It had been hours since she'd attacked Pip. Hours since her mother and Auntie Lily had given her a thorough verbal lashing. Those wounds still stung, but they could not have stung more than the one's she'd given to the mute. In hindsight, she did regret it. In the moment, it had made her feel powerful and hungry for more, but now, it left her only feeling ugly and hated. She deserved it. Emphatically, Ophelia knew she deserved every biting word she'd been given, and she longed to go to the older girl and beg her forgiveness. But for as sorrowful as she was, her pride refused to relent just yet.

Besides. Practically everyone was there. No way would she do it in front of the whole pack. She didn't care if she deserved to have to do that, too.

Sitting on a large stone, the snow swept away from its surface by her paws and tail, Ophelia looked out into Cedarwood Forest. It was the only home she'd ever known. She took great pride in these lands. In her pack. She didn't want any part of it to be thought of as weak. And, though it was cruel to say, wasn't it weakness that Pip had? Outsiders would see it that way, too. They had to.

Tan-tipped ears flicked back at the crunch of paws through snow. The pup didn't have to look to know who it was. There was always an innate knowledge of a pup to her mother. She wondered if it was the same for Oula, if she knew whenever Ophelia was approaching from behind without need of scent nor sight to make the identity. The girl said nothing as her mother came to sit beside her. What could she possibly say that would make any of this right? Clearly, she'd said enough.