It had been a couple days since Inna had run into Diana at the place with all the bones. Since that day she had crossed the mountain. It hadn't been the first time she'd been on the mountain but it was the first time she'd done it alone. She hadn't had much to eat since before she started her trek through the rocky paths which her situation had become worse. While trying to make her way down one path her paw has slipped on some ice causing her to lose her footing.  She'd been lucky and had even laid where she'd landed thanking whoever was listening for watching out for her. Inna knew her fall could have been worse but she'd only dropped down to a path that was below the one she'd been taking. Still the impact had hurt her hind leg and it still hurt causing her to have a slight limp.


She was glad to be off the mountain though but she knew this would hinder her. Not only as she tried to make her way through the snow but also in being able to hunt. With a sigh however she moved into the forest that was at the bottom of the path she'd taken off the mountain. It was a dark and creepy forest but not like the place with all the bones. Inna trudged through the snow at a much slower pace than she'd been traveling before. She was looking for something to eat as well as some place that she might be able to rest.


The snow was deep in some places of the forest causing more pain in her hip and she'd lost her balance a few times causing her to stumble in the snow. She managed to get it back and keep going until she stumbled and completely fell into the snow with a loud, high pitched yelp. She didn't get up but laid in the snow resting her head in her paws to give the pain a chance to subside. She knew she would have to get up eventually but she just didn't know if she had it in her right then. She was tired and hungry, already she could feel that she'd lost some weight and the comforting scent of her home was now gone from her pelt.

Was this her rock bottom?


The Raven didn't know how long she'd been laying in the snow but during that time a light snowfall had begun slowly covering her dark fur. She'd curled around herself letting the emotions she felt wash over her and the tears fall down her face. She let the thoughts creep in and take over like she had done once before. This this time had to be different, she knew she couldn't let them consume her. It would be so easy just to go to sleep and let the cold take her and end all of it.


She couldn't though, she had to be stronger than that for her daughter. She had to find some way to get past everything that had happened to her in her life and make a new life. She had decisions to make that would allow her to still see Oksana and Andre. What of him? Would he miss her if she never returned? So often in recent months she'd felt unwanted and like none of them cared what happened to her. Live or die they would be happy if they never saw her again. Feelings of betrayal by those she had once held dear had been her friends and they led her close to crossing the line I to a world of bitterness.


She raised her head and shook the snow that had collected there to lick her hip where she felt the pain worse. They were back in the new territory safe and sound, healthy with plenty to eat. Askan and Reyes had their own pack now and Lorcan she didn't know where he was but she dointed he was in any bad situations. It wasn't like the man to be without a pack for very long. She was out in a forest that looked ready to swallow her up at any moment with an injured leg. Day by day she grew thinner and thinner. Her hope of making it through the winter slowing fading. It was all because none of them could take some blame for the things they had done, see the truths that they denied. Inna sighed, they lied to her but she was the one that had been punished for it. She had been the one to have her life threatened forcing her to be in this place.


Now she had to get past all of it and find some way to accept it and move on but she didn't know how. The anger and sadness and all of the emotions she couldn't name were so strong. She wondered if enough time passed would she slowly be able to work through each and every one of them or would they consume her and drag her down into the darkness that she had once visited before? Would she stay there because had nothing left to pull her back out. Nothing left to work for?


Inna sighed letting her head fall back down to the snow as it seemed to fall faster all around her. Her orange gaze scanned the forest around her for any sign of life but it seed she was still alone. The tears still fell down her cheeks into the snow and the pain in her leg still coursed through her body. She knew she had twisted it or worse but the only healers she knew of were back with her daughter. It was far away now and she didn't know if she would even be able to make it there.


With another sigh the Raven closed her eyes in hopes that her leg would feel better soon.

Night had fallen on the forest and snow now covered the Raven as she laid where she'd fallen. Raising her head and causing the snow that had collected on her to fall she blinked her orange eyes. Looking around the forest she knew she would have to find shelter to get through the night. She knew she couldn't keep going in the condition that her leg was in. Inna had to get better before she could even hope to move further from the forest. That she decided would he her first step.


After laying in the snow for hours the Raven now felt she'd been going about it all the wrong way. She needed to take things slowly one step at a time. Before she'd been trying to deal with so much at one time that it was impossible for her to not feel overwhelmed.


She had to put the past behind her and make a new life for herself. She looked around the forest deciding it was as good a place as any to begin again. The Raven sighed it was now or never, she couldn't lay in the snow and let the cold take over her body until the last breath had left her. She'd never been a quiter before even when the odds were stacked against her and she wasn't going to start now.


Slowly she rose to her feet careful to not put too much weight on to her injured leg. It would be the first thing, getting better so she could take care of herself. She would stay in the wood until her leg was better and do what she could to get by. Then she could move on and she hoped in that time she would have formed a plan.


Slowly she stepped away from the place she had laid and stopped once to look back at it. A quiet nod of determination was given to it.


Inna Baranski was laid to rest there.


The Raven moved away into the snowy forest to find a shelter that would be suitable for awhile.

Fade