It felt like failure, moving, giving up everything she had ever worked on, leaving behind all the things she'd so painstakingly gathered and protected over her lifetime. The part that hurt the worst was leaving behind Shreyas hibernation den, empty as it may have still been; as if admitting the truest Mother she'd ever been graced with had just... vanished. It was so unlike her, and it hurt so badly to believe she was gone like so many others had left Raisa behind. Had something happened, and Raisa wasn't there to help? Had she wandered off and gotten lost?
Did she decide she didn't need the fake daughter clinging to ideas of grandeur?

But for the future of her people, of the members that had made up her home, new and hold, she had to stop stagnating. Sure, maybe they could've reformed, recruited, tried to keep Seiiki alive... but why? Why bother? Raisa was tired of people leaving. Tired of being left behind to pick up the pieces of her own shattered heart, tired of looking around for her friends or family and seeing few. Serafina had made it this far, a loyal presence at her sisters side. Was she upset the mantle and crown Raisa had forged had just been tossed into the sea and not passed on to someone else? Did she see it as an extension of Rajani, the pack Raisa finally let die?
She'd changed everything, but it'd always felt like Sem'ya to her.
The same empty, quiet place she remembered.

It was time for something new.

Barbosa didn't choose to follow, and Raisa's heart ached for it; the woman had taught her so much, and she'd been a calming, wise force in Seiiki when Raisa needed her. Some part of her hoped that in time, she'd change her mind, and follow the directions that would lead her back to them. If not, then Raisa simply wished the best for her.
This was the part that hurt worse about disbanding, but that hollow ache was gentled by the fact that everyone else followed.
Cobalt, Carnifex and his new ward(?), Serafina, they all made the trek back north with her....

To the borders of Northfall. Raisa approached, full of shame and head hanging, but still glad the rest of them were staying together. It was her one tiny blessing now, and she clung to it.
She cast her gaze around to make sure everyone was still keeping up as the smell of the borders preceded them.

Welcome to our new home, she sighed, but smiled, as she gestured to the peak, where somewhere soon they would meet the scent markers of the northerners and those behind them.

Their arrival was less than stealthy, and Raisa wasn't surprised to see a sentry making their way over as the party drew nearer. Whether Wardruna had warned her people of their possible coming or the woman was just good at her job, the striped woman couldn't know, but she eyed the ginger stranger with a polite smile budding on her lips. Red and gold, not overly short or tall -- pretty, even, her viridescent gaze sharp against her tawny features. She saw the hesitation, the surprise, in that gaze as it roamed to her companions -- probably, she thought, Carnifex. Having grown up with a tiger for a fake father and a bear for an adoptive mother, they never quite did seem big or scary to her.

Her lips canted ever higher, but she didn't smirk with maliciousness, only amusement.

Well-trained, I assure, she joked softly, winking, hoping to put their new packmate at ease. The truth was, she wasn't..... entirely sure Carnifex wouldn't eat someone, no, but she expected he wouldn't eat one of her packmates. Did he consider them his own group, too, or had he always been more personally her champion than his title had ever entailed?

Agrippina, she called herself. A guide. She didn't hesitate to offer her assistance, to take them somewhere better sheltered before the snow started in earnest and the lack of the suns warmth froze their toes. Raisa didn't mind, herself -- her double coat and long, thick fur was meant for this. But the kid? Scrawny ol' Cobalt, not getting any younger? Not so much.

We thank you, she rumbled back, tail waving, I'm Raisa. We're... what's left of what used to be Seiiki, here to move in and start over.

Raisa followed after the kindly guardian, breathing deep the crisp scents of the north while they went. Ice, and pine, sharper against her nose than the muted but lively smells of the forest. How long would it take, she wondered, for the mountain to feel like home? Would it ever?
Still, it was nice. Agrippina lead them deeper into the vale, towards and to the entrance of a cavern so great the trees grew within. Raisa grinned, gaping, impressed; it took a moment for their guides question to register. She turned to answer with a shake of her head, unsure, You have been most helpful, truly. I think we are okay, if you could only direct me to--

Wardruna. Her scent cut off Raisa's words, and the striped woman turned to search for her.

The Queen joined them in the cavern with an apology on her lips, and Raisa just canted her head to the side with a smile. It hurt, no doubt, but she took solace in one fact: this Stormborn, this daughter, would not see her fathers work crumble to the wind.

I am just happy to help Northfall grow strong again, and keep what's left of my family together, safe.

Joining them, War looked over the little group and invited them further in with temptations of rest. Raisa glanced to the others with a reassuring smile and followed after the Queen, tail wagging slowly, mulling over her words as Agrippina was mentioned and the former monarch was asked of her companions.

Yes, she was very helpful, very kind, Raisa complimented the agouti woman with a wag of her tail and a decisive nod. No silly business, no lollygagging, a woman ready and willing to do her job with efficiency. Had Raisa had another pawful of members like that, Seiiki might not have been crawling to the door of another pack to be absorbed, but the few of them left just couldn't keep going like this. Raisa couldn't keep going, and she didn't want to ask of her people what she couldn't do herself.
It was better this way.

You will find no better guard than Carnifex, loyal as he is quiet, she offered, teasing gaze flicking to her champion. He'd never actually needed to use those claws to defend her, but she walked feeling safer for him, and he'd given his life to make sure she had that feeling of safety over her always.

My sister, Serafina, is a better hunter than I am, and I daresay she will fit in well with the boisterous northerners better as well, she smiled to the grey-striped woman, winking playfully. Her sister always had been the more bull-headed of the two of them, the most outwardly fiery while Raisa burned with a quiet, intense heat.

And Cobalt has long since been a wise source of counsel for me, she quipped at last, though she wondered if she should warn Northfall of his... oddness. He sometimes blurted things she didn't understand, but he always sounded so sure, so mystical, that she couldn't help but believe him.

Wardruna trusted her word, and such a small thing made Raisa feel... good. Welcome. Trustworthy. She knew herself, but she was glad to know that the Stormborn saw her, too -- saw all she had ever given to help her allies, now pack. Less than Northfall itself, to be sure, but she didn't see any other packs lining up to offer their help.
Her people would keep working at the same things they'd always done for her. It might've been different, but it also wouldn't seem so terrible, would it? For the first time since being children, she and her sister would wear the same rank: would share their duties, hunt together for Northfall and their people.

Raisa just beamed, radiant.

Thank you, my Queen, she agreed, tail waving, the title burning on her tongue but feeling.... necessary, Starting as huntress would be my pleasure. Was it? Well, in a way. Did her pride feel as if it'd been tossed into the mud? Certainly. For all her life, she'd been the daughter of the leader, the leader herself -- all-mighty, important, spoiled. All that was gone now.
Raisa got to work for herself. She would get to let decision-making slide from her shoulders. She would be able to wander the tundra at her own free will, as long as she was contributing to the caches and borders. She had just gained a freedom that she'd never really had, not once in her life. Every step had been a move for Seiiki's sake, every decision in the interest for the greater good of her people, every moment dedicated to them.

She fucking loved the idea of it. She would gladly take the break Wardruna could see the need of.

And when she was ready? She would find somewhere she fit into where she could feel most helpful, that would challenge her skills and keep her on her toes, somewhere Wardruna really had need of her.