Who would have guessed that it would be water that would soothe the firey girl's soul.  When she had first glimpsed the vast sea plain, she had been in awe, and would have lingered longer if her family had not dragged her away.  When she learned that her new home was connected to the great ocean, she rushed to the shore as soon as she got the chance.  And there she had stayed.  She learned the cycle of the tides according to the position of the moon.  She was learning how to predict it by the stars.  She had explored the tide pools and sampled the riches, and dangers, within.  Too cold for poisonous lion fish and the wrong ocean for venomous sea urchins, the most Terra had to worry about was the stinging jellyfish.  That had been a painful lesson, and one she was not interested in repeating.

The onshore breeze ruffled through her bangs, exposing one amber eye before they resettled to veil her face.  She had been here almost the whole season now.  She had built her den among one of the coastal caves, creating a low wall to block the wind using a combination of driftwood, stone and sand mortar.  She collected specimens and had them sorted in her "tanks", natural pools that formed at the back of her cave.  She'd been cataloging them, and had learned which were good to eat and which weren't.  Nothing poisonous for her pools, but some things were tastier than others.  Mostly she was learning how the ecosystem worked, and the intricate dance of life fascinated her.

What she was really doing was hiding.  No one had thought to look for her, and Terra hadn't wanted to be found.  She had wanted to disappear into the wind and the waves, to dry up in the sun and be buried by the sand.  Terra wanted to become the elements, to take them into herself and have them absorb her.  She wanted to forget what had happened to her, but that wasn't going to happen.  So she hid from it for as long as she could.  But in doing so, she was hiding from her family.  The guilt was creeping into her dreams, chasing away her peace.  She would have to confront it, would have to leave her cave and her beach and her pools.  She would have to resurface and seek out her family soon.  But not today... no, today she would spend in the breeze that was flowing over the dunes.  She would gather her courage and she would go when the tide came in.

At noon the sea retreated, it's roar muffled by the whispering wind and the hiss of the dune grass.  She spent the day out in the tidal zone, collecting a few things and examining still more.  The day came and went, almost too soon in the young flame's mind.   At dusk the water chased her inland, forcing her back to shore and hiding it's secrets once more. It was time. Terracotta climbed the tallest peak in her range, and stood for a moment watching the burning orb begin to sink below the horizon.  Then she went to ask a favor of one of the coastal ravens that roosted in the rocky ledges nearby. They obligingly wound the salt grass around a portion of her advantageous mop into some semblance of ponytail.  Now her bangs merely framed her eyes instead of curtaining them.

She traveled overland to a place she knew she would know until the end of her days.  It was outside the border of the pack where she now resided, but she didn't care.  Almost full dusk now, she intended to spend the night at her father's tree.  Looking up into the boughs, the leaves were dusty black, too dark to distinguish any color in the dying light.  Were they still red?  She did not know.  With a sigh, she sank down on her hindquarters, looking up at the stars through the canopy.

"Hey, Daddy...  Sorry I've been gone so long..."

What are you doing? What are you in need of most of all? You made a promise to them both and what have you done in order to keep it, absolutely nothing. The crickets chirped in the tall grass, frogs croaked from their ponds and streams, the last mourning dove of the day called out it's melancholy cry as the sun sank beyond the horizon and the sky dripped shades of orange, pink, purple, and finally a deep blueish black. Relenting to the stars above that glittered down upon the highlands of Gemini.

Loss was apart of life, his mother liked to tell them that, however she failed to ever tell them about how much loss they'd suffer. Perhaps it was the curse of their family, they so effortlessly revolved around it even after constantly trying to break its cycle. It only seemed to make it all the more worse. Life wasn't going to spare them a bit of well deserved happiness, her dusky-dark furred son knew this all too well. You had to take it for yourself.

As he walked through the tall grass, out beyond the pack's border to the grave of their fallen father, the last rays of light illuminated his shaggy form. Tired eyes, once so bright and full of hope now he looked so disheveled, lost within his own mind. It was a constant thing, it seemed like he never gave himself a break. Light up your life, and you'll need it most in the dark in the dead of the night. But how? It sounded so easy, but was never quite as easy when put into practice. I'm out of my mind; think you can wait?

Ears perked up however and his head rose, the last few bits of light catching on a shimmering coat of fiery tones mixing with browns. He blinked for a moment, watching the figure stand before the mound of dirt, speaking softly down to it. "He's, uh, he's probably very happy to see you, Terrie." Came her brother's rumbling voice, as he ambled over, stopping a few feet behind her.

"It's really shitty and stupid to ask, cause fucking god... I know it pisses me off all the time, but... How are ya feeling? How ya been?" He croaked, there was a certain softness in his voice, only reserved for his sisters and mother. Tail flicking behind him as a way to fidget and calm his nerves. Unsure if she'd dart away and go back into hiding, he'd always thought Khanda was the one in which you needed to be super gentle with. She was the smallest after all, so it'd be a good thought right? But Terracotta was more likely to isolate than any of them. They were a splintered family, but they could still repair and keep it all together.

"He's, uh, he's probably very happy to see you, Terrie."

Like a dear who had just heard a snapping twig, her head jerked towards the sound of her brother's voice.  

"Kao..." She said, more as recognition to herself than a proper greeting. "I wasn't expecting... anyone..." She trailed off, standing to turn and face him.

"It's really shitty and stupid to ask, cause fucking god... I know it pisses me off all the time, but... How are ya feeling? How ya been?"

How had she been?  Terra cocked her head, as confused by the question as to why he was flustered in asking it.  She hadn't seen Kaolin, but that hadn't mean he hadn't seen the others. She'd completely withdrawn... but then maybe they all had?  She'd kept it together well enough, by hiding out on the beach like some hermit. Who was to say they hadn't done the same?  Kaolin's demeanor certainly led her to believe he thought himself guilty of something.  Another might try to hold it against him, to ward it over him like a yolk, and teather him like a beast.  Terracotta had no such intention.

"I'm alright." She hesitantly replied.  "I chose a den by the sea..."

Usually unable to shut up, Terra now found herself at a loss for words, while she had preformed countless tasks and experiments while she was at the seaside, she couldn't think of a single one that would interest Kaolin in the slightest.  While she wanted to end the awkward silence, she didn't want to prattle on about something stupid after all this time.  Given the dour demeanor of their location, it seemed there was really only one conversation that they were going to have...

"Have you seen Khanda or Lucy?" A  pause, equally hesitant "How's Mom?"

He pulled a face at her initial response to him, though it settled into something nondescript after a few moments longer, he gave her a rather stiff shrug of his shoulders. He couldn't really blame her, all of them had been collectively avoiding each other it felt. All of them too scared to face the truth, the big elephant in the room. Mom's fucked in the head.

Her answer was carefully crafted, just as careful as his question prior, and he cocked a brow to see if he could find some hidden meaning behind 'I'm alright'. Maybe he was always just going to second guess and overthink every little thing from now on. Fuck, man. His muzzle wrinkled in annoyance at himself, but it fixed itself into a pained smile. "The sea, huh? That's nice, ocean's pretty great, but it might get cold when that sea breeze comes off the water." He titled his head slightly, eyeing the grave and huffing. Mom liked the ocean too, heh.

"Uhh," He began, eyes shifting to the side and an uncomfortable look crept upon scruffy features. "I've seen Lu, yeah. Not recently though, it was a while ago, after the border...stuff. I haven't seen Khanda, unfortunately, it's like she'd hiding or something." He mumbled the last bit deep in pained thought, that his own sister might be avoiding them. "I, uh, I haven't seen or heard from mom. Last I knew she was still being held in the tree or something, I was never allowed to see her." He spat bitterly, how could they keep their fucking mother away from her own fucking kids.

Head would raise and eyes would look to the sky, inhaling a deep breath as he readied himself for this next thing. "Terra, I... I gotta be honest with you..." There was hesitance in his voice and he wish that he could snatch those words from out the air, but it was too late, he had to push on. "I'm leaving, and I don't know if I'm coming back, but there's something out there that I gotta do." Eyes would lower then as he sternly looked to his sister, an uncertain finality to his words.

"And I wanted to let someone know, so it wasn't like... It wasn't like I was abandoning you guys again, I'M NOT! I just, I gotta figure some shit out, there's something out there that needs answering for and I gotta be the one to do it." His voice began to waver, and he knew what would happen next if he kept on, staving off the tears.

"The sea, huh? That's nice, ocean's pretty great, but it might get cold when that sea breeze comes off the water."

"Sometimes." She admitted. "But I don't mind so much."

There was a soothing consistency on the shoreline.  Even the storms showed signs if you paid enough attention.  She'd been watching the weather, learning to read the storms.  The lightning that had created a wildfire had surprised her, but she wasn't deterred.  If she could master weather, she figured she'd be able to live comfortably there. Someday.

"Uhh, I've seen Lu, yeah. Not recently though, it was a while ago, after the border...stuff. I haven't seen Khanda, unfortunately, it's like she'd hiding or something. I, uh, I haven't seen or heard from mom. Last I knew she was still being held in the tree or something, I was never allowed to see her."

"I see..."

So, none of them had been able to get to her.  That wasn't reassuring. Not that she'd made that much of an effort.  She felt a bit guilty about that, too.  Had Sappara even done anything to deserve imprisonment?  They should try to find out.

"Terra, I... I gotta be honest with you..."

The tone of his voice called her back from her own thoughts. Her burning eyes focused in on him.

"I'm leaving, and I don't know if I'm coming back, but there's something out there that I gotta do. And I wanted to let someone know, so it wasn't like... It wasn't like I was abandoning you guys again, I'M NOT! I just, I gotta figure some shit out, there's something out there that needs answering for and I gotta be the one to do it."

For a moment, she stared at him in dumbfound science. Then rage peeled her lips back from her teeth and she snarled at him.

"Like HELL!" She screamed, getting up in his face. "What's so damn important that you have to leave?!"

They'd scattered, but at least they were all in one place.  Now he was talking about leaving?  Terra's heart kicked into a panic.  She didn't understand. Everything had gone to shit.  It'd had blown up. Dad had died.  Now they were finally getting their legs under them and he wanted to splinter it again?  Every link in the chain was important, and he just wanted to up and break it.