❝ MAKING MY OWN ROAD OUT OF GRAVEL AND SOME WINE; IF I HAVE TO FALL THEN IT WON'T BE IN YOUR LINE—I'M A BLACK SHEEP ❞

It doesn't take long for Vandal to fall back into old habits. It's been a year since she last disappeared, and one might expect some changes to have happened between them and now, but the black beast seems to be completely unfazed by the concept of time and follows paths that she had laid out seasons before, as if no time has passed at all. If one were to narrow their eyes and squint at the wall, they would see only her silhouette walking the top, balanced carefully with her massive wings outstretched, not dissimilar to how she had prowled the borders before. Black fur, glowing green tongue—if it isn't for a few minor replacements with her wings and body, one might say she hasn't changed at all.

The fiend follows the wall as it curves around the border, tongue stuck out and bitten between her teeth as she concentrates on not falling on her ass. When the bell makes a melodic sound, her glowing gaze whips up, and she follows the tone curiously; a part of her hopes, fruitlessly, that it might be another old and familiar face, but she won't complain if the visitors are newcomers either. It's quiet in the Typhoon, and she'll take anyone she can get.

"What've we got there, Starry?"

When the beast finally makes her presence known, she's still perched up on the top of the wall and leaning forward to get a good look at the young strangers on the other side; two lions, she thinks, although it's hard to tell with how thin they appear to be. There's something about their scent that she thinks could have been familiar, but it's too close to being washed away and faded, and she doesn't waste any more time trying to unravel what they smell like.

Instead, she crosses the distance left between them by leaping from the top of the wall and landing next to Starlightbrigade, giving her chest fur a quick lick before turning to address the two youngsters on their border. "You two look like you could eat a horse," she comments honestly, giving both boys a critical once-over and wondering why they're wandering so far without any form of supervision. If they ever bring their parents along, she'll have to give them a good talking-to. "Vandal Roux, the resident monster-under-your-bed. Do you two want a bite to eat?"

❝ MAKING MY OWN ROAD OUT OF GRAVEL AND SOME WINE; IF I HAVE TO FALL THEN IT WON'T BE IN YOUR LINE—I'M A BLACK SHEEP ❞

"Deldrach..." Hearing her name again is like a sucker punch to the gut. A thoughtful, guilty look flickers over the maned wolf's face as the weight of the other's memory settles over her shoulders, and it's enough that Vandal has to scrape her claws against the surface of the earth underneath her to keep herself in place. A figure flashes in the back of her eyes, strong and familiar and looming over her like a shadow, but she furiously shakes the image away before it can get any closer; it whispers, just as it leaves, 'You left her. You left them all.'

"I knew her, once," she admits with a flick of her ear, looking as nonchalant as she had been before the revelation, actively working to keep her expression in check. She might not know what has become of Deldrach, and she might still blame herself for that lack of information, but she can still do right by her kids, help them settle into a place their mother had once called home. Maybe someday, just maybe, Deldrach would find herself home, too.

"And if you need someone to show you around, get you anythin', you can just tug on my ear and ask for whatever," she pipes up after Idyllfields, ease edging back into her voice. Yes, she thinks, these kids might not know who she is, or what role she had once played in Deldrach's life, but she'll do her best to keep an eye on them, care for them, hopefully. It's the least she can do, but it's also the most she can do. It's too late to make amends for all the wrong she's done before, but there's always an opportunity to start doing right.