〔❁〕Where you look how I remember,

Mainly for @Reiko, but assuming there might be guards/medics near her den I made it an aw. Takes place the same day as this thread (which has been forward dated about a day or two after Reiko wakes up). Please allow @Chiharu to post first.

---

 The crane and the dragon traversed through the tundras until they'd come across the mountains of Tsukishii, looking left to right to see if @Tiberius or @Antares might've been guarding this side of the borders today, yet continued on without notice of either. Some would probably pick up on the scent of a stranger lingering home by now, but Izumi made sure to keep close to Chiharu just in case a confrontation like that occurred. She couldn't just leave her sister out there -- not after finding the fae in all this time.

 That wasn't the only thing that concerned the siamese, however, and as soon as they'd reach the empress' den she'd walk ahead, lower her muzzle and sniff around for any signs of life that occurred. Reiko had awoken as of recently to the duchess' knowledge. First and foremost, she wished to know if the dove was okay...

 "Rei-chan," she called softly, anxiously running a tongue over her dark lips. What if she had fallen unconscious again? Izumi didn't know how concussions worked...

 "Are you there?"

the staff team luvs u

As steady as waves crash against the shore, the ice dragon followed her sister crane into the territory of her pack. As Izumi worried, Chiharu watched, her head on a near constant swivel on her elegant neck. Cool mint picked up every detail that could be found in her environment, breath clouding from her liver nostrils.

Chiharu slowed when Izumi slowed, standing at her right haunch for the time being, close enough to pick up on what was being said around her, but far enough back she could continue to scope out the landscape as she waited for whatever was to happen.
the staff team luvs u

^^

The Empress hadn't moved much since she had woken up nearly a week ago. Was it a week now? It was hard to tell by the dim light that would filter through the wall of ice. She would often sleep and awake at different, awkward times of the day. @Quicksilver had long gone, his soothing presence leaving Reiko alone with her thoughts on more days, stewing on the mistakes she had done and the stupidity of her trusting nature when face to face with Vera.

She had grown bitter in her darkness. The cold, dark den only leeching the last of the light from her. Every so often she would try to bend her leg, the swollen limb still too engorged from torn muscle to allow much movement other than to be kept straight. The sound of steps entering the communal den cut through the rhythm of dripping from the cave's walls. Catching her attention as pale ears twisted back with the greeting of a familiar voice she hadn't heard in a while.

“I am.” As best as she could, the woman tried to turn to face the mouth of her den. Awkwardly hoisting herself up with the one leg while the other hung uselessly at her side.

^^
the staff team luvs u

 She could see it -- from the darkness of her den, Izuka’s small pallid form and bright azure optics moving about. Reiko was no image to be locked away in a cage of shadows, but out in the sun where she smiled brightly upon her pack as their empress. Instead, she was trapped within the confounds of her own den until forever and a day -- ‘till she would’ve been strong enough to carry on with herself again, but until then she’d been rendered bedridden from a violation that should have never befallen her in the first place…

 Her tail fell limp in the wave of sadness that overtook her just then, from seeing her friend hidden in such a state -- but kept on a clam composure for the time being. For Reiko, Izumi would stay as strong as her damaged heart willed her to be.

 “Please do not move around too much. I-I can come closer if needed…” the young cranebird suggested, sticking her head closer into the den’s mouth to peak around where she could -- and with a tapping paw against the floor, she willed the dragoness beside her to do the same. So the two of them can get a better look at one another;

 “I have someone I want you to meet…the both of you...”

the staff team luvs u

The voice that echoed from within was soft, and Chiharu eyed her sister curiously. This was someone with authority, yet a soft voice. Well, she could not judge, she supposed. And so, she stepped up when Izumi bade her to, gracefully lowering her head to stick in beside her sister’s, entertaining the amusing thought that perhaps at this angle they looked like some cursed two headed creature. It was funnier than it should be, and the dragon considered how much sleep she had been getting lately. Not enough, if the thought had amused her so.

Using every ounce of her diplomatic thought, the young woman focused on the one Izumi had brought her to see. A woman, perhaps only a bit older than they, white with bright blue eyes. For just a moment, her vision flickered over with a glimpse of Hikari, and Chiharu winced minutely, just a momentary tightening of the corners of her eyes.

“My greetings to you. I am Chiharu. Fujiwara Chiharu.” She blinked away the illusion of the sister she wished she could see again, in favor of lightly leaning against her sister’s shoulder.
the staff team luvs u

^^

Useless - is how she felt.

Fragile - is how she felt.

As if anyone who came by just saw her as some china doll. A pretty little porcelain figure so brittle that if they were careful with their breaths she would just crumble before their very eyes. Though they wouldn't be completely wrong with that thought, perhaps it was her mental state that was most fragile of all.

The way they tiptoed around her. Tended to her hand and foot - she couldn't even clean up her den without assistance from the sickness that bubbled up from her belly every now and then with nausea. She had come to the conclusion since her re-awakening that this was not a life, but an existence. There was no life here in this dim den, but simple existence. Like a stone just waiting to be discovered or forgotten to the sands of time.

Izumi had come closer as she said she would, to stop the damaged Empress from finding them herself - Reiko didn’t blame Izumi. Despite how awful she felt, how angry she felt toward it all, they had every right to be cautious after all that had occurred in the past few months. All of which was her fault. Something she still had to atone for.

At Izumi’s side came a literal twin image. Only slightly faded with a different colour for eyes. “A pleasure, Sh-ch-chiikaru.” Most of all it was the struggling with her words that pestered her the most during the time of recovery. An annoyed flick of her ear signalled just how frustrated she was with this whole thing.

The two looked so similar - it brought a pang of sadness as she thought of her own sister. Why they weren’t this close. This trusting and beautiful together instead of the opposing forces they seemed to be. Ice and fire, water and oil.

“Reiko Izuka. ” Not wanting to struggle too much with her words, she cast a glance to Izumi with the silent plea for her to go on with why she had brought… who Reiko assumed was her sister looking at them, their similar ages, appearances and shared name.

^^
the staff team luvs u

 Izumi introduced them both to each other -- her friend and her sister -- and to say this could’ve been done under better circumstances was the understatement of the century. In a time where her cage of a chest should’ve swelled with relief at the news that one of her sisters was well and alive, it now ached sorrowfully at the sight of the broken dove -- and oh how the teeth that clamped down at her bottom lip wanted to bleed a new wound into it. At the aggravation that she wasn’t there for the Empress when she needed it, but ivories only scraped the surface of dark flesh when she bit down on it.

 Izumi’s sister was her source of comfort in a moment she could not quite explain, and as the dragon’s shoulder touched the cranebird’s own, she’d lean against the touch while letting out a shuddering breath.

 “Sorry,” the siamese apologized promptly while clearing her throat.

 “This is my sister, Reiko. I’ve found her after we’ve been separated and couldn’t leave her behind….so I brought Chiharu with me.”

 To this home, a place she’d found warmth in despite it’s snowy heights.

 And though the timing couldn’t have been worse, Izumi only hoped that Reiko could see her reluctance to separate from the dragon after all this time….

the staff team luvs u

The dragon watched her sister from the corner of her peripheral vision, face twitching with emotion, before her eyes went back to the woman before them both. She dipped her head in agreement to Izumi’s summary.

“My sister is the only family I know I still have.” Chiharu’s voice was murmured, slightly strained, as her mind sought words she didn’t know how to speak. After a moment, she swallowed, rocking her weight just a small bit, from her front legs to her back.

“I hope you do not mind my being here.”
the staff team luvs u

^^

Ah, it didn't take long at all for her suspicions to be made true. Chiharu was indeed Izumi's sister and it was a joyous occasion! One that Reiko was too exhausted to celebrate. Too sore and drugged up with as many pain-killing herbs as she could handle to make the days bearable. So she smiled. It was tired and drawn out but honest in an attempt to show how happy she was to see family reunited.

She would address Chiharu for the answer even if Izumi did ask a similar one. “Oof course I do n-not mind. Welcome to Shhhhiroshhhika Ch-har-u.” Her dizzied gaze fell back onto the crane, only telling the difference between the sisters by the difference in shades. One was darker than the other, and she assumed - also by the difference in voices - the darker one was Izumi as details were still muddied with her pupils stuck at different sizes.

“I trusst Izumi can shhhow you aroound.” And feeling the fatigue crawl up her body, she let her body fall comfortably to the ground again. Laying with her head angled just enough to still keep her gaze somewhat on the sisters. “My ssssincere apologies I cannnnot do it mysself.”

^^
the staff team luvs u