Lost Lake I know you'll light my way

Backdated to the very early morning of 12/5. For @Adonya and @Sovanya - it's time to leave.
Gift RE: You look up at the perfect angle and the nearest evergreen tree lines up with the night sky. From here it looks like a star is balanced perfectly on top.

had a dream so big and loud

JUMPED SO HIGH I TOUCHED THE CLOUDS

Enera had made her goodbyes and promises to return, but still it had felt as though the moment itself would never arrive. Leaving the Chasm with Woya and the rest of the children had helped ease her into leaving; it made the goodbye at her mama's grave easier; it felt more like a trip than leaving for good. Now, however, with the eastern sky turning pale and the mountain stretching beneath her paws, the Rayvne girl wondered once again if she was making the wrong choice.

It was too late to take it back now.

"Adonya, Sovanya, it's time to go," she said softly, nudging her sisters gently with her nose. Today they would start slow; if they could make it even a quarter of the way down the mountain before nightfall she would be happy. Her sisters were not accustomed to travel, while Enera herself had spent the summer growing in strength and endurance while ferrying water to the pack.

(This post was last modified: Dec 14, 2022, 08:15 PM by Enera.)

Sovanya had fallen asleep tucked against Woya's side for a final time, her twin at her opposite flank. One final night of normality before the pack splintered and they were on their own. She hadn't acted sad about any of it, but in truth the young girl wasn't sure how she felt. This was everything she had known, no matter her complaints, and now they were leaving it behind. Temporarily, Enera said, but why did it feel so permanent?

She woke when the space next to her was no longer as warm, and found Adonya gone. Without awaking anyone else she got to her paws and set off after her scent trail, but her sibling had done a good job of covering her tracks once at the edge of the territory. Something in the pit of her stomach told her she had known this was going to happen - Adonya had always taken things harder, more personally than she.

There was nothing she could do.

When morning came and Enera called to them, it was only Sova that answered.

"'Donya left," she told her big sister in a flat tone, ears and tail low in an unusual display of remorse.

"She didn't want to be around us anymore."

had a dream so big and loud

JUMPED SO HIGH I TOUCHED THE CLOUDS

It didn't take long for Sova to answer her, and what she said broke Enera's heart. She sat quietly for a moment, looking at the twin without her sister. "You tried to find her, didn't you," she said quietly. She tucked her head around Sova's shoulders in a hug. "Maybe she'll come and find us some day."

Even as she said the words she didn't believe them; Addy had never really liked her, and she'd seemed to grow resentful that Sova didn't feel the same way over the recent weeks. Perhaps their leaving the Chasm was the final straw. The girls were still so very young to be out on their own, but somehow Enera knew chasing after her would be fruitless. Adonya had left on her own - they couldn't force her to come back.

Rather than be upset with either of them, Enera only reacted with sadness. Sovanya couldn't know which was worse, but she knew that she felt an immense depression then as she watched the other girl soak in the news. When she did answer, she spoke gently, and the younger Rayvne began to cry. Tears streamed from her large brown eyes and she nuzzled in close to Enera's chest. It was the first time she'd done so in a very long while.

Why couldn't everyone have just been happy with what they had? As impersonal as the cruelties of the world truly were, Sovanya could not help but take this to heart. It was her. She had not been enough, not even for her twin.

The child attempted to rein back in the sobs that were shaking her chest, and she pulled away from Enera to swipe at the tears rolling down her cheeks. Being upset and feeling sorry for herself wasn't going to change anything, and she sure as hell didn't want her big sister to regret having her along.

"Let's go," she encouraged, voice thick from her crying.

"I want to leave."

(This post was last modified: Dec 15, 2022, 04:26 AM by Asmund.)

had a dream so big and loud

JUMPED SO HIGH I TOUCHED THE CLOUDS

Enera held her sister as she nuzzled in close - something she hadn't done in a long while. She let the girl cry; this kind of grief was new to the pup, after all, and Enera wanted to give her all the support she could. When Sova pulled away and swiped at her face Enera let her, bending to kiss the tears from her face once she'd finished.

"Let's," she agreed softly, turning toward the west. She'd never been to that side of the mountain before; maybe once down they could head north, or perhaps south. There were so many possibilities. As she stepped forward she happened to glance up and stopped in her tracks, breath stolen away. Balanced perfectly on the top of one of the evergreen trees was a bright star, glowing down at them from the very direction they were headed. Suddenly the anxiety she felt over her decision lifted from her shoulders and her voice filled with emotion.

"Look, Sova," she whispered, "Mama's watching over us. We're gonna be okay."

Sovanya's support system had been, in fact, quite sprawling. In this moment, however, she felt certain that from here on out, Enera was the one wolf she could truly trust to have her back. She would always hate that this choice of theirs had driven Adonya away, but she wouldn't regret choosing her big sister over her foster family.

It was the two of them against the world, now.

Sovie swallowed the mess crying had made of her throat, prepared to follow when instead the older girl paused. Blinking up into the night sky as directed, she easily spotted the large star and its oddly warm glow.

Mama's watching over us, Enera told her, and not for the first time. It hit differently now, however. She stared up at the figure in the sky and strained her eyes to try and see detail past the halo of light, as though she might finally get a glimpse of her birth mother's face. Sovanya had been told that she looked so very much like Rhaegara, carrying the deceased woman's features and colors from the tip of her nose to the end of her tail.

She wished she could have met her. Just one single time would have been better than the vacuum which existed where memories should have been.

"... I hope we make her proud," Sova whispered.

had a dream so big and loud

JUMPED SO HIGH I TOUCHED THE CLOUDS

Enera watched as her little sister stared at the stars, something inexplicable in her eyes. She almost looked... forlorn, maybe? Enera couldn't quite tell, but she herself felt forlorn frequently, and the moment now was bittersweet. Mama was here, looking after them, and looking after Adonya too in wherever her travels took her. She wished both her sisters were here with her now, but she shouldn't be surprised that Adonya left them.

A small smile tugged on the older Rayvne girl's lips and she nuzzled Sova. "We do," she assured her, knowing how much her mama had loved her - and how much she would have loved her younger daughters had she been here to do so. "And we will continue to." Enera missed her mama dearly, but she felt her presence with them every time she looked up at the night sky. She knew Rhaegara was proud of her daughters.