She was slowly taking it all in.

After all the time she'd spent in what was truly a vast wilderness, to be somewhere she could someday call 'home' still sent a foreign chill through her body. And it was foreign; the willows that stood timelessly all around her were unlike the towering pine trees that covered the north like a rolling sea. Their scent was softer, sweeter, even, than what she realized she'd become accustomed to. The girl's feral gaze cast thoughtfully upon their long, thin branches as they hung above the water of the creek, glistening peacefully beneath the waning light of a setting sun. As still as she was inside and out, part of her was trembling to see her brother.

She remembered the way they had played beneath the verdant canopies of the forest, somewhere over the mountain in a place that haunted her memories. @Rowan had undeniably always been her favorite. The bond she and Cinder shared was unbreakable, sure, but before the Attaya girls had lost everything they'd ever loved, it was her brother that had been her other half. For nearly a year she'd imagined him swept away by the flood, never to be seen or touched or loved again, and to know that he was alive and well, right here...well...it made her heart flutter. It would be too easy to seek him out, too simple after all this time. If anything, she wanted their reunion to be as much a surprise to her as it would be to him. Did he know of her return? Could he smell her scent, fresh and new and strewn throughout the hills? Would it be bittersweet to see him again? As she had done, Quil would wait time and fate out, and when their paths crossed she would give him all the love she owed him. Until then, she was content to acquaint herself with the territory.

Long and lithe, her slender form slipped easily through the winding path that cut through the hills. Beneath a fiery sky, the silver tones of her fur─her father's markings─glittered like stardust against the stark black of her undercoat. Dipping her head to avoid a near-collision with a low-hanging bough, she came to a halt on the precipice of twilight descending on the land. The gold of her eyes shone as brightly as the sun as she stared it down, unabashed. She'd reached the border, and came out on the other side of, she didn't even know where; invisible strings held her in place, the way a puppet was suspended at the hands of its animator, and...for the first time in a long while...she just stayed.

The time passed her by in a way she didn't notice. It was peaceful here, quiet, and on the most distant horizon she could make out the ghostly forms of the mountain's peaks. They seemed faraway and almost as if they were some sort of mirage. Sitting down upon her haunches, she wondered if maybe they were all there. When she'd left Relic Lore, it was because she believed that they were gone to somewhere far from where their home had been destroyed, because why would they want to stay? It had come to her later that maybe they hadn't left at all, but had moved to somewhere safe nearby, perhaps in another forest, or in the red dunes to the east, or, maybe ─ and as she looked at them now ─ to the mountains.

Constantly, Quil questioned herself. Had she done the right thing in leaving Maksim and the others? Had she looked long and hard enough for Cinder? Had she looked long and hard enough for her parents? Here she was, beneath Elettra's guidance, protection, and rule (a woman who had ties to her father and was in a way the closest thing to him that Quil had been fortunate enough to discover), and finally somewhere where it felt safe to stick around. But she felt like staying meant giving up, and to that end, she sat on the crest of the hill with the weight of her world on her shoulders.

Unaware that she had company, she clenched her jaw, attempting to hold back the dull, quiet whine that rose from her throat as the sun slowly fell from the sky.

She could have lost herself then, somewhere in the fiery shades that painted the sky and lined the clouds. Maybe she could have even fallen apart, out here where no one would see and no one would care. But the tears that could have welled in her eyes and rolled down her cheek never came, and she closed her eyes just to feel the wind blow across her face.

And it told that she was not alone.

All at once, she stiffened, perking up in attention. The scent she'd caught was unmistakably young, the sort of puppy smell that clung to a cub's soft fur. Quil quickly looked over her shoulder, searching for the wolf who had managed to creep up on her when she least expected. In the sunset-kissed grasses, between the trunks of the trees and among the foliage that was bathed in a cold shadow...She was surprised, but she knew her eyes weren't playing a trick on her, and she knew someone was there, but she couldn't find whoever it was. "Who's there?" she called out plainly as she finally stood and turned around to look about.

Maybe she wasn't ready to really interact with any of her pack mates, and indeed she was caught off guard, but could manage to do whatever she had to in order to keep from making a bad impression. Besides, if it really was one of the children to have found her, maybe it wouldn't be so bad to possibly make a new friend. Her golden eyes were wide and warm as she stretched her neck to see.

From the darkness of the rising night appeared a figure, her silhouette outlined in the pale glow of fresh moonlight. Quil recognized the queen immediately, and was immediately humbled. She rose to face Elettra, lowering herself to show all the right gestures one should when in the presence of royalty. Yet, in a way she didn't see Elettra as a monarch, but as a mother. At least, perhaps the closest she would ever come to having one again. Even having known little about the woman except for the images painted in her mind by the words of her father, Quil yearned to be closer to her. Kade had always spoken highly of Elettra, even in conversations between himself and other adults at times when the girl wasn't supposed to be listening. As far as she could discern, her father and her Leader had a relationship reaching back to the days when they had served together in Grizzly Hollow, and if that didn't mean something, she didn't know what did. Perhaps she had been lucky to have found her way to Elettra, even if it had initially been Asriel ─ long gone ─ who she'd sought out. What was more, her long lost brother (her favorite brother) just happened to be here, too. As lonely as she was, she knew deep down that she didn't have to be anymore.

"Elettra," she greeted, the surprise she'd had by way of the Archer's appearance subtle in her soft tone. She inquired about Quil's wellbeing, to which the girl found a moment of relief, before mentioning Rowan. In the dark, her brows drew together in sad sort of careful thought. The last thing she wanted to put out for Elettra to see was her sadness, and so she put on a brave face and answered politely. "I am doing well, thank you. I've just been...settling in." Her eyes found the woman's silver ones. "I haven't seen or spoken to Rowan yet...It's been a long time, and I don't know if I'm ready to see him again." Not to imply that she was scared, but in a way she was. "Thank you for taking me in; I wasn't sure where I was going when I got here, but, I'm glad to have found you."

Her tail wagged in a slow arch behind her, and she hoped the woman could see the sincerity in her words.