She is near collapsing by the time she makes it to the hollow. She had fled as far as she dared while the battle raged at the borders of the Mire. When she'd left, it had been only to make it here- to make it to where Ana was. Eisa traveled, without relenting. Every pawstep felt as if it would be her last, and when the emaciated girl makes it to the borders of the Hollows, she collaspses onto her side, breathing out heavily- before she calls for her sister, and the rulers of the land.

She forces herself into a sitting position, hastily readying herself to be somewhat presentable as her call echoes around her- and as she waits.

@Analía @Moradin (if he wants!) @Thella ♔ @Alexander ♔ -- Anyone else from OH is welcome as well!

ART BY YUMPY, CODE BY LARS

Despite how kind and helpful the Hollow leaders had been, Analia was more than prepared to leave. She knew that she would wait for eighty four years so that when her sister got here she could heal and take whatever time she needed. More than that, though, she wanted to make sure that her sister didn't receive the same misguided hatred from a member. She didn't even know if Clove had actually left the pride or not but one could never be too sure.

So Analia had paced and lost quite a bit of sleep over the course of the last few days in the anticipation of getting her sister back. So when she heard the call she set aside whatever weaknesses she felt in an effort to get to her red-coated sibling without trouble. There were no words as she moved to embrace her sister gently, hating the repugnant smell of the Mire that was still on her and the way that her body felt. Though she knew that she had been in much the same shape but @Eisa was somehow worse. Come, she whispered quietly but urgently to try and help her get within the borders and to a safer location. There was no sign of Thella who had gone in her stead to help her so Analia quietly prayed that she was safe, too.

@Moradin @Thella ♔ @Alexander ♔

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The King arrives some time after his fight. He was still covered in cuts, blood, but he wasn't limping and Alexander could certainly be worse off. The fight with Luther had been a small one, simply to show that Alexander would not tolerate someone taking anyone, especially those under his protection, against their will.

He is happy to see that @Eisa has made it here safely and @Analía had found her. A low rumble of sound escapes him as he chuffs toward the two softly, alerting them to his presence. He approaches with a half-smile, "I am glad you are okay. Thella is safe, Luther tried to take her, but she escaped and I distracted him." Which explained his current state. Thella had escaped, but she had perhaps decided to take the long way home, so she wasn't followed.

It had taken far too long to return to the pride. It felt like every few paces she was stopping to catch her breath, her body aching and at its limit. Her head remained on a constant swivel as well, scanning for any who might be in pursuit. The last thing they needed was for an enemy—for that’s what Ecrosia surely was to them now—to be hot on her heels as she stole into the tunnels. They weren’t yet prepared for even the slightest hint of war.

Relief washed over her when she slipped into the welcoming tunnels and realized @Eisa had made it. She sat flanked, unsurprisingly, by @Analía. @Alexander ♔, too, was with them. So he’d made it out of the Mire as well? Good, she thought, though she wasn’t looking forward to the anger she anticipated for disobeying his explicit command that she remain back in the pride when Moradin first brought the predicament to them. She glanced at him briefly, but just as quickly diverted her attention back to the Sigrún sisters, hoping he’d hold any words until they were alone. He had to understand she couldn’t sit idly by. Just look at the state she’s in!

"Yes, I’m safe," she reassured, coming to rest beside him. "As are you now, too, Eisa. Anything you need, either of you," she clarified as her eyes flicked between the sisters, "please, let us know."

code by scorpixia♡︎

the first to heed her call was, @Analía and the moment she saw her sister, she would lean into ana's embrace, to breath the earthen scent that clung to her. "you are safe." eisa would breathe, damning everything else, her own state- the whole world to know that was the fact. Ana was safe, and she was within the Hollows. Her soft uttering of 'come', made Eisa struggle onto her feet, wobbling a bit before trying to lean against her sister- as another arrives.

She recognizes the male from his battle with Luther, but there is nothing else about him that she knows. He is... glorious, there is little other word to describe the flowing mane, and stunning markings. His approach is quiet, and she is comforted by the low noise he makes in announcing himself. She looks to the male, her eyes studying him for a moment. "Thank you." She whispers, her voice broken, hoarse. "For coming. For fighting him." She hates to thank another- hates that she is too weak to fight him herself, that she is too broken.

When another arrives, it is the familiar female who had helped her escape the Mire, and the look of gratitude she passes to the female is nothing short of admirable and respectful. "Thank you." She breathes emphatically. "You risked yourself- and your unborn... and I am indebted to you." She says, her body trembling with effort- but the words are strong, unbroken.

"I'm Eisa Sigrun." She introduces herself, to both of them, though they both know her name. She is nothing if not proper, gaze flicking between them- @Alexander ♔ and @Thella ♔, "And I am in both of your debt." She says simply, leaning against Ana, as a tremor runs through her again. A debt she is determined to pay.

ART COPYRIGHT KIM / CODE COPYRIGHT ANALESE

Had she not been so riddled with fear upon the Hollow's borders upon the idea of leaving and going to the Mire, she might have noticed the telltale signs that their Sovereign was pregnant. Instead, all she had seen and all she had felt was white noise within her and the paralyzing fear of returning to the devil's lair. For weeks she had stewed over going and getting her sister but never had she actually stopped to consider what that entailed for her mentally.

So when @Alexander ♔ showed and explained to them both that Thella was safe and that Luther had tried to take her, fear grit at her and she felt her own body feel as uneasy as it had the day she had come to the Hollow. So when @Thella ♔ did show and doubled down on her own safety, she hesitantly nodded her head while simultaneously looking at the two of them and whatever wounds they might have faired with. The attention, however, was quickly swept away as @Eisa spoke.

So when her sister says something about unborn, it was with a furrowed brow that she looked to her Sovereign and felt the guilt clawing at her. I'm so sorry, I... I never would've.. You never would have what, Ana? Let someone else fight for you because you're too weak to do so yourself? Too broken, beaten and bruised to be able to do anything but exist? There was a hard swallow and she turned her gaze to her paws, not knowing what she could feel other than guilt for what had occurred to her sister while they had been separated and certainly for what had occurred when she intended to go back.

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@Thella ♔ arrives and the crimson beast is relieved. He lets out a sigh and moves to gently bump his head to her own, though pulls back to listen to the others as Thella addresses them. He wasn't upset with her because she had done it, she did what she thought was best. However, knowing she was carrying children did put him on edge. Things could have gone so much worse. If Luther had managed to steal Thella and she'd been forced to give birth in the Mire, the King might have started a war right then and there.

He sighs. Calming himself.

Alexander focuses intently on @Eisa for a long moment, watching her moves, the way she appreciated him and the way she speaks. He smiles faintly at her gratitude, a nod offered to the woman in response. "Eisa, you are very welcome. We do not have to speak of any sort of debt, truly. You can stay as long as you like, and depart when you wish." He didn't want them to remain here in Obsidian due to a debt. If she, @Analía or even Moradin continued to remain, the King would prefer it be out of loyalty, than anything else.

The warmth of @Alexander ♔'s welcome eased Thella's worries; there wasn't a trace of the anger that she'd feared. Aside from his son, he was one of her oldest friends in the pride and the last thing she wanted was there to be any lingering friction.

"It's a pleasure to officially meet you," she responded with a weary smile, "but you are in no debt to me. I would do it a thousand times over," she insisted, brows knitting together heavily as the white lion's face flashed in the forefront of her mind. She couldn't fathom the ruthlessness and disregard for others to hold them hostage in the way he had. And, for what? "The treatment you both received beneath the Ecrosian king's reign is unforgivable and I need only to see the shape you're in to know that for certain."

Her voice wavered slightly and she fought back the tears that threatened to fall. "I could never stand by again and let something like this go on for as long as it has. I'm only sorry I didn't come get you sooner." She rose back up, unwilling to let herself be overcome with the emotion bubbling inside. She needed them to see the strength of Obsidian. "I think it's time I head to mine, but our dens are open to you—caches, as well—and, if there's anything you need, please don't hesitate to ask." With a last glance at the small company, she turned and padded further in, the darkness swallowing her whole.

@Analía @Eisa

-exit-

code by scorpixia♡︎

There was an astounding amount of guilt surrounding the fact that she had been so adamant to go save her sister and yet when that moment came, she had frozen. Stuck on the borders of the Hollow with the sudden realization that if she went there, she went there. That if they spotted her they would try and take her and with the knowledge that the Ecrosians had, indeed, tried to take @Thella ♔, made her all the more aware of not only how right she was but of how close she came to being the reason her Sovereign might have become a prisoner.

For now, though, her gaze shifted to @Eisa who was ragged beside her. Thin, weak, and presumably exhausted; the three things that she had felt a thousand times over when she had arrived at the Hollow herself. Let's go to my den and I'll fetch you something to eat. Not that she wasn't scared to do that, either, because of her encounter with Clove but at least this way Eisa didn't have to worry about stumbling upon someone who was happy to stomp on her relief to be away from an escape. Nor would Eisa need to worry about going very far, if at all, into the Hollows because Ana had kept a den nearest to the light so that she wouldn't have to feel trapped and confined again. fade ana to help eisa @Alexander ♔

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The weight of debt weighs to heavy on her shoulders, that she nearly quakes beneath it. Eisa carries the pride of the Sigrun in her, the title of jarl is wasted upon her. She is nothing, unable to win a single fight- unable to do anything to make them powerful once more. She wishes, desperately, she had remained a huntress where she was happy- than trying to be a warrior and failing so epically. Her body is now nothing more than a broken shell of who she could have been, and as she sits huddled along the Hollow's border, she finds it difficult to look into either ruler's eyes.

"Thank you, both of you." She says simply because there is no other words she can use to tell them how she feels about what they have done. How they have opened their home to her. She breathes out a ragged sigh, her gaze on Ana, when she is drawn forth into her sister's waiting arms and den. She would remain here in the Hollows- and talk with Thella and Alexander later... because once she was healed, in her mind- there was... a lot she wanted to say.

@Thella ♔ @Alexander ♔ @Analía

-fade w/ ana-

ART BY YUMPY, CODE BY LARS