Fallen Tree Cove Remember Me [M]

Would a minute be long enough?

Admittedly Eclypse had no clue what she thought she might gain from seeing it, from having gained first hand experience with death. Perhaps it was only the knowledge that she understood why her mother fretted so much or why she healed with a ferocious heart. Eclypse might understand that old age could not be healed now, but she would still look towards her mother's knowledge now.

She waited for no other indicator before she carefully moved inside. It was clear that it was Tulip. Small and frail. Patchwork fur that somehow seemed stiff and dull in this setting.

Grandma would look like this sometime?

We should do something... Eclypse did not want to hide what had happened today, but she wanted to let the woman rest in peace.

Eclypse moved inside and Nash patiently waited at the den mouth to give his daughter time to process the loss on her own. When he heard her voice he crouched down to look, could see the shape of his daughter next to the dark mass that was Tulip's body curled in the back. "We can bury her," Nash said. "It's what we usually do." He looked around and the snowy ground and sighed. The earth was hard; burying Tulip this time of year would be difficult.

"It might be easiest to collapse the den," he said. A part of him felt he would be losing a piece of his history in doing so, but it wasn't like they'd come back here to use the den anyway. It was a fitting place for Tulip to rest. "Whenever you're ready, we can dig out the walls and let her rest here."

And after, they could go home and rest themselves.

FADE