Drifter Bay, early evening. 300+

She had been here before. Foxglove had needed to get away from the kingdom for a while, and she could not yet return to the tribe that had betrayed her as it so had. The threat was gone now, she knew, but she could not bring herself to return there yet. The Utinas had not returned as far as she knew, and though she would have liked to see Liliana again, Foxglove was not willing to venture out to find her in the other pack's land. There was too much risk, even if the conflict was supposed to be over. No, getting away completely was her best option, she was sure.

Jade eyes studied the champagne mare that still had no name. She deserved one for carrying the gypsy girl so far once again, but she simply could not think of something. She walked to stand with her feet in the water as she had done the last time she had come to find Magnolia, taking care to leave some distance between herself and the shadowy pack her sister called home. This time, the water was much colder than it had been, and she knew winter was on its way. Would it hold as many strange happenings as the last winter? Her first winter had brought her away from this area, but she did not think she would leave again. She did not want to leave Maggie again; she missed her often.

Szellem had been quiet since her initial capture and he had remained fairly quiet during their stay in the kingdom, but that did not bother her. She, too, had been extremely silent, speaking very rarely. She opened her mouth to call for her sister, but the voice that came was strange. It sounded foreign, like it had not been used in years and did not belong to her. She gently touched the raw spots on her wrists from where the rope had rubbed away her fur and blistered her. The blistered had healed now with minimal scarring, but the fur had not grown back yet and she wondered if it ever would. She had wilted in the tribe's clutches.

No worries! <3 I'm not bothered by the wait. c: 500+

Once, long ago, Foxglove would have not thought twice of feeling so hollow, wilted as she was by the tribe. She had been accustomed to the feelings that accompanied the wrongness within her, the same way her mother was plagued. Being in the tribe, finding her place in a world of strange customs, had pushed everything to the back of her mind, and she had felt whole for the first time in such a long time. Even the gypsies had not brought her such a warmth; they had called upon her wrongness and found it frightening, almost supernatural. They had feared and loved it in her. It was why she could not stay with them forever; she almost had.

Now, though, the tribe had pushed her down, beaten her until she felt wrong again. Szellem had been the only good thing to come out of her living there; even her mare, she did not associate the same way. She could have acquired the horse in a number of other ways, and she would have. The transportation was useful when going long distances, such as now. It would take her ages to get here without the mare, but with her, she was able to make the journey this far north in a matter of a few days, with frequent rests for the horse to eat and drink, sleep for both of them.

Foxglove took a step back out of the water, unsurprised to see her sister swimming across. After all, that had been her purpose today, to see Maggie. The space was given so that she could be out of the cold water, but there was a fear in the gypsy woman with the battered soul. She should not have come here again, she knew, but it was all she could do. Nervously, she rubbed at her raw wrists, wrapping her slender fingers around them in shame, to hide the physical marks of the tribe's abuse, but there was more: the way she held herself was frightened, tired, and her body had fallen into a state of weakened anorexia, unintentional as it was.

"The tribe... I..." She trailed off, unsure of what to say now that she was with her sister. She wanted to hold her, to be held, to warm her sister from the river's icy water and be comforted in the arms of family, but she could not bring herself to move forward. "There was a war, and my blood, our blood... Deemed me untrustworthy... They tied me up, they locked me away with the other prisoners from other packs... Dawali let them do it," she added in a whisper. The leader she had followed so easily after joining the tribe had let them do this to her. The realization of this stung her.

She looked away, gaze roaming the surface of the water that had separated them only moments before, "I'm sorry... I had to come. I needed to be away for a bit." Maybe forever would be better.

You do not suck <3 300+

There was little that the blonde wolfdog could think of to say or do now. She wanted to tell her sister not to be sorry, to be proud of her for surviving, but Foxglove did not know if she had truly survived it at all. She had been broken by the tribe's abuse; the flower-named girl had wilted in their cruel clutches. Could she ever call the tribe home again? If not for herself, she would, for it was the only way to keep Szellem with her. She did not want to lose the bird-spirit; his company had helped her through her imprisonment, even if they had hardly spoken and still did not.

Despite the initial stiffening at her sister's touch, Foxglove leaned into the hug, seeking the warmth her vibrantly-alive sister could provide her with. It wasn't a physical warmth—the water on Maggie's fur was enough to prevent that—but it was a life force she wanted so desperately. "I love you," she murmured softly into her silver sister's shoulder. They had never been meant to be separated for so long; that was certainly clear. Now, there was no easy way to breach the distance, for her sister's pack was secretive and she was nothing but a broken mirror of their mother in gypsy garb living in a tribe she could never call home again.

Foxglove could not stay forever. She knew that, and she suspected that Magnolia did, too. Hadn't she warned her not to come this close at all? But the sentiment mattered; her sister could keep her safe, if only for a little while. "I will... Go back at some point," she faltered. "I don't want to lose... my spirit guide, and I don't want to leave my things behind," she said softly, jade gaze skimming the water. "But for a little while..." She trailed off. "I don't know how to keep myself safe.. But, that's not... How are you?" She had trouble forming the thoughts into sentences, jumbled as they were in her mind.