Fallen Tree Cove Remember Me [M]

M for death and mention of child loss</3

Cold air whistled in through the den, rustling the old woman's fur and causing her to groan. Merky eyes opened to peer around at her family. She didn't know all of them, but she loved them. They were Moon's family and therefore she loved them. It was that simple. She glanced to the mouth of the den with a longing in her heart. She missed Solas, Thorn, and...Rosie. Her sweet Rosie. Today felt different. It was cold and she ached, yet there was a deep nagging within her soul.

With stiff movement the woman lifted onto her legs. She had aged so much, with greys and whites peppering her pelt. Even more so within the last month. Her eyes seemed to be failing increasingly, her sense of smell dampening. Even her ears...everyone sounded more distant. She missed being young, frolicking, and hunting pain-free. The thought brought a smile to her greyed features.

Tulip began the slow trek from her current den, step by step making her way to the only place that had ever truly felt like home. Certain wolves felt like home, they were home, but the old cove had been the only location. As she walked through what once was she peered over to the lake. She could envision that morning with @Moonshadow when she'd taught her how to break the ice to drink. Her hazy orbs drifted up to the cloudy sky, "Still a beautiful day." She croaked out in a raspy note. As she moved along and looked about the blurry scene she reminisced on her earlier days. Hunting with Kajika, meeting Solas for the first time, falling in love with him, and having Moon become a mother to her.

She stopped upon reaching the old den site, hesitating to enter. She was unable to help the feeling...that this would be the last time. She was so tired and everything hurt. As fear threatened to trickle in, she was soothed by the calming voice of Kaijka bouncing around in her memories. There were nights when her dear friend would comfort her from nightmares...this den would always be a place of comfort.

She was ready...ready to see her Rose.

The woman quietly slipped into the familiarity of the empty home, never to leave again. She settled down into a tight ball with her head rested against her flank. She wanted to say goodbye to Moon, to tell her she loved her, but she was too weak now to make the walk back...and...oh so tired. Her lids were forcibly shutting as she tried to fight them open. Just a little longer. A moment more...Maybe...Maybe Solas would come. Yes, maybe they would all come together and she could say how much she loved them. Solas, Moon, Kajika, and her precious baby Thorn. I...if I just...hold...on...a moment...I need...need...my love...Solas.

Lemon eyes shut for the last time, a short whispy exhale leaving her ever so small body."speech"

FALLEN TREE Cove

TEMPLATE © NDA OF RCR & RPG-D

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It has been a few days since their elderly guest had wandered off. Nash too wandered, looking for her and the other members who had left their ever dwindling pack. Even Diantha had gone without a word, though he supposed this shouldn't have surprised him. She was so quiet, lurking at the edges of the pack, the last of a family dynasty.

Tulip was different though. She'd found her way up here despite her weakness, and apparently she'd found her way to the Old Cove. When Nash finally picked up her trail he meandered through her sight-seeing, also sorting through his own hazy memories of childhood here. Her path led more or less directly to the old den, outside of which he paused, ears falling back. There had been a sinking in his chest since Tulip vanished, and he was not surprised by the scent of death wafting from the entrance. Just... dismayed. His mother would be heartbroken.

He slowly sat, taking a moment of silence for this woman he barely knew, and then tilted back his head and let out a mournful call for her. The day was clear enough; hopefully they would hear him from Sanguine Cove.

Eclypse was never very far from any family member at any given moment. Sometimes she lingered near her mother, sometimes her father. Occasionally she bounced after a sibling but Magg had gone away for a trip. So perhaps that was how she nearly appeared after only a few beats of her father's somber call.

Death was still a novel concept to the girl. Especially death of one of their kind.

What happened? There was little to no need to ask is she okay when the world seemed as still as the body. A certain instinct told her when a thing had gone. Such was the life of a predator. Yet the body within was not prey by any means.

He really shouldn't have been surprised when Eclypse popped up almost as soon as he called. He'd noticed her hovering around the family as much as she could as of late, but he hadn't really noticed her following him today. He turned a slight frown on her, ready to admonish her for going so far from the territory without him knowing she was there, but stopped himself. She was still with him, at least, and she'd wandered further and returned home - on more than one occasion. She'd even brought @Jadon with her.

Nash glanced at the den mouth hiding Tulip's body. "She was very old and sick, sweetheart," he said softly. "She probably felt it coming and wanted to be somewhere a little more familiar to go." He wished she'd stayed closer; @Moonshadow likely would have liked to say goodbye, and they would have buried her in Sanguine Cove as a member. As it was, he didn't want to drag her that far. Especially not without help - and he wasn't about to ask his youngest daughter for that.

Old and sick.

Her ears swept back against her head. Was it sick like the sky had made her? Or was it a sick like Jadon? Maybe another kind, maybe one that was somehow beyond her mother. Somehow that was the scariest part of all of this. That there was a sickness so grand that her mother could not heal it.

We couldn't heal her? Her eyes softly swept from the mouth of the den to the feature's of her father. Clearly they could do nothing now but...what if they hadn't been late? Her teeth pinched down on her tongue. Willed herself to be silent until her father answered.

Nash could see the confusion and hurt on his daughter's face and it pained him that she had to know death this young. Not death like hunting, but the sting of losing someone dear. Tulip hadn't been around long, but Eclypse had spent time in the den with her while they recovered from the smoke.

Nash sat and beckoned for Eclypse to sit beside him. "We cannot heal age, no matter how hard we might try," he said gently. "As wolves grow old, sometimes other things creep in. They fall ill easier, and each winter grows harder to bear. Sometimes the wounds of our past catch up with us," he added, thinking of his twinging hip.

(This post was last modified: Dec 21, 2023, 02:17 AM by Nash.)

Apparently this would just...be a thing. No one could have stopped this.

Another realization settled in. Each one seemed to sink her stomach a bit further than the last. Maybe it was for the best to discover this now before it had hit someone in her immediate family.

What about grandma, dad? She imagined that maybe the answer was clear now and yet her expression begged for only honesty. Eclypse did not want to be shielded from everything in the world, despite her parents' best efforts. She had lived a safe life so far but if these things would forever be inevitable...

There it was. The question he had most been dreading. He placed a comforting kiss to his youngest's crown before offering her a sad smile. "We are lucky to have had your grandma so long," he said. "She's very old, and blessed with a constitution few others have had. My mother is strong, but yes, Grandma will die." Very soon now, probably, he thought. There was no point sugar coating things; it would only make it harder when his mother did pass.

Nash watched his daughter, waiting for more questions, or whatever reaction she might have. He was here to answer, to comfort, to help her understand however she needed.

Stones dropped into her stomach, sinking and sinking. She had wanted the truth but still she had not been prepared for it. Grandma would not be around forever. Grandma, too, would go and Eclypse could only hope it was as gentle as this scene. Soft and sheltered, protected from everything unkind.

At least her mourning could begin now and maybe it would not be as terrible when the time came.

Okay. She wished her voice had not creaked but she was still just a girl. Try as she might to have embodied the strength of her parents. She grieved things that had not even come upon them yet!

Can I see her...? She shouldn't be...alone. She wouldn't want Grandma alone, this woman should not be alone either.

Nash watched his daughter process this truth, and when she spoke his heart broke a little more. She was still so young and was already facing the death of a loved one, and she'd gotten so little time with her grandmother. Nash felt he hadn't had enough, either, but it would never be enough. He knew the time was coming and he was trying to prepare himself, but he felt when it did happen he still wouldn't be ready to let go. He didn't know what he'd do when it came.

Her question surprised him and he hesitated. Tulip was long gone, that much was clear by her scent, but perhaps seeing her would give Eclypse some closure. He hesitantly nodded. "Okay," he said. "For a minute." And then they would have to bury her, but the ground was frozen and the easiest way would be to close off the den and let that be her tomb - but why did that feel like closing a chapter, like losing a part of himself?