Even with directions, it had taken Nova and Camio days, if not weeks, to reach the other side of the mountain, and days again to travel through the eastern forests. Most of what Nova remembered of her sister's vague instructions several weeks prior had been distilled down to its essentials, east, red trees, magnolias, and as such left Nova with much doubt that they were in fact going the right way. She didn't mind it so much, as she had Camio with her to break the doldrums of travel, but Nova kept imagining the chastisement she'd get from Aponi for being late. Perhaps the news of what had happened to Hollowheart Keep would make Aponi go easy on her... or not.

The forest of red trees her sister had told her of were hard to miss, and they had kept going east after that, but Nova still wasn't sure if the canopy that stretched above them were indeed the aforementioned "magnolia" trees. As they neared what smelled like the border of a pack, Nova slowed. She glanced to Camio for reassurance, though she knew he wouldn't know if this was the right place any more than she did. "You think these are magnolias?" She asked him quietly, almost afraid to speak loudly in case they were nearing the border of the wrong pack.

"This has to be it," She said with a little more certainty, if only to convince herself. "Aponi said I should call for her first... I don't know what we'll do if the leader shows up instead," Nova said with a shrug of her bony shoulders. Nova tipped her head back, howling a call for her sister before sitting down to wait.

Nova leaned into Camio's nudge, needing the reassurance as she tried to believe that he was right, that they had come to the right place. Nova wasn't so sure she could trust that her sister wouldn't send her on a wild goose chase. Maybe Aponi had even given her the direction to a pack of cannibals for all she knew. Nova dearly hoped that she hadn't been sent astray. If this didn't work out, neither of them had a home to go back to.

Nova's ears perked as she heard someone making their way towards her and Camio. She couldn't help but be disappointed when she noticed a flash of bright white fur, rather than the silvery coat of her sister. Immediately she ducked her long neck down, as her white rimmed eyes stayed averted from the alabaster wolf. She was just a little bit smaller than him, and even without his size, there was an air about him that commanded the utmost respect and suggested that he wasn't the type to take any shit. Too much dawdling and he'd probably toss the two of them back out without anymore questions.

Nova nodded earnestly to Camio's introduction. "And I'm Nova, we're from a pack over the mountains." She said nervously, "Aponi's my sister, she told me she lived here... I needed somewhere to go and she said I could come here." She quickly added, nervously lapping her tongue over the end of her nose as she momentarily glanced up to the wolf's intense orange eyes to see what he thought so far.

Nova still wasn't sure how she felt about her sister. Nova dearly wanted to love her, they were family, after all. Maybe even the only family Nova had left now. But every single interaction between them had a sour note to it. Even growing up with her, Nova still wasn't sure how to handle her sister's temper. She wasn't sure if it was better to cower and let Aponi verbally berate her, or to stand up for herself. Never in this equation did Nova think of what she wanted to do herself, but rather, what it was that Aponi would take favorably.

Mulling over this, Nova had opened her mouth to retort but Camio had already begun to speak. She held her tongue, not even sure what it was he would say. It felt nice to have Camio looking out for her, and it made her feel a little bit like a princess. However, Nova didn't want Camio to take the brunt of her sister's foul temper, nor did she want Aponi to think she was hiding behind him. The loose ends of Hollowheart Keep really hadn't taken months to tie up. The real answer was that Nova was a poor navigator and it had taken her forever to get off of the mountain, and in no hurry once in Camio's company it had taken them just as long to get back across. The truth wasn't any better than Camio's abridged side-stepping of it. There had to be something better, more convincing...

After he had spoken, Camio had directed his gaze to Aponi's feet. Nova instead chose to keep her head up and look her sister right in the eye. Her black tail remained low, she wasn't trying to compete with anyone here, but she wasn't going to be cowed down by her sister's harsh words. "Those certain matters... Someone killed Mapplethorpe. We had to bury him. Mom was gone, the cubs too. We tried to find them, but there was no sign anywhere... I think someone was after them, and she tried to hide their trail." Nova said, her voice wavering, hurried, and clipped at times. She hoped that it came across as grief and distress, rather than what it really was; Lying through her teeth. They hadn't tried to find Naira at all, but it was a plausible enough time sink.