Plink… Plink… Plink… The sound of drops falling filled the air as the beast kin caught her breath. Blood dressed her claws as the fur from her arms dissipated, her hands forming back to normal as claws once again turned into nails as Eden stared down at the wolf whose life she had taken with her own hands. While her eyes shined with regret, her face still showed no mercy. "Forgive me," her quiet tongue echoed into the abyss, as if to speak to the fallen wolf as she knelt before it, "but for one to survive, another had to fall. You knew that much when you challenged me." With the adrenaline from the hunt began to wane, the pain from the wolf's claws and fangs that tore into her began to burn and ache as she moved a hand upon its head. "May your body give me the energy to move to a new day."

After what could have only been considered a prayer to the fallen wolf, Eden pushed herself back up to retrieve her weapon that rested in the soil. It was strange. For so long, the massive beam of steel felt like an extension to her own arm, but ever since that meet with the one who smelled of bear, her tool had felt… clunky. It had not become unusable, but it certainly felt like it had lost impact on what it did compared to her own arms. Still, she could never abandon the tool. After all, it was the single item that bore her namesake.

The next challenge before her, though, was the consumption of said meat. Before, may it because of pure desperation, She would have no issue with tearing apart raw or poorly cooked meats. However, now that time had past and experiences be had, eating as it was now felt… off. Something about it did not taste quite right and her body, while taking a bit to, started to reject it. It still handled raw meats better than fruits she gathered, but it was still enough for her to wonder what should be done to make things better…

Right! That hot ball! That was always there below the meat before it took a form that the body could handle… Now… how does one make the hot ball?

Vada was positively beautiful, even in the grip of Glaciem. The crystal trees glimmered with frost and snow, creating a rainbow scene mixed with the pristine beauty of the cold. She enjoyed her travels through the Valley, and enjoyed conversing with the Fey folk there. There was something… familiar, almost home-like about the place, even though she had never had a real place to call 'home'. Home was where her Vardo was, or where Justice was, which meant the road and Sularia were the places that home was now. But this time, she was going back to someplace she normally wouldn't have considered going on her own. It was a long trip to Vilpamolan, but by what she calculated, the person she was going to see was likely still at sea. If things went according to plan, she should arrive in the pirate city about the time he returned.

She sat upon a fallen crystal tree log, a stack of wood she had brought with her sitting near a small fire pit she had just finished digging. It had been hard work digging in the frozen ground, and she had worked up a bit of a sweat, so she had decided to sit and cool off a bit in the chilly air. Her flute was pressed to her lips, carrying a sweet turned that resonated through the trees, almost amplifying the mystical atmosphere, as though it belonged there. She paused when she heard the tell-tale howl of a wolf in the distance and listened carefully for a time. There was no follow up, which indicated it was a lone, and or had been dispatched. She didn't fancy finding out what might have dispatched the wolf, so she didn't see any need in going to find out. Instead she calmly went back to playing her music. 

The longer Eden sat there, wondering about how to find a heat ball, the more adrenaline felt her systems, returning feelings and senses back to where they should… THe bite woulds started to amplify a bit, but what was more annoying was the cold. Her toes were going numb as she stood in the snow, just like that one mountain rage in the other land. Luckily, the cold white was not as bad as it was over there, but it still sapped heat away from her, making her want a heat ball even more.

What was more notable, however, was the noise that echoed through the white valley. It was not one that came from this land, that was for sure. Was it another being? Maybe they had a heat ball they could share to warm her up and cook her new meat. Resting the metal weapon in one arm while shouldering the fallen wolf in the other, Eden decided to leave the land of battle she just had, trusting her ears to lead her to the sound.

It was bit a moment until her ears could catch something mixing with the sound in the air. Pops and crackles of wood. The same sound that spoke of heat balls, and the closer her feet crunched through the snow, the more she can see the source of it. A small home on wheels was set next to it while a person sat there with an item at her lips. The scent of the burning wood tingled her nose, but it was mixed with yet another familiar scent, mixed with the sight of one who had shown her much comfort: Rizka. With a smile on her face, Eden marched forward still, glad to have met a familiar face and assumed would have no mind sharing her heat.

Rizka didn't stop playing until she heard the crunch of feet on snow, and she paused in her playing and looked up to see a familiar face coming towards her, familiar black metal sword in one hand, and a wolf carcass over the opposite shoulder. She grinned broadly at Eden and stood up, arms open in welcome. 

"Eden!" she said with joy she crossed over to Eden and went to embrace her. Before she did however, she noticed that some of the blood did not belong to just the wolf. "Eden, you're hurt! He must have put up a fight," she said moved beside the tigerkin and examined her injuries. Gently, Rizka took Eden's sword and grabbed her by the hand. "Come on, you are positively chilled. Come sit by the fire," she urged and pulled her toward the fire. She propped the sword up against the vardo so that it was within reach in case they needed it. Rizka didn't believe that they would, but better safe than sorry. She filled a pot with some drinking water and lightly put it near the fire so she could clean Eden's injuries before she found her a sturdy log to sit on so that she could warm up. 

"What have you been up to since we last saw you?" she asked her friend as she sat down beside Eden and used a clean cloth and the warming water to clean the bite wounds in her shoulder. 

It was still a surprise to see people get shocked by her injuries, but that was to be expected. After all, she had lost count on how many years people came to see her get injured, and afterwards, staff carelessly mending the wounds just to ensure it would not get infected or leave a terrible scar in some cases. It always made Eden wonder how she should respond with such concerns. Should she frown because of a sign of weakness, or smile because of the concern? No matter the case, though, she knew to follow suit and allow herself to be guided next to the heat ball as she tended away.

It had been many moons since the two had last seen each other, that was for sure. Their last meeting was where she and her brother brought her to the man who smelled of bear. She had seen many things and had numerous experiences, but she knew it would be hard to really explain. At the very least, Eden could distract Rizka from Eden's shoulder by tapping on her to make her look at her arm. After a moment's gaze, a light glow would highlight it before getting washed over with fur, her hand now being more of a paw with sharp claws that match up with the injuries on the wolf she brought with her.

However, it did not stay that way for long as she shifted it back to a normal hand before reaching up to the latch on the metal collar that marked her past. While his emblem saved her from being captured, the scars that followed it still made it difficult to abandon completely. Still, she loosened the latch as she did every morning to train her breath, showing how her throat had been recovering, but more importantly the metal itself seemed to have been thinning, and not just from bear man's alterations. a few millimeters were lost on the metal as well as Eden worked on trying to adjust her breathing without the metal collar, but still knowing she can easily flood herself if not for too long, which was easily followed by snapping the latch back closed.

Finally, her attention went back to the wolf, feeling her stomach growl. How to use the heat ball to make it safe to eat while not destroying it…