Each step she took towards that mountain felt lighter. Every time she got a chance to look up and spot its peak through the trees, whenever a clearing opened the sky to her destination, the air was fresher and she could breathe easier. It was still days away, she knew, a long trek despite her goal teasing her with its constant presence, a carrot always held just out of reach. No stranger to mountain life, she anticipated the climb, though she wondered whether her feet would remember the path. She sometimes walked along the Heights in her mind, though at this point she was no longer sure if her memories held true to reality, or whether she had conjured up her own version of the mountain and its winding ways, all for herself. Would her feet, instead, remember the mountain range in Lacerta, the secret passageways she had learned there, and would her childhood lake feel foreign like Crystherium had done at first? Would it be changed, would the faces she remembered still be there, or would it be abandoned? Would new faces own the land she had been born in, unfamiliar names laying claim to familiar lands?

They bounced around in her head, Athena, Ash, Ava, Tlarx, Naira, Adonis, Datura... they were so many things as once, so many once-raw emotions, so much love and pain and confusion. She had been young, then, and the two years had eroded the emotions, made them easier to digest. Older, she could look back on herself as a child and empathise with the pain she recalled there. There had been no point in getting lost in the past when there had been a virile future waiting for her to grasp. Her future was here, now, beside her as she walked, and somewhere in the forest ahead, racing them to the mountain's top where her past lay.

She spoke less as they walked, the air surreal and silent without the bickering and life of her other three children. Duckweed had always been quiet in comparison, she knew, but somehow the difference was magnified in their absence, and where before he had seemed reclusive now she sometimes wondered if he was there at all. If he had been born black, she mused, he would have been a proper shadow, but instead he was destined to stand out, stark and pale, like his father, only without the exuberance, without the powerful presence. Always worried for him, Bella had hoped that this time together, alone, would help bring him out of his shell, without Snake and Fox to shut him down, but his meekness persisted. Her jaw clenched and unclenched as she pondered it, teeth rubbing together, the only sounds their steady walking and breathing.

With the sun at its highest, and an unusual warmth in the air, when they happened upon a small pool the sight of it prodded at Bella's thirst. She glanced at her son, who looked wordlessly back, and she accepted yet another moment without discussion. Altering her path towards the water, the chocolate wolf dipped her head to lap at it, expecting Duckweed to do the same - instead, he lingered for a moment, then pushed on through the trees. She watched him go, wordless, and sighed. Let him have his moment alone, she would catch up easily.

Alone now, even if only for a minute, Duckweed breathed deeply, the air heavy in his chest. The sun beat down but his fur was thin and white and he felt cool, which was pretty much the only upside to the colour. With his mother's mountain directly ahead, an ominous figure he was forced to follow, his dark thoughts were easily distracted by a breeze carrying the thick scent of others, many others. He stopped, abruptly, his mother's warning flashing through his head, but he had crossed no lines; it was merely a hint of what was to come. Torn between curiosity and terror, both regarding the same thing, Duckweed chose to cautiously continue his path forwards, alert for the telltale signs of another's territory. He would not cross it, he told himself, he was only walking past. There was nothing wrong with that. The scent shifted to somewhere on his right, and became a constant presence, and he knew that he was skirting around their lands. Maybe he could slip inside and ask for sanctuary, and never take another step towards a mountain again.

He hadn't really expected to see anyone from the nameless pack, his thoughts only flirting with the possibility of crossing over. But it seemed his thoughts had betrayed him, and it was with a startled yelp that he saw the large guardian emerge, eyes on him. "I- I- I-," he blurted, his fierce indignance blown straight out of him by a few strong words and an imposing figure. "I d-d-d-did-didn't," and he hated that he couldn't just spit it out, his usual stutter so much worse when he was stressed and surprised and oh where was mother?! His posture collapsed appropriately, tail so tight underneath him that it almost disappeared completely; if the huge brown wolf had thought him any threat before, he surely wouldn't anymore.

No, Duckweed wasn't a threat to anyone, and a small fire burned angry and hot deep down.

" - too far ahead, Duck, I ca-"

His saving grace, his protector, the reason he was still alive despite being so pathetic and weak. Duck knew that his mother would have the right words to soothe this pack wolf, and he would be able to melt into the background again. As he turned to look back at her, plead for her help in this situation he had gotten himself into and didn't know how to fix, he was surprised to see a strange expression on her face as she stared at the gargantuan stranger. "M-m-m-ma?" he pleaded softly, shifting towards her, unable to decide if he should keep his eyes on her or on the wolf who she was so fixated on. What was wrong? She surely wasn't going to fight this beast - his mother wasn't a fighter. Maybe she would to protect him, but as hard as his heart was pounding, he didn't think that the wolf would attack them. Would he? Duck decided that watching the brown monster was the best choice after all, licking his lips nervously as he edged towards the safety of Bella.

But, for once, Bella gave him no attention, no soothing noises. She stared at the face she knew, at the posture she knew, and it was there, in the air - at the scent she knew. Taking a step forwards, open curiosity growing fast although she knew, she just knew she was right, her eyes were wide with building glee and she called out, breathless -

"... Ash?"

My little Belladonna. Her smile took over her face, and when the man approached, her tail moved so vigorously that her entire rump wiggled from side to side. His touch was gentle, polite, apprehensive - whereas her own was bold and without hesitation. Bella pushed into his embrace, running her cheek through his neck, inhaling him. The sudden tidal wave of nostalgia was intoxicating. Somehow, though Bella had grown bigger, Ash remained as large as in her memories, a towering pillar of gentle soul. "I missed you too," she breathed into his pelt, completely unwilling to detach herself, drunk on the memories which his scent brought rushing back.

What the... Somewhere behind them, Duck shrunk towards the ground, blinking at the spectacle. What was he supposed to do now? His mother knew this, this monstrosity? Ash, she had said, and he did recognise the name, but with his mind wiped first by terror and now by complete bewilderment, he did not have the mental capacity to try and place it. One upside was that his presence had been forgotten, at least, and the white boy slunk towards the nearest tree to take cover behind it. Heart still beating hard, for he was sure he had seen his own death in the brute's face, Duck was now entirely cynical of this pack, and he glared suspiciously over the border, watching for anyone else to come out of the darkness. Every now and then he would peek around the tree at his mother and her... whatever he was. Maybe he could hide out here until it was over?

"My Ash." Eyes tight shut as she drank him in, she had fallen into being a child again, reunited with her guardian. Ash had always represented safety and warmth, consistency and love, and she desperately needed those things. So caught up in trying to be those things, it was revitalizing to instead be on the receiving end. Finally she would pull back, but only enough to look at his face, upon which she planted a broad kiss, her tongue dragging from his chin and up over his nose. Something was strange, though it had taken her this long to place it. "Why are you not on the mountain? I didn't expect to find you here."

Time turned back as he returned her affection, the very sounds in his chest triggering a new torrent of memories. They parted long enough to properly take in the other, her grown and him older, wiser... and harder, somehow. But he was still her Ash, there was no doubt. His sigh prompted a faint crease in her brow, and she leapt to worrying about what the last two years had meant for this man she had considered a father. After you... left, he began, and guilt flooded her expression, but she did not interrupt him. Poison Path... was no more? Bella did not believe that her leaving was a catalyst for such a sad thing, for she had been young and far from an essential member of the pack. Indeed, she had stayed - remembering the events leading up to her disillusionment, she had no doubt that the mass exodus caused by Naira and Rhysis on that horrible day must have contributed to the fall of her birth pack. And they had called her selfish.

Ash continued his tale, the young woman hanging to every word. Her ears perked up at the mention of Athena, the only other wolf in the whole of the Lore that she truly wanted to find. Athena had borne children, and in Bella's heart she automatically thought of them as siblings. But the news did not continue as positively, with the disappearance of Eden and the subsequent dwindling of the Path's numbers. Had Athena...? Surely not.

Thus life had brought him here. While she was concerned over the whereabouts of her adoptive mother, Bella could not help but grin at his conclusion - she had more siblings! How proud she was, how successful the man before her. He had always deserved greatness. When he said he was happy, she stretched forward to kiss his cheek, delighted for him. His fate had always been on her mind, and increasingly ever since she had decided to come back. It was another weight lifted. But then it was his turn to learn of how she had fared these past two years.

Licking her lips, she watched his eyes, running through the events quickly in her mind. "After... after Naira left," she began, and Ash would know of the event, of how Belladonna had effectively ceased being an Aquila on that day. "I... felt like I didn't belong anymore. I needed to learn who I was, who I am. I'm so sorry I left like I did. There was a man, I met him on the mountain one day and together we dreamed of a better future. I went with him." She hesitated for a moment, but ultimately decided that talk of Datura's mental break and attempt on her life was not history which needed to be dragged up. Nor did the lengths which she and Wolesh went to to save her life. It was all in the past, irrelevant. "We settled in Lacerta, a mountain range far from here and as large as the whole Lore. We... became mates, and I bore our children there. I'm Bella Calor now. I led a pack, Ash, can you believe it?" She laughed, the sound light and soft, the words true but glossing over so, so much. The same must have been true for Ash's tale, but one day they would sit down together and share everything. Just not right now.

Mention of that part of the last two years reminded her that they were not alone; she glanced about for Duckweed, but couldn't see him. "Duck?" she called, gently, aware that he was likely very nervous of who was, to him, a total stranger. "Come out, darling, there's someone I'd love you to meet."

Crap. He had hoped to be forgotten for longer than that. Taking a deep breath, he peered around the tree, and caught his mother's eye. She smiled at him, and gestured for him to approach, but his limbs wouldn't move. Like hell was he going to come any closer. He had been listening to them, to the talk of places and names which he only knew through his mother's lips, names which meant little to him otherwise. Nervously he looked at Ash, and swallowed, but he didn't move. Their introduction had already been spoiled, and he was entirely embarrassed to be paraded about in front of his mother's old friend now.

"My youngest, Duckweed. He's very shy," Bella said apologetically, returning her attention to Ash. Duck was safe behind that tree, and he likely wouldn't move from it easily. Such a shame. "My other three have gone on ahead - we're heading to the lake. I can't wait to see it again." Where was Athena, though? She dared not ask yet, but she wasn't sure what she had heard in Ash's tone when the woman's name was mentioned. If Poison Path was no more, where was she? Ash would have said if she lived with him here. Could she bear the idea that she wouldn't be reunited with the woman she considered her mother?

She knew that it would hurt him to admit that she hadn't belonged, had felt increasingly like a stranger in her own home. It had been a childish problem borne from childish problems, perhaps, but it had felt real enough as a child. It had been a source of constant regret ever since, for though her choices had led to many things she now held dear, it pained her that she had hurt him. Ash had been her father in every way save blood, and Bella did not put much value on the ties of blood. The man who had sired her wore a stranger's face and used a stranger's name, and even now she struggled to recall either, so little did she think of him.

A father he was, and since the girl herself was a mother... "Yes," she grinned, laughing softly at the look on his face, loving him for his wonder. Even Wolesh's reaction hadn't been so... so pure.

Together they looked towards the grandchild, whose reaction to his expanding family was not quite so euphoric; still utterly bewildered and intimidated, Duck nevertheless met Ash's gaze and held it, heart pounding. Paternal figures had never been a source of comfort or safety in his life, and indeed had almost exclusively been the opposite, but this might be different. This Ash was nothing to do with his father and was everything to do with his mother. Though he was still confused over his true relation to the huge man, his being labelled grandfather made something turn in Duck's head, made the anxiety begin to slowly, slowly ebb away.

As the boy mused on it, the topic shifted, and Bella's smile faded slightly at the question, at how it was asked, finding herself slipping back into reading his unspoken cues. Children knew their parents best, knew what that look in the eyes meant. Even two years hadn't dulled it. "I don't know," she said quietly, though it was a half-truth; she belonged in mountains, born and raised and ruled in mountains, and sometimes the idea of returning there was one of the only things which pushed her onward. "I... I have to see it again." I won't feel whole unless I see it again. Taking a breath, she watched his eyes, watched his mind. It was time, she had to know. Athena, what if... "Is there anyone left?"