Sex: FemaleShe’d been walking for hours the tears she’d shed dried up before she’d even left her mother's body. Inna didn’t think she could cry anymore. Her movements were slow from the emotional exhaustion she felt and the sadness that felt like it was weighing her down. Time didn't seem to matter anymore as she finally came upon the river, the namesake of their home. For Inna it seemed to have slowed the night feeling like it would never end. Her life had changed so quickly and she had done nothing to stop it, or been unable to. Inna didn't know, it had all happened so fast what happened playing on a loop in her head as she walked. She’d lost a lot that day, her mother, Lekalta. Where her sister was and what was taking her so long to come back Inna didn't know. She hoped that her sister was okay, it was all she could do for the time being, to hope. She would hold out that hope for as long as she could, for the rest if her life if she had to. Lekalta had returned before and she would again Inna had to hold that in her heart, she couldn't bare the thought that she had lost her sister too.
The thought that her mother would never walk among the trees where she and her father had felt safe to raise their children brought fresh tears to the Raven's eyes, tears she didn't know she had left in her. Darkness had fallen upon the forest hiding the state that she was in and she was thankful for that. Her mother's blood still clung to her pelt causing it to clump and stick out in all directions. Inna didn't care she'd barely been able to drag herself away from the scene where it had happened. How she'd gotten to the river she didn't know, her walking had been mindless with no planned destination. All she saw in her eyes was her mother struck down by the cat, the last moments of her life, her last breath.
It was only after her mother's body had grown cold and stiff that she had finally pulled herself away. The first thought was to ask Lorcan to watch over their daughter until she returned, Oksana could not see her as she was. A moment of panic swept over her as she realized she had no idea if how she was going to tell her daughter about Kisla. How could she help her to understand that she wouldn't get to see her grandmother again. The Matriarch wouldn't get to see her own children let alone her granddaughter grow up and come into their own. She will never see the future of Hearthwood, what she had built with Maksim. Instead she would lay in a cold grave next to her mate forever.
She had to wonder if this was some sick joke the universe was playing on her. She gets Lorcan back only to lose her mother the next day. Was it a punishment for her for what she had done in her life, the wrongs she had committed? The secrets she kept hidden within herself? How was that fair to her mother who was just starting to move on with her life? To make Kisla pay for her sins. She'd given everything to her children and all they had paid her with was heartache as they left one by one only to return and break her heart again and again.
Inna didn't see herself as much better, what it had to have done to Kisla to find out she'd broken pack law. Disrespected her as her mother and as her leader so fully to have a child and then not tell who the father was. She protected Lorcan with everything she had. She put not only herself but her daughter at risk everyday she kept that secret. Inna didn't care if it meant that her daughter had a home and could be with her father. The ebony wolf couldn't keep the contents of her stomach down any longer but all that came up when she retched was bile and foam. Slowly one paw in front of the other she moved away from her vomit toward the river. Reaching its bank she collapsed unable to keep herself standing any longer. Her heart ached with the pain of losing her mother. It cause her breath to catch in her throat. Again she could he thankful for the darkness as it kept her reflection hidden from her. How could she look at her reflection? She would have to admit the kind of wolf she was. Tears threatened to fall once more as she thought of her mother not being there, of not seeing her face and hearing her voice. She covered her face with her paw while her sides heaved with the sobs that wracked her body. She didn't know how she was going to go on without her mother.
It had taken time but Inna was glad that she’d had the chance to make things right with her mother before she'd lost her. Kisla wouldn't go to the grave hating her and Oksana because of the mistakes she'd made. Before that day their relationship had gotten back to where it had been and maybe even better and her mother had forgiven her. She couldn't have been happier the day they had reconciled, to have her mother back to talk to and get advice about raising Oksana. She'd even brought her daughter to see her grandmother a few times so that the child could see her and get to know her. Oksana loved Kisla and Inna worried what this news would do to her daughter.
Inna knew she had to he strong for her daughter and for her pack she could not let her grief consume her. She had done that with her father's death and let her mother down she could not let Oksana down. The pack would need her too maybe moreso now than they had in the past and she would have to be there for them, she was Kisla's daughter. She held the Baranski legacy in her paws and she couldn't let it die with her mother, she couldn't let Hearthwood die.
What was to become of her home now? She trusted Lachesis, he would do a good job of running the pack but she worried how he would take her mother's death. Would it cause him to fall and the pack to fall with him, the pack could not be run by Laike. Female leadership would fall to Lilya and Inna didn't trust her to do well by the pack. The lack of confidence that the female showed aggravated Inna to no end. The memory of the time they had hunted together Inna could have laughed at the woman's feeble attempts to take her mother's place. What alpha asks a yearling what their next move should be? That woman no matter her past was no fit replacement for Kisla Baranski. The Raven growled at the thought of the damage that woman could do to the pack that her parents had built.
Staring into the water Inna realized that she was the last remaining Baranski in Hearthwood River besides her daughter. In Inna’s eyes her daughter carried her father's name as well whether he knew it or not she was Oksana Artemieva Baranski. Pack law broken or not her daughter had more claim to the Baranski throne than any wolf in Hearthwood as did she.
Rolling onto her side she looked up to the sky, her mother was there now watching over her. She wanted to promise that she would make Kisla and Maksim proud but she could not do that. She had learned a long time ago and the events of the day were only proof of that. It was with a sigh she also gave a moment's humor to the thought that there may be nothing left for her and Oksana in Hearthwood. What if the territory that her parents had carved out as their home no longer held a place for her? She couldn't help but worry about her place in the pack now that there wasn't a Baranski to hold the place of alpha.
Could she leave? Take Oksana with her away from her home and her friends? Where would they go? And would Lorcan follow? He’d already given up on home could he give up another? These questions swam through her mind threatening to drown her.
She loved Lorcan whether he knew it or not, it was the reason she hadn’t been able to tell Ayti for sure how she felt about him. She needed to see where things stood between she and the tawny healer. Now that she was back she would have that chance. Oksana would need him more in the coming months and Inna knew she would need him too.
Her life had changed, she didn't know what that would bring or mean for her. Everything in that moment seemed so uncertain except for her daughter and she hoped Lorcan. She hoped that with the dawn things would become more clear and that she knew what path she needed to take. With a sigh she rose from the bank and waded into the water, she couldn't return to the den with her mother's blood in her fur. The darkness had been a friend that night as it hid the blood as it washed away, the last remnants she had of her mother, the woman who’d had the biggest impact on her life, who'd raised her and always been there when she needed her. Inna would miss her more than she could ever express and now she was going to have to figure out how to live her life without her in it.
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