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[color=#FF8758]"Hm? Oh. [i]Oh.[/i] Umm, no, I don't know why it's called that. Haha... Human names for things sure are weird, aren't they?"[/color]

The wolverine stared back at her with eyes unblinking and teeth bared, and the young woman got the feeling that her question had probably made it angry. In hindsight, this probably hadn't been the right animal to ask for directions to the local tavern, but unfortunately, she hadn't exactly had the luxury of choice. Few creatures dared to venture this close to human roads, and after spending so many years in the Argent Vale, she'd forgotten the ways and paths that used to be second nature to her.

[color=#FF8758]"Look, um, I'm sorry to bother you -- just don't worry about it. I'm sure I can find my way there myself. Thank you for your time!"[/color]

Bowing, she left a small sliver of dried meat to hopefully appease the insulted wolverine, and then made a quick getaway before it decided to take out its anger on her. Just because she could communicate with animals didn't mean that she necessarily got along with them any better than she did with people, after all.

When one thing was lost, another took its place. That had been one of the first lessons her esteemed grandmother had taught her, and in light of that, it wasn't as though Aethra had even wanted to come back here anyway. All that was probably waiting here for her were somber memories and disappointment, and the best possible outcome would be if she was the only one who had remembered her promise in the first place. If everyone else was going about their lives happily, without a care for what had happened when their home and their innocence went up in smoke... Well, it might have seemed callous, or as if she was attempting to chicken out (since that's exactly what she was doing), but she really did think that would have been for the best.

...But, hesitate though she might, sooner or later she found herself peering out from between the trees down at the door of the [i]Lying Wolverine,[/i] an inn without a town left to frequent it, watching as a pair of travelers as out of place as she herself stepped through its decrepit door. This was the place... and a promise was a promise. She tugged at the hem of her hood, pulling it a little further down over her face in a futile attempt to reassure herself. The silver hair that spilled out from underneath -- the horns that always used to snag on the branches overhead -- the eyes that burned like twin coals of hellfire. Even if those she had once called her friends saw her, would they recognize her as anything other than a monster? The mere thought of having to face those looks of fear and disgust again made her want to slink back into the forest with her tail between her legs.

...But a promise was a promise, and so she found herself rooted to the spot, unable to bring herself to emerge from her hiding place, but also unable to turn and go and forsake the word she had once given, so long ago...

(Aethra will enter in my next post and otherwise will just be watching everybody's characters as they go in, but if anybody wants to take a shot at spotting her beforehand, I rolled a stealth check and got an 18, with a +2 from DEX making 20.)