Apprehension was clear on her tight expression as she looked at Camio, wishing he knew what to do. Nova couldn't say she'd ever done anything like this before either. Really, it was a good thing that she hadn't yet buried anyone, but it was hard to see a bright side to any of this. Of course she had filled caches with lesser beasts, but it seemed so disrespectful to regard the elder similar to a piece of meat. He meant much more than that in life, even if all that remained of him was the empty husk of his body. Nova fought to hold back against the burning lump of a sob in her throat.

"I guess, we can..." Nova gulped, trying to think of how they would move him exactly. "You can... Grab hold of his back legs, I will get the front and... We can haul him in."

Nova nodded as he said that the place needed a name. As she pondered, a memory drifted up, reminding her that it already had one. Fittingly, it was one that Mapplethorpe had given it himself in life. "Cors Ossum," Nova said, the latin words feeling heavy and awkward on her tongue and missing the elegance with which Mapplethorpe had wielded them. "That's what he... used to call this place. He said it means 'Boneyard'."

Very slowly Nova lowered her head, trying not to breath in and curling her tongue far back in her mouth as she clasped Mapplethorpe's wrists in her broad muzzle. She tried not to notice how cold he was as she waited for Camio to grab hold as well. Rather unceremoniously they lifted in time, shuffling over the shallow grave and lowering him in.

Nova's stomach swirled and lurched in disgust, and without a word she had turned and scurried away to dry heave into a bush. She didn't want to go back, she didn't want to look at him any more, it wasn't how she wanted to remember her dear old Appa. But there was still work to be done, and after wheezing enough to catch her breath and stave off panic she returned.

Back at the graveside, Nova tipped her head up into the rain. She let go slightly strained howl, singing an ancient, wordless votive to the dead. With one last look at the dear old wolf, she began to push the freshly churned dirt back over his body.

Nova had a soft heart, of course she couldn't say no to his request. And secretly, she didn't want to be alone either. The journey over the mountain was long and lonely, and Nova didn't want to be left alone with whatever sad turn her thoughts would inevitably take, with nothing and no one else to distract her.

A small, sad smile pulled at her lips and she stepped closer to the male, reaching to brush the top of her head against his neck. It was a small gesture of thanks she could give. For being practically a stranger, it meant a lot that he had done so much to help her. "Thank you," She breathed.

"And yes, of course you may," She said quietly as she stepped back and turned her head eastward. "I'm going over the mountains, where my sister lives. But I have to warn you, she's, well, difficult." Nova could hardly handle her sister at the best of times, and she had grown up with her, meaning she had learned what to do to make their sisterhood at least mildly tolerable. She didn't want to dump this poor wolf in the midst of Aponi's unpredictable moods without a fair warning. Somewhat selfishly, she hoped that it still wouldn't deter him from coming with her.

"It's still early, we should get going..." Nova told him, eager to put some distance between her and this sad place.

If he didn't think her sister could be too bad, Nova thought, then he would sure be in for a surprise. But who knew, maybe Aponi was different now. Even for how ruthless her sibling seemed to be, she had agreed to help Nova, and that had to mean something. Nova just hoped that the hospitality would extend to her new companion.

She had entirely fogotten that they hadn't even given each other their names yet. Her initial run in with him hadn't been terribly polite, and it really did embarrass her thinking about it now, with emotions running not as high than they had been at the time.

"Oh! I'm Nova," She told him, her tail waving just the smallest bit. Impromptu introductions given, Nova began to walk. As she neared the edge of the 'clearing', she couldn't help but glance back one last time at the bare earth under which Mapplethorpe now rested. The tree branches rattled, and out of the corner of her eye a black feathered shape fluttered off through the canopy. Nova returned her eyes to the path ahead, staying close at Camio's side as they journeyed onward.