Fool's Gold Chasm Look to the stars

For @Marrah ~ story time! Takes place just after midnight 9/2

Enera loved her sister-friend. She was old enough now to understand that her age mates were not, in fact, her "siblings", but Enera thought that was stupid. They were growing up together just the same; why did it matter if they shared a mama?

She and Marrah played all the time, and today their play and gone into the evening, so instead of going back to their normal sleeping places they found a warm cranny between a tree's roots and bundled down together.

Enera was sleeping well, but Marrah was clearly restless; she kept turning in her sleep and it was finally enough to wake the lighter girl all the way.

"Mar?" she asked, poking her friend in the side. "You okay?"

All that remains is the faces and the names

Maybe Enera knew that the two girls weren’t really siblings, but Marrah certainly didn’t. Nobody had taken the time to really explain it to her and she had never thought anything of the fact that they had different Mamas, to her that was normal. After all, she also didn’t have a dad and that seemed normal and nobody had told her any different about that either. She was living a messy blended life, and she had absolutely no idea, the Maceio-Tainn was cut of a naive cloth.

Tonight, she had been trying desperately to sleep while her sister-friend slept soundly next to her, but dreams evaded her. Flipping this was, and then that way, nothing seemed comfortable and she was getting frustrated, and was swallowing back a lump in her throat. Why couldn’t she just sleep!? But, she tried to lay as still as possible when she felt Enera stirring beside her, it didn’t matter, her friend was asleep now.

Guiltily, Marrah’s ears flipped backwards and pressed against her skull. Dipping her chin down she murmured, ”Sorry, can’t sleep.” She would lay stiller she vowed to herself, so she wouldn’t bug her sister anymore.

of the wives and the sons and the daughters.

Enera watched her friend with concern, ears standing straight and then falling back as Marrah quickly stilled. Something was wrong; the paler girl could feel it, could almost taste the unrest coming off her sister-friend. She didn't usually toss and turn like this; she couldn't, or the boys would have noticed, and Enera would have noticed too. They'd all slept in a pile too many times for Marrah to be able to roll around without waking somebody.

"Sorry, can't sleep."

Frowning, Enera shuffled over so she could rest her chin across the back of Marrah's shoulders in what she hoped would be a comforting embrace. "Why not?" she asked, leaning back so she could look at her. "What's wrong?" because something was most definitely not right.

All that remains is the faces and the names

Marrah was filled with guilt when she saw Enera frown in the dim light of the night. She really had not meant to worry her friend, she had just been becoming frustrated at not being able to fall to sleep. Settling her own head onto her paws as her sister draped her in an embrace across her shoulders, she sighed in defeat. Now they were both awake, and it was her fault.

Chewing on the inside of her cheek for a moment, she really could not come up with a good answer as to why she was unable to sleep tonight. ”I dunno, nothing is wrong, but the harder I try the farther away sleep seems to be.” That was not a very good response to her sister’s question in her opinion, but it was the truth. She couldn’t say there was any exact reason.

Staring straight ahead at a bundle of roots, she added half-heartedly, ”It’s like my body is tired but my mind is still awake.” That probably didn’t make any sense at all, was she going crazy? Maybe something was wrong, maybe she was sick in her mind, could that kind of thing be fixed?

of the wives and the sons and the daughters.

Marrah seemed to give up as her was embraced, and Enera wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. She wasn't sure if she believed her friend at first when she said nothing was wrong, but when Marrah continued her explanation Enera tilted her head, though she never lifted it from her sister-friend's shoulders.

Sleep, running away? That seemed... not right, but there had been nights where Enera too had struggled to fall asleep. Those were the nights she tended to sneak away and chase grasshoppers or watch the stars. She was ever on the lookout for more of them running, and she liked to look at Gramma's star and think about all the stories she would tell her about the adventures she got up to here in Fool's Gold Chasm.

"When I can't sleep," she started slowly, "I get up and explore, and that helps me get tired. Or Mama tells me a story. Would you like me to tell you a story?" She had a couple she could tell, but she didn't know which one her friend might like best.

I’m Done Putting Out The Fires You Start

Marrah was a little worried at first that her sister was going to suggest that they go on another adventure. Even though the girl couldn’t sleep that did not mean that she was not completely exhausted, and the thought of going chasing after something made her tired even in her soul. The suggestion of a story was much more appealing.

Nodding enthusiastically she chirped, ”Yes, please!” Then she settled her dark head back down onto her paws, ready to listen intently to whatever story her sister was going to tell. Marrah had been passionate about hearing and memorizing stories since as long as she could remember. She didn’t always understand what was being told to her, but she had a real knack for parroting it back.

She would never turn down the chance to gather another tale for her repertoire.

When The Cranberry Vodkas Hit A Little Too Hard

Enera gave an internal sigh of relief when Marrah readjusted and settled. She gave her sister-friend a few fond licks to the back of her ear and hummed, trying to pick which story she wanted to tell. She glanced up at the night sky, and decided to tell the one her Ma had told her about her grandma.

"Has your mama told you about the stars?" she asked. "When those that came before us have seen everything they want to see, they go up into the sky to become stars, and watch over us." She nestled in deeper beside her friend. "They go up to join the sky walkers - that's where Sirius went."

She wasn't as sad when she thought of the little pup as she used to be, but she knew her mama still was sometimes. She moved on.

"The sky walkers watch over us. My grandparents are up there, and they protect me. My mama said the sky walkers even sent the first wolf." she paused. "Do you want to hear about him? His name was Ymir." she was pretty sure she pronounced that right; she'd been practicing.

I’m Done Putting Out The Fires You Start

Marrah glanced upwards at the sky when prompted, her ears pricking in interest as she gazed up at the glimmers that always seemed so far and so close at the same time. She had been going to answer that of course she knew those worse stars, but halted when Enere really started to launch into the story. She chewed on her cheek at the thought of having seen everything that you want to see, how do you know? When was enough things enough?

There was a brief pause and that was when Marrah blurted out, ”How could he have seen everything? He was just a little baby.” It was maybe not the most sensitive thing to say, but she couldn’t help it. She had barely even met Sirius and only from the edge of the den he shared with her sister friend and then one day he had just been gone.

She had more questions of course, ”Do the skywalkers look like us? Or do they look like birds since they’re in the sky? Wasn’t Ymir lonely if he was the first one all alone? Why did they send him here” Maybe she would have gotten all these answers if she had just listened, but Marrah wanted to make sure she understood.

When The Cranberry Vodkas Hit A Little Too Hard

Enera was a little annoyed that her friend interrupted her story, but not surprised. Besides; she interrupted her mama with her questions all the time, and her mama was always very patient with her, so that's what Enera did. She licked the back of Marrah's ear. "Mama said Sirius was just too excited," she explained.

The next questioin gave her pause; she hadn't asked her mama about that one. "Yes," she said with great authority, certain of her own ability to figure it out for herself, "They look like us. They just have magic powers, and that's why they can walk in the sky."

She laughed. "If you let me finish the story you'd know," Enera playfully scolded. "Ymir was lonely, so the sky walkers sent a raven named Huginn to be his special companion. Mama says sometimes they still send special companions to wolves who are super lonely." she yawned, but forged on. "Huginn was special because he could talk, and that's how he and Ymir became best friends."

Feel free to pp Marrah drifting off to sleep!

I’m Done Putting Out The Fires You Start

Marrah wanted to ask what Sirrius was so excited about, the world seemed scary, but at least she knew what to expect. Looking up at the stars and thinking about floating up there all alone, she shivered, even if there were people who lived up there who loved her… how long would it take to find them? She hoped she never saw everything there was to see. She would stay close to home so she wouldn’t see too much, then she could stay here forever. Safe.

She quietly accepted her sister-friends answers. This was her story so Marrah could only assume she knew everything about it, just like Mama knew everything about the stories she told. Ears flicked backwards in acknowledgement that she should quiet down, and dark head settled on her paws. Sleepily she yawned, ”You’re my best friend.” Then, shifting slightly she asked, ”Are Ymir and Huginn still together?” Her eyelids were growing heavy, but she wanted to hear the end of the story.

When The Cranberry Vodkas Hit A Little Too Hard

(This post was last modified: Dec 08, 2021, 02:03 AM by Marrah.)