Life wasn't the same without their mother around. Vanta could feel her absence in every family member's sad smile, every puppy's quiet confusion and most of all in the forlorn expression of her stoic father. The pups had been told that they would remain for a time in the Hallows' massive castle, surrounded by friends and family and all the support any grieving individual might need.

Vanta had been grateful when she was given permission to return home for a brief time, accompanied by Gossamer's protection as she rifled through the family den to retrieve some possessions very dear to her. The bracers her mother had gifted her and the odd piece of fabric, too. If she was to live in the Hallows for any length of time, she would keep her inheritance safe while staying there.

Clipping the unblemished leather to her limbs with a vow to never again remove them. Between the leather and her fur she squished the last piece of her inheritance, folding the fabric gently and working it in with a toe to ensure it would be well protected behind her bracer. Mom had said it was important and while Vanta still did not understand why, she was not about to ignore her mother's request to keep it treasured and safe.

Vanta had hoped that keeping the accessory and band-aid close would make her feel closer to her mother too, but the cold empty void in her chest remained even when the leather had grown warm against her skin. The pup desperately wished for her back for even just a minute, for just one short hug. It was with this wish in mind that she snuck from the castle late in the evening and made her way back to the faintly glowing shore to its south west. The territory had drawn her eye because it glowed the same color as hers and her mother's crystalline fur - perhaps being close to that would help to make her feel whole once more.

Beneath the moon the pup set off toward the shore, a toucan on her right and a viper wrapped loosely around her neck. All three of them had loved and lost, but held hope. Samhain was said to be a festival for both the living and the dead, and as the bonfire's green light spread across the sky there had been a declaration of the veil between worlds dropping. Did that mean her mother was back? The absence of the horned woman in the Hallowed castle walls seemed to be evidence that she was not - after all, if Zee had been given the opportunity to walk this world once more and see her children one last time, why wasn't she here? The familiars had addressed this worry only briefly, mentioning that a spirit might need an invitation to cross. This, Vanta insisted to herself, she could accomplish.

Armed with enough childish hope to bring back all of Somnium, Vanta approached the fainty glowing water of the shore. Nobody had told her or tried to teach her how one would go about bringing someone back from the dead, but Vanta would not let the lack of knowledge stop her. She put her forepaws in the water, letting the cold chill reach up just to the top of her crystalline leg fur. Connecting herself and the water's bioluminescent glow, and willing that mystical glow to use the physical bond between herself and her like-mutated mother to call to her soul. Her eyes slid shut - it just felt right, okay? - and she began to speak, imagining her words going down into the bioluminescent algae to be carried across the widespread ocean until it reached wherever her mother might be.

"Mom? I miss you." Vanta began, her voice shaking. "We all miss you." Swallowing hard, the puppy continued. "I don't know how this all works, Mom. Really, I don't think anyone does. Everyone seems so confused. But if you could just come back for even a few minutes and help me to understand, maybe I can make everyone else understand too. I'd do anything to keep you with us, even just for a little while."

Opening her eyes she waited, and waited. No response came. Vanta stared harder down at the bioluminescence, focusing all her energy into it and imagining her mother's glowing form stepping from the ocean. Nothing. The wind picked up and the land grew cold, the toucan eventually pulling the pup's forelegs from the ocean by her tail and depositing her further up on the beach. With his talons he worked to crack stone against flint to produce a small driftwood fire, encouraging the pup forward to absorb it's warmth.

"Hell -- Ar -- Ere? "

The voice was crackled, distorted.

"V -- ta?"

With a loud crackle and pop, the fire finally caught. Vanta turned her head away from the flames and shut her eyes instinctively to defend against the pain, ears slicked back in disappointment.

"Vanta?"

"Vanta"

Disorientation. Zee had only been here days, and already she was being pulled back through the veil. The feeling was beyond uncomfortable, like someone grabbing chunks of her fur for purchase, yanking on them hard and stretching her pelt all the way off her skin to force her along. It would have been downright unbearable if not for the recognition she felt upon hearing the distant voice calling her name. One of her children. Zee let herself be pulled. Remaining on the mortal land was hard, almost as if there was nothing to anchor her any longer. The world seemed to be torn between Somnium and the earth, her daughter glitching in and out of existence before her eyes. Her little girl's voice barely comprehensible as she struggled to keep the living world in focus beneath her ethereal paws. "Hello? Vanta? Are you there?" She begged aloud to the fluctuating darkness, squinting as if she could peer through the veil if only she tried hard enough. And then the fire lit, and the world stabilized. Zee's ears flicked curiously, pausing like she might be waiting for another destabilization that never came. She paused, letting time stretch as she waited, and waited, and then finally spoke. "Vanta?" "Speech"

Her mother's words were enough to send her head snapping toward the fire, crystalline eyes opening wide regardless of the searing pain brought on by the light. The pup cried out to briefly see the vague shape of her mother above the flames but unable to force her eyes open long enough to really lay eyes on her. It wasn't fair! It just wasn't fair! "Mom!" She cried out, her voice broken by emotion and tears both emotional and pained in her crystalline gaze. She couldn't even hug her, not while she stood ethereal above the flames. "

"This isn't what I wanted!" The pup whined, angry and confused, uncertain of whether her mom was even there. She couldn't open her eyes to see her, couldn't feel her soft fur. Maybe she was hallucinating the voice. Was this what faith was? "I hate this, I hate everything! I hate my eyes! I want my mom!"

"Vanta"

The restrictions around her breach through the void curtain were infuriating, worse as she heard her daughter begin to cry. She was right here! But Vanta could not see her. Not because Zee was too faded to see, but because the disability imparted on her brought her too much pain to see into the flames. Zee tried to move her paws but without success, it was like she was flesh made fire, like her very being was flickering through the flame and remaining tethered to it. Sighing, she tried to reach her little girl once more. "My precious daughter, do you remember the gift I gave you?" She whispered. Zee focused her feelings upon the fire itself, willing it to reach out.. to touch the bracer with a burst of short-lived flame where she knew the fabric was hidden. The leather seared briefly, bringing a black soot across the spiked horn sigil that symbolized herself. "Perhaps it's time to use it, after all." It was nothing more than a feeling (and Zee would never proclaim to be a God or to have earned any ability to be all knowing in death) but something was telling her that her inclination was wholeheartedly accurate in this moment. The Firefly man had given this to her for this moment... more than a year ago. Strangely, the realization did not startle her as she expected it should. "Speech"

A sudden heat jumped out and pelted at her forelimb, combined with the soft leading voice of her mother's ghost. Vanta withdrew her paw in fear, holding it and the bracer up to her chest, eyes still shut and head still aimed far from the fire. "I don't know what you mean, momma." She whispered, defeated. It was just a piece of fabric! Her mother had said it was important to her family's health and safety, but nothing about mystical magical powers. Was there even anything strong enough in this world to help Vanta in this moment?

But the suggestion was her mother's, and Vanta would never again ignore the horned wolf's words. With shaking paws she unclasped the bracer, watching the folded scrap of fabric fall out and onto the sand. What was she to do with it? Vanta held it in one paw, looking into it's boring shape and color and trying as hard as she could to discern some sort of use from it all. What needed helping the most? A large part of her wanted to thrust it into the flames and see if it could bring her mother back, but even the thought of it was enough to send a pit of wrongness into her stomach. No, it was meant for her. But how?

Vanta touched it to her chest first, holding it there a moment but feeling nothing in particular magically break through. No amount of magic bandaids could heal a broke heart, she assumed. Her paw lifted higher, bringing the fabric to her eyes. Holding it across them and letting her tears soak through. "Am I doing it right, momma?" She asked the fire, her words shaken by anticipatory fear and an already setting in burst of self loathing.

"Vanta"