How loyal were the waves to the shoreline, Lotus wondered as she watched water lap gently at the banks. A cool, dry breeze was blowing in from the north that whispered the promise of change. Lotus wasn't entirely sure she liked change. If she were being entirely honest, Lotus wasn't sure of anything anymore. The rough sound of teeth scraping against hardened tar fills her head as she gnaws at a paw; a futile attempt to clean away the dark mark. It hurt. The boiling tar had been much hotter and far more painful than she had anticipated it being.

Lotus just wanted to forget. She wanted to forget why she was punished. Wanted to forget she'd ever been born to parents who would never truly care about her. Parents who would pick favorites. Not that she blamed Yonina for their parents' choices but it hurt knowing that you weren't good enough to be picked. Not that Lotus wanted to leave the Valley. She just.. she didn't know what she wanted. Heaving a heavy sigh the young girl left her task and pushed herself to her paws. The tar cracked and pinched and she grimaced, wondering if she would ever truly get used to the feeling.

She hummed as she walked along the banks of the lake, the sound soft and mournful. The sodden soil sinking beneath her blackened paws felt a bit better than the hard, unforgiving sandstone found throughout much of Oukoku-kai. The sound of the rippling water was soothing and she could feel herself slowly allowing herself to relax as she listened to the rhythmic slapping of the waves. Or maybe she was just beginning to not care anymore. Either way, Lotus welcomed the relief. 

The sound of someone approaching lifted her gaze from her paws and she blinked deep ruby eyes at them, nonplussed. "Oh, hello Crux." She said softly, making her lips lift into a polite smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. Lotus moved to lay down beside the lake, not caring that she'd get dirty or that the water ebbed at her paws and gestured for the older boy to join her. "How have you been?" Lotus hummed. He was interesting and yet aloof to the point where Lotus wanted to pick his brain apart. Perhaps she would have been more captivated by him had she not seen her sister's keen fascination the first time they'd met. Lotus had no wish to quarrel with Feizin over something as silly as a boy. Even if he was particularly handsome.

Ever since Eremiel had joined Tortuga, years ago, he had found comfort by the side of many waterfalls within their changing territories. Now was not any different, deep within the forests of the pack, the Quartermaster once again silently praised the falling waters for the wonderful white noise they made. The perfect environment to think, to relax, and meditate. One some occasions, he even came here to pray, more often on nights where the stars were not visible in the sky, so being covered by the trees would not mean so much.

Tonight was just a night for thinking, reflecting. The father sat by the falls and listened to their soft roaring, though he did not miss the sound of approaching footsteps. His ears swiveled to the side first, followed by his eyepatched eye and then his seeing one. Once he had sight of whoever came to enjoy the nature with him, he would smile.

"Hello, child-" whoever it was could have been a damn grown adult, but tonight was that kind of night. He was there to teach, to nurture - It was in the core of who he was. "Have you come to enjoy the falls?" he would turn his head away to watch the water again, eye now falling to the soft foam it created by repeatedly mixing with itself. After a few beats of silence, he spoke again,

"There's beauty in simplicity, isn't there? The water falls, it is simple, beautiful. You do not think much of it." he began, glancing back up at his company. "But it is rarely that simple, is it not?" no, it was not. Black and white decisions were hardly ever truly black and white, even the simplest thing had complicated roots.

"Tell me," his voice was gentle, but his eye mischievous, though more playful. "Would you trade your freedom in for safety? To live in simplicity?" he wanted to know what kind of hearts his crew had. There was no wrong answer, of course, not really.

It was very early morning, even by the Quartermaster's standards. He was an early riser even on the worst of days, up with the sun to go through his morning prayers to the stars and sky above him. But today he had woken up with a familiar fatherly worry churning in his stomach, and pushed himself up, albeit groggily, and out of the ship he called his home.

The sun was not even up yet, but he would easily go through the darkness of his familiar territory towards where he knew he could find one of his adopted children. Would she even be awake? Would he be disturbing her new mate? Small, meaningless worries. He reminded himself he had every right to want to speak to her, and evenmoreso during a quiet, chilly morning. It was more private that way, most folks were still asleep, while some just now slipping into slumber. So with his anxiety aside, Eremiel dipped his head at the entrance to Trout's den.

"Sugar?" he called, voice cracking with lack of use from sleep. He cleared it, and tried again. "Trout? Are you awake? Come," he would move away from the entrance, waiting for the girl - Now not so much a little girl at all - to appear in front of him. He smiled, crinkling his eyes which were now uncovered and naked without his eyepatch. One brilliant cyan blue, the other nothing more than a socket.

"We need to talk." he said, I want to help you continued his eyes. He nodded towards the beach, a favourite now for conversations that took too long to get to. He walked there in silence, hoping to get her more awake in the process, but once their feet his sand, he let out a short breath.

"I will not speak to about facing your fears," he started, eyes straight ahead. "Nor will I speak of forgiveness, for that matter. That is none of my business." he forgave many, and some he did not. That was his business, and no one else's. "But whatever is haunting you, you must let it go." he knew exactly what he was talking about, but the vagueness made it simpler, if only for a little.

"You cannot let it fester, or get the best of you, you- Your family, even. Is driven so strongly by impulse," he let out a small chuckle, "It is not always a bad thing. Impulse made a lot possible, it drove us here. But it had also caused so much misery, so much tragedy- Over festered feelings, paranoia - Lack of calculations and so many ghosts. If you let your past haunt you, you will become it, Trout." his eye trailed to her now.

"Speak to me." it was a gentle order, not inviting her to push this talk to a later date.

“Ir abelas.”

Gaven pressed his hand on stony bark, his fingers tracing the rough texture, chill against his palm. When he left for Inaria he took something from here. The tree waited impatiently for his return, haunting him like the many other things that trailed in his path. The tree would never betray the things he had stolen to his Queen or Gemini, which made it different from his other victims, and he owed it something for that. The long-dead tree did not respond to his apology, words that many living things had not managed to wretch from the Starreaver, but he felt at ease.

How fun it had been lugging around a decorated rock!  It was high time to free his shoulders of guilt and the literal weight of a sizable stone. A lesson learned in planning his departures with care.

The entrance to the library was piled with snow, built up and toppled into the small shelter. In other libraries this would be considered a disastrous event but Gaven supposed moisture did no damage to history recorded in stone. He slid through the carved opening and quickly stuffed the stone slab back in its place. The inside of the library was black as ever, but his eyes quickly adjusted. He took a moment to consider the rest of the untouched stones before disregarding them with a shrug. Today wouldn’t be wasted on reading. The new camp he made was close to the library he could work through the tablets in his down time.

After visiting the library he headed northward with trouble brewing in his brain. There was one thing everyone needed to know about Gaven: five seconds by himself resulted in immediate, crushing loneliness from which he was desperate to escape. He needed someone to talk to, to bother. He lived his entire life before in his close-knit clan where they did everything together and shared everything. He wasn’t used to solitude. His step quickened when he found a spot where the snow had been crushed down from many little wolf paws walking back and forth on it. It probably went to the castle. He broke into a run when the castle was close enough to hit with an arrow, careful not to trip on slick spots on the path.

He could have snuck into the castle, sticking to the shadows and hoping not to get caught until he could find a broken spot to creep through. That would have been safer. The walls were sheer and slick with ice, but he took a running start at a low one, driving one of his older blades into gaps in the stone to get a grip, and propelled himself upward. It was a low wall, but high enough to give him a view of the courtyard and the paths the wolves took most frequently. The roof wore a thick blanket of untouched snow and he scooped up a handful and packed it into a ball. He snatched up more snow, forming it into many fist size balls, until the roof was almost cleared of excess and he had a pile of ammo sitting out in front of him. The wolves of Gemini were going to learn a thing or two about siege warfare today.

The Starreaver crouched on the roof, waiting for someone to pelt with snow (sans Jonas; he was terrified of that cat), and if they shouted at him they were going to get it twice as bad