Oh, of all the comrades that ever I had.

When the sound of a beast's bellowing call reverberated through the woods, the blackbird roused. With a sharp intake of breath, Ciri's claws scrabbled at the forest floor to pull her upright. Raven ears high atop her crown, her gaze took in the sights all around her - and found that the world was not as she expected.

Silence reigned there, in that eery and unfamiliar place, and the young Ostrega felt herself shrink a little. She tucked her tail close to her backside as she tried desperately to recall how she'd managed to find herself among misted trees when her last memory was of falling snow. She thought of the unbearable cold as she lay down to rest, then the warmth that was slow to creep into her being after her eyelids grew heavy.

"Mother," the youth rasped, eager test her voice. Her throat felt raw, unused, and she swallowed in effort to soothe before she tilted her muzzle upward. Ciri sent forth a short call, a cry for help, and clung to the hope that her family would answer.


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“Ciri!” Her voice carried across the snow, well aware that something was off. She remembered pain, she remembered laying down to take a rest at the mountain, floating in a dark, cold place and... that was it. The next thing was waking up with a blanket of snow atop her, a gasping breath wrenching her awake as she scrambled to her feet in preparation for --

For what?

She hadn't known. She had tried to figure it out, of course, but when nothing came, Keres saw nothing better to do other than set out on her own and see who she could find. Was Hydra here? Dirge? The valkyrie did not know, but the moment she caught her niece's scent, heard her call, recognition had blasted her with little fanfare. The name left her mouth before she even had time to think about it, bounding over the snow to seek the pup out. She did not think to howl, too wrapped up in heading in the direction she was led to stop and second guess.
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The time between her call and an answer was short, for a voice answered from somewhere among the trees. Raven ears thrust forward at the familiarity of it, at the sound of her own name, though she couldn't quite place who it belonged to. Disorientated, the young Ostrega made a few tentative steps forward; she struggled to tell where the response had sounded from, and emitted a soft whimper to herself as she pondered her next move.

Was it her mother? Distorted by this strange forest, shrouded by mist and uncertainty? Some siren song made by a vicious swamp dweller, meant to lure her in with the intention of causing her harm? Ciri stalled, fearful, before she forced herself onward further; there was no monster more terrifying than the idea of being entirely alone.

"Mom!?" Ciri barked, hopeful, as she hurried clumsily through the snow, "I'm here!"


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The wavering voice spurned the valkyrie to move faster, covering the distance in what felt like no time at all. Was she in trouble? Was she alone? Keres had no time to wonder about where she was or how she had gotten here, focusing on finding the young Ostrega. It was easy to spot her once she did, her niece's brown fur stark against the snow, a bark bouncing off the trees to get her attention. “Ciri!” She was not the girl's mother, but surely a friendly and familiar face would not be unwelcome.

In no time at all, Keres reached the young wolf, gathering her close in an embrace that would serve purpose to both of them; the adult female needed the moment to ground her, to assure her that this was no dream, no trick of the mind. “Are you alright?” She asked, pulling back a touch to look at her. When had she gotten this big? When had she grown? “Are you hurt?”
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Snow clung to her undersides, but on she carried. The girl's yellow eyes darted frantically between the frosted trees, searching the mist for any sign of the one who'd called to her, and pricked her ears forward at another announcement of her name.

Closer, now. She was on the right track, and she pushed onward with flanks that heaved with her desperate breaths. She continued to bark, eager to keep her saviour's attention fixated on her in order to unite them more quickly, and relief literally brought her to her knees when an ashen figure appeared from among the foliage. "Ah!" Ciri yipped in surprise, and scrambled to her feet with urgency to close the distance between herself and the adult who'd found her. Not her mother, unfortunately, but thankfully someone she recognised immediately.

"Aunt Keres!" Ciri cried, fitting herself at once into the embrace that the valkyrie reached to gather her into, "I'm okay, I'm not hurt."

When they let one another go, Ciri glanced around herself at their surroundings. "Where are we?"


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Ciri's proclamation of being alright did nothing to deter the woman from checking her over, motions quick and just a hair under frantic but relieved all the same. She smelled... Alone, something that Keres did not expect or like. Where was Nyx? Where was Elke? Keeping the frown from her expression as she did not want to alarm the child adolescent wolf, the older woman simply shook her head by way of answer. 

“I don't know. I woke up not long ago and smelled you...” Scanning the environment around them, the mountain wolf looked for anything familiar, even slightly so. Of course, there was nothing. “I don't remember this place at all.” It was a murmur made to herself, though she did realize that it could alarm her niece. “We'll figure things out together though, okay?”
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Surprise at the announcement of having simply woke to this strange place brought Ciri's attention toward Keres once more, confusion clear in the gleam of her vibrant gaze as they rose to seek her aunt's features. She expected to find concern there, woven perhaps into a frown or the furrowing of her ashen brow, but she saw only searching eyes that lifted to study their surroundings. 

She was anxious, naturally, to be without her mother and sister. Keres made no mention of either, nor of her uncle and cousins, so... did that mean they were lost? The idea of such a fate was terrifying to Ciri, but there was a small comfort in knowing that she did not have to be alone.

"How..." she paused, hesitant, "how do we get back?" To Moonspear. To her mother and sister, to their family.


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“I am not sure,” She admitted with a heavy dose of honesty. There was so much that was unknown here that Keres was unsure of what to say, unsure of what to tell her and not to tell her. Ciri was a smart girl though, and the valkyrie found herself not wanting to veil her thoughts of uncertainty from her. She found Ciri to be stronger than that, to be stronger than a little girl who needed to be shielded from the cruelties of this new world.

“What I do know, however, is that between the two of us, we will have no trouble finding them. Any of them.” Nyx. Elk. Dirge. Hydra. The names resonated in her mind, the image of a mountain looming above them all that Keres had to go off of. “We will head towards the mountains. The Queen of the Mountain would prefer such a vantage point,” She explained, knowing deep within her soul that this was true. While the memories were vague and fleeting, Keres knew that what she spoke of were not ideas but fact, something that drove her to nudge the young girl and start off in the direction she felt her heart pull.
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Keres spoke with honesty which, while it deflated the girl a little, was for the best. Ciri had been taught the unfairness of life for the entirety of her own, but this lesson would prove to be a true test of her patience. Mustering her best, most hopeful smile for her aunt, the young Ostrega blinked the threat of tears from her eyes as the adult carried on with fresh encouragement.

If it was to be just the two of them for a while, she told herself, then that was okay. Ciri remembered her aunt to have been nothing but kind to her, so chose to try looking on the bright side: together they would find their family, and forge a stronger bond in doing so.

"Okay," the young she-wolf agreed softly, with an accompanying beat of her dark tail. She inhaled deep in attempt to gather herself, turned toward the direction Keres had bumped her toward, and made a brave step forward.


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The valkyrie found herself glad that the child did not argue. Getting her bearings would have been infinitely more difficult, had Ciri been more upset or panicky. As it was, the once-and-maybe-still Guardian fell into step beside her niece, nosing her shoulder as a way of encouragement. Together, the two would forge onwards, their destination ever looming ahead of them.

Fade!
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