Spectral Woods swimming through stone

Her eyes were about ready to fall out of her head. Never had Spieden spoken so many words in such a short amount of time. Or laugh so strangely. Sahalie was pretty sure that she was never going to habituate to the effect that the apples had on her aunt. For a moment, though, the dark girl did entertain the idea of joining her. I mean, Spieden was having such a great time. Not a care in the world. The weird antics of her former milkbag probably would not bother her so much if she was in the same, drugged state. It could be fun...maybe.

But Sahalie wanted her wits about her.

Honestly, Sahalie hadn't thought the situation looked any particular way. That's just how it was. Oak Tree Bend wasn't funny, either. Her eyes narrowed, trying to gauge how sarcastic Spieden was trying to be. Save for the chortles here and now, there was very little laughter in the Bend. A lot of the time Sahalie was the only one having fun. She was forced to conclude that this was some weird joke brought on by the apple-insanity. Not wanting to offend her caretaker, the otter-girl managed to lift the corners of her mouth briefly.

Together had the same sort of emphasis as with. The same sort of gravitas that implied something much greater than the girl could really grasp at, though obviously it had to do with love. She might have understood better if there were any mated pairs in Oak Tree Bend. But Spectral Woods was not kind to lovers. It took Ice, it took Silver, it took Nayeli, and it took Hotei — not that she knew much about them. At any rate, despite Spieden's garbled speech the explanation was clear enough: Serach had assumed Spieden and Triell loved each other since they had both been leaders. Now it was Drestig and Spieden leading. Sahalie scrunched her nose at the thought of Drestig and her caretaker in love — whatever that meant, sounded different from the family love.


Sahalie took a deep breath. Watching Spieden blunder and chuckle had been great, but it had largely distracted the girl from her purpose. The fire had diminished in her. But she still had to try. "But if Nayeli was with my dad, how did you end up leading?" She needn't have worried about losing her passion though, just speaking the words made her blood surge. "Did you drive her out?" the girl spat. Anger did not look attractive on her. "Cause otherwise I don't really get why no one told me. I don't get why I had to hear it secondhand, when Serach told Fenru. Fenru's just a stranger and he got to know who my mom was."

"I thought you were my mom." 

She looked as small as helpless as a puppy again. Weak, confused, just wanting to be loved. 

There it was. That name. Any remnants of humor drained from Spieden's blanched face as if she'd seen a ghost rise up from the ground right in front of her. Spieden didn't even have time to wonder how Sahalie knew any of this before the fire flew from the girl's tongue. The older woman shrank back, eyes wide and tongue nervously flashing over the end of her nose. Somehow an overheard conversation was the source of all the fury.

Spieden vigorously shook her head, deeply regretting it as everything else didn't stop shaking once her head stopped moving. Her stomach quivered, and she swallowed back a tide of saliva. Spieden really couldn't have picked a worse day to eat a pile of rotten apples.

"I didn't chase her out. Wouldn'tave dreamed of it. The firs' time someone kidnapped her. Yer dad asked me to lead, I didn't want to at first, I didn't know how to, but the pack needed someone. We finally found 'er, got 'er home, killed the kidnappers, but then we just woke up and she was gone one day. You and your brother weren't even a month old yet." Spieden said, a deep frown etching her features."Nobody knows what happened. We looked, and looked, and looked, and nothing. Your dad, he spent so much time trying to find 'er again but..." Spieden stopped, sighing. The success of that was obvious. "Look, th' las' thing I wanted to do was keep her a secret from you." She shifted uncomfortably, watching Sahalie. She didn't know how much Serach had said, how much Sahalie had overheard, how much of this was new. "I didn't know how to be a mom, either. I still don't know how... But you guys needed someone."

"I was just.. I was just scared to ever bring it up, is all." She whispered, her head hanging.

how i envy the herrings

Spieden Coho

always on their way

@Spieden you can wrap it up????

Sahalie was too young to think about the direct consequences of her actions. How could she? Usually she was so upbeat, so determined to push through all the bad things that had happened to other people. She thought only of making others happy, but not how she could make them sad. But now, seeing the woman who had raised her recoil as if she had been hit. All the fury betrayed the girl, abandoned her, leaving nothing to defend herself against the onslaught of guilt from Spieden's slumped position. And to do this now, when Spieden was all apple-sick. It was cruel.

Sahalie whimpered, no longer caring to listen to the absolution the dark woman sought. It pained her to see the lines on the woman's face. Every next word only making it more clear that she hadn't had the whole story, sure, but no one had ever tried to hurt her. Sahalie was not sure if she lacked the willpower to continue to lay blame on ambiguously guilty parties. Would her life have been different know about these kidnappers or the pain her dad went through? It was Nayeli's fault for leaving. Not Spieden's, not anyone elses's.

When she looked inside her heart, though, she found she could not even be mad at Nayeli.

The otter-girl sighed, coming up against Spieden and taking a seat beside her. The bridge of her nose bumped up against Spieden's whitening chin that hung so low. "I... I'm sorry Spieden. I shouldn't... I shouldn't have made you say these things." She looked at the fish laying on the ground, considering that perhaps they should postpone their meeting with the Fallen Tree Cove wolves, even if Sahalie wanted to meet them more than anything else. "I'm not...mad at you. I don't want to make you sad. Or scared to talk to me."

"I love you Spieden" she whispered.

Spieden blinked at the spinning ground and the cloudy eyed fish resting in front of her, not even wanting to see what would surely be the disappointment on Sahalie's face. So it was a complete surprise when the girl planted herself at her side, a little muzzle appearing beneath her chin. Spieden tilted her head with an ear turned, peeking out the corner of her eye to see Sahalie right there.

Everything else was confusing but just knowing Sahalie wasn't mad at her, still liked her, loved her somehow, made everything seem alright. "Love you too, lil' clam." Spieden mumbled, her lids growing heavy and head still drooping further and further, cheek finally finding the ground and the rest of her soon following. In moments she was fast asleep, snoring with great gusto.

how i envy the herrings

Spieden Coho

always on their way