Larkcall Lowlands ready to go, lead me into the light

Her vision was full of Wraith's dark damp fur. Everyone was too close. Smothering them. The two wolves closest were both dark large figures. Even her once small son was growing into a large frame. It hurt to acknowledge the shadows around her but she found herself leaning into her son, likely tainting his fur with blood if it wasn't already. Her breaths were short and heavy.

Slowly she pushed herself up, taking a few steps away from the collection of wolves around her mate. Her head even turned back to see the tawny spot fading in the distance and the closer dark spot. Adeltra. Oh, the poor girl didn't need to see this. This wasn't even her family (even if Piety cared for her as such) and wasn't something she needed to be witness too.

Muddy brown eyes looked back towards Wraith as a small command left the crimson painted female. "Bury him." Perhaps it was cruel to make her - their - subordinates and family to do it but she could not put him in the ground. Piety could bear witness to it and maybe even place a sweet prayer after but laying him to rest was too much. And he did not deserve to sit in the snow until spring. It was cruel. A fallen king deserved better than being crow food.

She looked upon Cyril, a frown pulling hard on once soft features. Piety didn't utter his name though. Not yet. She knew he needed time to say goodbye even if it was hard. Soon enough she would beckon him.

# C W T

The imagine of Wraith being sung around by the stag was one that Cheedo knew she would never get out if her head. It would haunt her for the rest of her life like the other images from her past did no matter how hard she tried to escape them. Whitestone had been the escape she needed and she'd found wolves she cared about and who cared about her but what would happen to them all now.

She would never forget what he had done for her and the way he had trusted in her to be able to do her job. Even when she had been unsure of it herself he never hesitated to trust that she would be able to accomplish the tasks he set her. It was because of that and having the support of both Wraith and Piety she had become much stronger than she was when she had come.

As she stood over her fallen alpha tears for his loss started to fall from her blue eyes. Looking over the pup and his mother as they mourned the their loss she suddenly felt out of place. Before she could move Everly's shriek across the tundra brought Cheedo's head up in time to see the girl fleeing. It was then that she saw the others that had gathered one of them being a dark pup.

Turning back to her fallen king Cheedo lowered her head and place a gentle lick on his dark head. She then quietly thanked him for all he had done and said her quiet goodbye. Then she stepped away to give the small family their space. She didn't go far offering her quiet support as she always had.

When Piety rose from her mates side Cheedo's green eyes followed her movements. The small agouti woman waited to see what she would do next and then came the command. “We will take good care of him,” she said quietly hoping to reassure the pale woman that her mate would get the care and respect he deserved.

She didn't move though, not yet. She wanted to give Cyril the time he needed with his father. She knew how important it was for him to be able to have that time.

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Bodies races past her and away from her yet she remained still, ears cupped forward to listen to what was happening. Piety’s head lifted and she felt those brown eyes settle on her, seeing her even from a distance, and she wanted to tell her not to worry about her. Worry about her son, worry about herself even. It wasn’t her life that had just fallen apart, it was her mate or her father lying there. Perhaps Adeltra was a bit young at six months to be having such unselfish thoughts, but then again perhaps that was her mother in her. Enoki had raised them to be kind while their father had raised them to be strong, independent Archers. She was a perfect mix of the two, but her soft heart had a tendency to make her more empathetic than some others her age.

She heard Piety’s soft command to bury him and still Adeltra didn’t move. No matter how much she wanted to cocoon them they were being stuffed with so much as it was. They needed to breath and another presence, especially one still technically foreign, wouldn’t help that. She continued to watch from the hill, keeping an eye out for cougars or anything else that might be attracted by the intense sent of blood.

Where have all the good guys gone?

Odin Archer

Odin's own grief was buried somewhere under stunned disbelief that after all this time that this was all it took. How many hunts had they had? Hell they had pulled down musk oxen with little more than bruises to show for it. Still echoing in the back of his head was a lesson long since learned, What are the basics of a hunt that we must always keep in mind? He had quipped back playfully don't get trampled, but even he had meant it as a joke never thinking such a thing, such a stupid, needless accident would happen right in front of his own eye. He wanted to growl in response to Piety's command, to tell her all in good time. She wasn't the only one grieving, hell, he'd known the man longer than anyone here, he'd never imagined a life without Wraith in it but then he heard that whisper in the back of his mind again.

You were only ever a maybe.

So when Cheedo spoke of taking care of him, he wouldn't allow the overseeing of it to fall to anyone else. He rose wordlessly, motioning with a tip of his head for the woman to join him, unaware of whether Kip would join him or not. If they were going to bury him they would need a hole and the permafrost would shred their paws, there would be blood, but he would dig all day if he had to to see the leader laid to rest.