Lost Lake Lean on me

RE: Nash, you find a cluster of icicles in a strange formation.
For @Aquene only please <3

He'd thought Aquene was getting better. She'd been a little more lively since their conversation, though she wasn't making as much progress as he'd hoped. But he'd thought that was grief; it presented itself in strange ways sometimes, and Al had not only been her dear friend but the father of her first child. She'd been with him almost as much as Sana in his last days, and the burden of his healing had been on her. Nash didn't feel she'd failed. Healing was not success or failure. Sometimes death came in and snatched what she wanted regardless of what the living did right or wrong.

Now, however, it was clear some sort or depression had settled in. He didn't know how he could could his wife. He didn't know if she was ready to let him help. He decided the best thing he could do was be there for her. It was approaching evening and their pups were old enough to fend for themselves for a day - Matos appeared to be sticking close to home for now anyway. They could take a night out. Nash approached his wife, gave her an affectionate nuzzle, and said, "Join me for a hunt?" He waited for her response and then quietly padded off.

Aquene wanted to get better; she saw how those around her had began to shift. She could see them all begin to heal from the loss that had been suffered and yet it still lingered like a hollow hole in her chest… made worse by Chan’s words even if it had not been their intention. As a result, she was there in the den, curled up with her head tucked underneath her paws and in towards her ribs. She was trying to find her balance, and her path forward. She was too off-kilter to place it all.

Despite the winter months, she had been more withdrawn, curled up as often as she could be and sleeping all the time, numb and distant when she wasn’t asleep. Even Nash would struggle to pull her out of such a frame of mind. Even now, being curled up she was trying to just find some measure of peace behind closed eyes but it wasn’t working.

Join me for a hunt? It was the words of her Love that would caused her head to raise, watching as he turned to make his way out. For the moment, she hesitated… but then slowly she would force her way onto her paws, following his pawsteps in the snow as she lingered by his side, silent, but pressed against him in a way meant to steal his warmth.

Aquene Slayer