could learn a bit more about this family that was hell bent on taking over the world apparently. Or just look at this pretty gold eyes and let them send pangs through her heart as she contemplated hos much she missed staring into Dragon's bright green gaze. Even though she'd had a troubling talk with Regulus, Iskra would be lying if she said she didn't miss her mate after all this time apart.

Listening to the woman describe the bundle she was apparently prancing around the lands with, Razi waited patiently as the other woman apparently solved the mystery of the missing herbs herself with a little thinking. There, a job well done, bye bye! ”Great, glad I could help! Have fun.” she was set to return through the trees to her own solo exploring when the soft question met her ears.

Ugh, fine. Looks like this star-woman was bent on grabbing her attention and keeping it. Her only saving grace was the fact that whether or not Razi went she’d still do what she was here for. That, and if she really did have business with Malleus then helping it along wasn’t a bad thing. ”Okay, let’s go. You exasperate me, mortal, but I’ll help you… for my nephew.” Blazing her way along the trails, Razi followed Iskra’s scent back through the great cedar trees. The sound of the water somewhere to her right would eventually alert her that she was likely getting close.

The Easter Bunny hops on by!

On her way through, she drops an egg at the paws of Iskra.

Yes! The woman relented, and quickly after that they were off, Iskra trailing behind Razi. Now that they were making their way back, with each twist and turn through the faint trails that ran through these woods she would remember int greater and greater detail exactly where the bundle was. Help was not needed, but at this point she couldn't tell if she just wanted the company or if she wanted to get to know this Abraxas woman a little while she had the chance. It would be safe to guess a little of both was the best answer.

As they both slowed to an easy trot while Razi tried to get a better handle on where to go next, Iskra eyed the gold-marked woman with interest. Glancing around, she estimated they were somewhere between halfway and three quarters of the way back to where she left her herbs. No way was she admitting she remembered though. With a carefully crafted nervous expression she asked, "Soo, what's your name? I saw you at the challenge but I never learned your name. Mine's Iskra Aeris."

Stuck at a place where the path forked off into three more trails, Razi was sniffing out the one to take when Iskra spoke from somewhere behind her. Offering little more acknowledgement than a simple flick of an ear, she replied, "Razi." Finding the scent again - which was no easy task with one one who left it right behind her, mind you - she took off at a lope. It was nice that the red woman had stuck to defined trails, it made it much much easier to retrace her steps.

They moved in silence for a while before a question began to bug her enough that she finally spoke. "Iskra, I do find it quite curious that you seem to hold no ill will towards me or my family. Or, at least none I've noticed. I guess I don't understand it, your ability to come so calmly with business for my Nephew that involves herbs. Actually, explain that again, I'm curious to know more if you don't mind sharing." Her words didn't really leave room for Iskra to pass on doing a little storytelling. Razi's interest was piqued and now she was gunna learn all she could about this Iskra woman.

Playing follow the leader was all well and good, but she did want to use this opportunity to try and learn something about these wolves. Her chance came after the woman, who introduced herself as Razi, began asking questions. Iskra would have to word her reply carefully. They were getting ever closer to her herbs, so time was limited, though that might be a good thing depending on how the rest of this interaction went.

"Why? Like I said, I have no business with you. I wasn't part of Talis long enough to mourn it's fall to the degree others would. The only thing I might begrudge is your newly crowned leader roughing up Dragon in the process of taking the pack, but it was a mostly fair fight so it would be illogical to hold too much of a grudge for that anyways." It was mostly true. She didn't mourn Talis' loss like others, and she didn't have reason to begrudge an official challenge forever, no, but she did still have some ill-will lurking beneath the surface. Call it a sense of righteous indignation, but seeing these baddies keep winning and knowing that they had now claimed two packs for reasons she still didn't fully understand... Well, that didn't sit right with her at all.

As they raced through the trees, Iskra took careful note of her surroundings. The terrain was a bit hazardous to run through at high speeds simply because it was wooded and riddled with potential obstacles, but it was still lovely. Personally, she liked lands that were the easiest for it's inhabitants to navigate and difficult for outsiders to fare well in. Those were great, cause in order to pass through them safely and regularly you had to really work at learning the lay of the land like the back of your paw. "Besides, despite my lengthy absence from Auster, I still intend to make good on my deal with your Nephew. He's offered me a favor in return for some assistance." she said, keeping it vague on purpose. Whether or not Razi would approve of the younger Abraxas male offering up unspecified favors to wolves he didn't know, well- okay, she would hazard a guess that such actions might not be taken too well by the rest of his kin. Whether Iskra explained her lack of hard feelings or not, she assumed it would take a while to overcome any mistrust they may have simply because of what side she'd sat on during the challenge.

Her explanation of the deal apparently didn't satisfy, so Iskra slowed and shrugged a rosey shoulder. "I told him I'd help him gather herbs and tell him all the best places to find and gather them in exchange for a favor of my choosing. I didn't think he'd actually agree, but he did, so now I'm making good on my end."

Razi kept on the trail, though she listened intently to Iskra's reply. She supposed the response was satisfactory,it at least made enough sense to Razi for her not to press much more. If Iskra didn't want to hate them for taking her home, Razi certainly wasn't going to be the one to convince her to feel otherwise accidentally or not. "I suppose I understand." she mumbled absently as a means of closing off the topic.

Iskra mentioned the deal again, but her words didn't really reveal much of anything. Razi glanced back and shook her head, "Not good enough, tell me more." it wasn't a request that was open for debate. She was getting good at giving orders rather than just asking. Perhaps her new rank was a contributing factor in this newfound change in her demeanor.

When Iskra elaborated, Razi slowed further, eyes narrowing and ears flicking to the sides as she pondered the other woman's words. A favor of Iskra's choosing, hm? That didn't sound like something Razi herself would agree to. Of course, if Iskra had been gone a long time like she said then maybe Malleus wasn't the one tasked with watching over the Risen Empire in Amon's absence. She probably didn't know about that at all if she wasn't in Auster, especially since as far as Razi knew only members of both empires knew of the change in leadership. As the drew closer to the river Razi would decline to speak further on the topic, quickly locating a surprisingly large bundle that matched Iskra's description.

Pointing to the bundle, Razi called, "Hurry up and get it slowpoke, before the river rises up and snatches it away." Of course the river was a fair distance away, but Razi wouldn't mind helping it reach if the mood struck her... Once the red woman appeared hot on her heels and collected her things, Razi would wave her tail in a farewell gesture. "It was interesting meeting you, Iskra. Maybe I'll see you again sometime." And with that, she was off to continue her explorations on her own, and perhaps to discuss what she'd learned with Ashiel and get his take on what this all might mean.

-exit-

Razi listened to Iskra's explanation and quieted, leaving Iskra quite certain that it hadn't been in her best interests to share that last bit. Oh well, if she'd tried to hide the truth she'd be found out and labeled a liar. Right now nobody had anything on her and Iskra was gunna make sure it stayed that way. As far as anyone needed to know she was just a loner working in her own self-interest. Picking up pace, she ran to gather her things up from where she'd left them. Nodding at Razi's parting words, Iskra didn't bother trying to respond now that she was preoccupied holding her herbs.

Sashaying away towards the southwest, Iskra continued on her journey to meet the man she'd spoken with some time ago now. Hopefully this meeting with this dark woman would end up causing her trouble later on.

-exit-