The cold air hit her skin as the ship was only a few leagues away from the island. Katerina hasn’t been back to this island in over twenty years. Itjivut had been home to the wolf demon for many years and she always found her way back. Looking down at Shadow who stood next to her brought a smile to her lips. “I met your ancestors here.” She said down to the wolf who suddenly jumped up onto the railing of the ship, interested. Among the low floating clouds, the bright yellow eyes of the black wolf stared at the island that came into view. He was quiet as he stared at the snow covered island.

Both of the Silverstein's needed to take their minds off the events that happened. Katerina’s beautiful baby girl had disappeared. Someone had taken her. She had looked for her daughter for months, but with no leads lead her depression gradually caged her at home. Deep in the forest secluded from everyone but her mind. The memories would have overwhelmed her if her daughter didn’t come to tell her about the battle of Itjivut, a place she once called home. If she didn’t go, her daughter would have gone alone. She couldn’t lose another daughter, so she decided it was time to try to move on. She was never getting her daughter back, no matter how hard she tried. Gabby was gone.

A sudden hand came behind Shadow’s ear, and he leaned into it. Kiyomi eyes stared sternly at the island as she scratched behind his ears. Her mind going to her sister she had lost. Her eyes glanced to her mother beside her. A frown almost crossed her lips, but she couldn’t let her mother see how brokenhearted she was. Anger soon grew inside her as she thought of her sister, Eden. She had left, after everything. Their mother needed them, but it was like she didn’t care. Repressing a sigh, she tried to clear her mind. She couldn’t think of her family problems right now.

As the ship docked at the village, her eyes looked over to her daughter. She had finally gotten control over the dragon within her. She could change at will and this could come in handy in this battle. Her once little girl was now a grown woman. Her long pale blonde hair reached to the bottom of her back and her ice blue eyes were stern as they watched the bridge lower onto the dock. Reaching up to push her daughter's hair behind her ear, the movement made her daughter look to her. Their eyes caught and Katerina brought her hand down to touch Kiyomi’s shoulder. “I love you…..” She paused for a moment thinking of how strong her daughter was to come and fight. “I am proud of you.” She hugged her daughter.

Everything was about to intense as soon as they ventured out of the town. Katerina needed to tell her daughter how she cared, even if there was a slight chance she would get hurt. “I love you, too, Mom.” Hugging her mother back tightly, she kept the tears from falling from her eyes. Kiyomi needed to stay strong.

Turning around, Kiyomi walked off the docks with her mother and Shadow. A large roar echoed through the sky causing her skin to crawl.  “We will survive this.” The sudden voice almost made her jump. Kiyomi looked to her side and a sigh left her lips. Sultan, a winged lion almost as tall as her stood beside her. With a nod to each other, the four of them headed into town of Hiadref.

OOC: Please don't post before CodeAni.

The Wings of Winter continued their assault on the Haifae/Rafandi alliance well into the evening after the main forces clashed outside the city walls. Their groundswell swept across the initial defenders, sheer numbers overpowering the cunning tactics of the defenders. Yet after the siege goliaths had fallen and the orc's main engines of destruction been vanquished, the overwhelming advance had stalled. Reinforcements were making landfall to the east, bolstering the elven ranks whilst Gifre's own continued to be thinned by constant barrage. No one was winning just yet, but the tide of battle was clearly turning against the invaders.
 
I had been most helpful to the Haifae in the beginning of this siege, picking off giants and orcs alike from a distance; but my help was long gone by the time an old friend of mine arrived at the eastern docks. I was too drunk to aim a rock let alone a bolt from Toirneach by that point. My face now bright red from the alcohol, I lay in the north far too plastered to be of any use and with an empty wine bottle nearby. My position had changed several times since the beginning of the battle, so I was now back in my camouflaged camp; but that didn't preclude the fact that I was now seeing double the amount of snowflakes in the in the sky.
 
SAI recognized my predicament, and spoke up out of concern. Her humanoid image popped up in my vision, as did a stacked bar graph to show me just how drunk I was. "Sensors indicate your BAC is growing increasingly high, Madame Natsumi," she said, "My suggestion is that you reduce your wine intake immediately so that I can detoxify your body." She didn't have to tell me twice, nor did she have to hear my official answer to know I was going to quit. Instead, SAI dutifully began detoxifying my blood, all whilst I tried not to pass out in the snow.
 
Meanwhile, a new push was beginning on the walls. The orc menace had regrouped and was attempting to breach the walls again. Their battle cry hung over the city like the howl of an angry wolf.
 

Walking off the docks, Katerina’s eyes looked around. People were rushing this where and that. Some were carrying the wounded. A man groaned slightly as two other man carried him right next to them. His head was bashed in, blood flowing freely down his face. His eyes closed. The wolf demon looked over her shoulder towards her daughter, hopping she was okay. Katerina could hold her stomach unlike her daughter who was spilling her guts out into the icy water.  Reaching out the wolf demon rubbed her daughters back while holding her hair. “You’ll get used to it, sweetheart.” She said to Kiyomi.

Coughing a bit, the dragon leaned back up and with the back of her cloak wiped her mouth. “I’ll be okay, Mom.” She said with a smile. Kiyomi was too worried about her mother. She had lost two daughters in less than 6 months. Katerina needed Kiyomi to stay strong for the both of them. “Alright, let’s get going. We got a battle to win.” The wolf demon said with a smile as she started off down the main road towards the gates.

After a few moments of walking, the wolf demon started to think of the plan. “It's going to get bad out there. Try not to get separated. If we do, we meet back here as soon as we can.” Pausing she looked over at her daughter, Kiyomi was no longer a little girl anymore. “You are strong, Kiyomi. You can do this.” Katerina smiled over to her daughter as she put her arm around Kiyomi’s shoulder.  

As soon as they reached the gates, people were rushing inside and out. It was already chaotic. Dropping her hand from her daughter’s shoulders, Katerina looked before her. From where she stood, you could barely see the fighting but you could hear the clanking of swords and armor from where she stood. “Alright. Let’s do this.” Kiyomi said with a smirk as they both took off their cloaks. Kiyomi, being like she always was wore a dark purple dress with black trim. It stopped at her knees but fell long in the back. Her boots were black and stopped at her thigh. Over the top of her dress was a leather chest guard. On her back was a bow and arrow and a katana in the middle She was ready for this fight. Katerina wasn’t one for dress’ like her daughter. She was a simple black pants,  knee high boots, and a white top kind of woman, but over her normal white ruffle shirt was a black leather top. Her broad sword was strapped to her back. Her new addition was the arm guards on her forearms. They were black with three scalloped fins.

Katerina draped her cloak over a man being dragged in from the battle, and so did Kiyomi. They whispered to them that they were going to be okay and ran off into the battle. Orcs and goblins came from everywhere it seemed like. Katerina’s eyes glanced at her daughter as she faced an orc. Her body was almost graceful as she used her katana. Katerina looked before her with a smile, slamming her fists on the ground ice spikes shot up from the ground. The whale she heard erupted from the orcs and goblins made her smile. Almost each one she aimed for fell to the ground dead.

A few more orcs died at her hands before she noticed that her daughter wasn’t there. “Kiyomi?” She whispered as she ripped her sword from the orcs chest. Her eyes glanced this way and that but she couldn’t find her. “KIYOMI!!!!!” She screamed out, her heart racing. Without another second, she transformed into her wolf self. Her eyes searched for her daughter as she ripped through the orcs. Hoping not to find her daughter dead. A growl erupted from her and she dropped a orcs head on the ground and then a yelp. Instead on being on the ground, she was raised up and up into the air. Sharp claws ripped through her fur as a roar echoed above her. “Shit.” She cursed inside her mind. The Wyvern had her and he was going to drop her from the sky. “Not good.” She said as she started to struggle.

Being drunk is not something I make a habit of, and yet, even in my old age, it still happens from time to time. That time on the Itjivut battlefield, for example, was primarily because I underestimated the extent of my revenant's transference ability. I didn't think there was any chance inebriation could be transferred, but I was wrong. As my revenant got drunk, so did the real me – at least so long as I maintained the spell.
 
The first thing to go during situations like that is often my hearing. I don't lose that sense entirely, oh no; but there are definite anomalies when it comes to the volume of certain sounds. Basically, when I'm drunk, some sounds seem louder than others while still more seem softer. There is never any knowing which sound will be affected or in what way, but the effect was definitely obvious during the Wings of Winter in Revaliir.
 
After Gifre scooped Katerina off the battlefield, he glided north away from elven arrows. Because of his wounds from earlier engagements in the war, he had given up on his initial, frontal assault strategy. Instead, he maintained a strafing pattern: picking off powerful combatants and retreating before any counterattacks could be mustered. He would have crushed Katerina had she remained in his talons for too long, for she was the latest victim of this strategy.
 
Unfortunately for the dragon, though, the beating of his wings was actually the sound loudest in my ears at the time he passed overhead. Even though my beeswax earplugs still held to protect me from Toirneach's wailing, I could hear Gifre overhead like nails on a chalkboard. My headache from the alcohol only intensified with the noise, especially when he spoke in that churlish tone that he so enjoyed.
 
"Why must your kind continue this annoying resistance," he asked the captive wolf in his clutches? The question was rhetorical, for the dragon knew his answer. He just didn't care as he was continuously tightening his grip."I will crush your opposition, even if I have to do it piece by piece!"
 
The noise was too much to bear for my sensitive, hang-over induced hearing, so I decided to take matters into my own hands. Like an incensed idiot, I picked up Toirneach, aimed in the dragon's general direction, and shouted, "Damn bitchass dragon and his loud mouth," before firing. Ironically, I didn't hear the boom of Toirneach at all as I let loose an arrow from it, nor did I even hit anywhere close to where I thought I was aiming. The alcohol had compromised my vision as well as my hearing, so I hit Gifre's claw rather than his skull. The resultant wound was grievous enough to cause him to yelp in midair, and his cry was loud enough for the entire battlefield to hear.
 
Gifre released Katerina shortly thereafter, unable to hold her anymore without extreme pain running through his talon. The wound would heal eventually, but, in the mean time, the wolf was free to do as she pleased: provided she survived the fall into the snow next to me.

“Damnit!” She cursed as she tried every elemental power she had on the beast that held er in the sky. How did she always get in these types of situations. Katerina couldn’t believe that she was flying in the air and with a dragon no less. She even tried to freeze off the dragon's foot, but that was useless. He just laughed at her attempt.

The wyvern made a comment that angered her. He was the annoyance. For a moment, she wondered what he was going to do with her, crush her or drop her. Either would kill her, since they were high up in the air.

In the midst of battle, everyone froze for a moment to look up at the injure dragon. Kiyomi covered her ears for a moment as her blade fell onto the ground. “What the hell!?” Her eyes moved to the sky to see what was going on. Then she saw her mother falling from the sky. Kiyomi didn’t hesitate to think of the pain that she was about to inflict on herself. Her mother was in danger. She forced her wings out of her back and flew up over the battle below. “Mom!!” She yelled as she flew towards her. Kiyomi had forgotten all about the man she was with.

Katerina let out a scream as the ground came quickly beneath her. As she landed she rolled over the ground, snow was kicked up behind her. Her head knocked against the ground hard. Making her disoriented. She could barely see her daughter come flying towards her. She didn’t know whether the figure before her was friend of foe. Holding up her hands, ice spikes shot out. With that movement, the snow gave away from below her. Katerina fell down with the snow.

Kiyomi yelled for her mother as she flew downwards at her. She had to catch her before she reached the bottom. With all her might, she flapped her wings as hard as she could, she reached her mother just in time. Catching her, she slowly hovered over the ground for a moment before laying her mother down on the ground. “I got you, Mom.” Kiyomi said with a smile. How many daughters could say they have saved their mother from death?

The wolf demon’s body hurt so bad, but she didn’t care. Her arms circled around her daughter. She was there and alive. As she hugged her daughter, she saw a flash of white ears and a tail. “Nat….Natsumi.” She said aloud.  How could it be her? She was gone. Her figure was a blur but she still could see the ears and the tail. It had to be her! “Natsumi!” She tried to call her again. Could her long lost friend be alive?

After Toirneach's arrow had pierced the dragon's talon, my eyes failed to notice the person falling from Gifre toward the snowy slopes below. I didn't even hear Kiyomi's cry toward Katerina, and had, instead, already begun a silent march back to my camp. Gifre went into a tailspin after my attack, finally losing himself to the rage most dragons lived with. He attacked orc, elf, goblin and human alike, making no one safe from his attacks amidst the blood-soaked snow. The battle was thus brought to an early end, and the besieging forces retreated with a broken morale. The Wings of Winter had been clipped.
 
There was no need for me to remain on Itjivut past that point; hence why I was headed home. I didn't even hear Katerina cry out my name before I had crested the hill, and just marched on as if no one had seen me. My camp wasn't far off, so I arrived quickly. There was only a tent to take care of, as well, making preparations for departure incredibly easy. I stuffed everything neatly into a backpack and then carved out the arcane circle necessary to reach my home in the snow.  Red light flashed eerily in the tundra atmosphere once this construct had been imbued with power, and a portal swiftly manifested in the form of a demonic eye. I passed through this ancient gate to reach my manor's entrance beyond, but did not realize that two troublemakers had followed behind me just before the door closed.
 

Kiyomi put her mother down onto her feet as she started to yell for someone named Natsumi. She was confused for a moment and followed her mother’s eyes. Had that been the Natsumi that she talked about. “Is that the woman that was with you when you found me?” Kiyomi asked right before her mother started to run off. Katerina’s feet just about collapsed below her. Her mind was still jumbled from her fall, and her ears ring from the bang. She barely heard her daughter speak.

Before her mother fell to the ground, Kiyomi caught her and looped her arm around her neck. “Mom, you need a minute to rest.” Kiyomi urged as she forced her mother to stop. Katerina started off into the distance where the fox girl had disappeared. “I need to see her!” Katerina said as she started to walk, pulling her daughter with her. She might be a cold hearted woman, but Katerina still cared for her. “Natsumi! Wait!” She called after the woman as they made it over the hill just in time to see the portal open.

Katerina sighed, “That damn woman.” Her daughter and her picked up their pace. Natsumi had just passed through the gate when Katerina and Kiyomi finally caught up. She didn’t hesitate to enter the gate. She hadn’t seen the woman in so long, she missed her. Katerina thought the woman was dead. Now that she had seen her, she needed to talk to her. The wolf demon needed to know what happened.