Fool's Gold Chasm Holes in the floor of Heaven

backdating to 7/13, just after dusk. For @Rhaegara

They had had their regular bedtime tussle, where Enera tried to escape her mama and Mama wrangles Enera into bed. There'd been a story, of course, and Enera had eventually settled down for the night.

She didn't fall asleep though.

Enera was content, warm against Mama's side and watching the stars. She liked to think about the spirits up there, walking the skies. She wondered what it was like, wondered how they could see her from so high up. She hadn't asked Mama about them again since her original story, but she spent a lot of time with them on her mind. She was already making stories about her adventures to tell Sirius some day, since he'd skipped straight ahead to sky walking.

Then a star streaked across the sky, a white tail following it for a split second.

Enera jumped up in alarm. "Mama, Mama!" she cried, planting both her front paws on her mother's side and pushing to wake her up. "Mama! The stars are falling!"

Her daughter was truly a force of nature, and Rhae often used all of her energy to try and bring her back in but she didn’t mind. She loved her daughter more than life itself so of course she never minded. Enera was settled at her side and Rhae’s eyes were starting to drop. She herself was starting to fall asleep because she had pushed herself hard that day tracking a herd for a possible hunt… it wasn’t until her daughter was speaking up and jumping in alarm that her eyes dragged back open, watching as she pushed her awake.

The sky was awake, so Enera was naturally awake as well.

She was pulling up to her paws. “The stars are falling?” She asked back as she nudged her daughter. It seemed a fitting time to tell a story, maybe two. She had quite a few up her sleeve after all. “Sometimes, when the stars fall it’s our ancestors skywalking, trying to send us messages.” She explained again.

Enera was in a panic. She'd only just learned that her grandmother was in the night sky, watching over her with Sirius and all the others who'd gone ahead, and now they were falling! Had she done something? Were they upset with her? Everyone seemed to get upset with her for one thing or another. Everyone except mama.

Mama wasn't long in getting up at her insistence, nudging her gently and asking the exact thing Enera had just told her. "Th-the stars are f-falling!" she wailed, tucking her face into mama's comforting side with heaving sobs. "W-why are they falling? Why aren't they w-watching us any-anymore?"

She was worried about her grandma, worried that falling might hurt her. She sat bolt upright, heart thundering in her ears so loudly at this thought that she completely missed her mama's explanation. "We gotta catch'er!" she exclaimed, jumping to her feet. "She's gonna get hurt!" The young girl was already on her way, stumbling feet scrambling at the ground even as her neck craned back to try and find the star that was grandma, find the place where grandma would fall.

Rhae comforted her daughter when she tucked her face away and started to sob. “Shh, little one. They’re still watching us.” He assured her softly, running a tongue over her fur in an attempt to stall the sobs that racked her tiny little body. “They were just travelling that’s all, walking in the stars… sometimes they travel so fast it looks like they’re falling.” She assured her daughter in an effort to not scar her for life at the thought of her grandparents abandoning her.

“She’s not going to get hurt.” She promised again before nudging her softly. “When you walk in the sky, you won’t feel pain. You don’t feel pain when you’re up there and you can’t get hurt like we can down here.” She explained to her daughter. After death, wolves felt no pain, at least that was what she had been taught herself, and what she had believed all her life. “Maybe Sirius got caught playing, and your grandma ran off to catch him like I do you sometimes.”

Enera was ready to go, ready to come to the rescue of a crashed star. She was going to be there to look after grandma the way grandma looked after her, even if Enera couldn't skywalk yet. But her mama was quick to sooth her, quick to promise her grandparents were still looking down upon them.

The young Rayvne girl sniffled again, halting in her clumsy dash, and looked haltingly at her mama. "No pain?" she asked quietly before turning her eyes back to the sky. She was glad for that; glad that Sirius, who'd been so sick, could play without hurting. She was glad he could play with grandma.

She sniffed again, her sobs hiccupping back down into stuttered breaths as she slowly made her way back to mama and all but collapsed back into her side, tucking her nose under mama's leg. "Tell me a story?" she half-demanded, half-asked, mumbling into thick fur. Mama's scent washed over her, helping to calm Enera further. If mama said it was alright, then it had to be.

Her words seemed to soothe her daughter and for that she was grateful. She admittedly would not have known how to calm the child had they not. “No pain.” She cooed softly in assurance. She turned her attention back to the sky and so did Rhae as she watched carefully. She heard the sobs subside and with it came her daughter tucking against her, the question falling as Rhae hummed. What story could she tell this time? She could tell the story of the companions perhaps.

“Okay, Little Dove.” She said with a soft smile as she settled down, glancing up at the stars. “In the beginning of the world, long before you were born, before even Grandma and Grandpa were born… there was a wolf. His name was Ymir. He walked alone, the first land walker like you and I.” She explained. “But he was lonely. One day, when walking through a forest much like this one, he met a bird. That bird’s name was Huginn. He wasn’t an ordinary bird. He could speak like you and I could. Ymir was quite frightened at first because he had never seen a bird talk before.” She always loved this story, and it had been so deeply embedded in her homeland it was impossible to not share with her daughter.

“They became friends, and Huginn became Ymir’s companion. He was the first companion. They swore to each other to always travel with one another. The sky walkers had blessed him with this companion to help watch over him. It’s very rare, but it is quite a special gift.” She explained further.

Enera relaxed into her mama's side as she settled in and began to speak. Her voice washing over the young girl was a balm to the remains of her panic. At the mention of Grandma and Grandpa her ears perked up, but this story was before even they were born? She looked up at mama, eyes wide. That was a long time ago.

As mama spoke, Enera silently mouthed the names after she spoke them, the shapes foreign on her tongue. Ymir. The first land walker must have been very sad, being by himself. Enera couldn't imagine not having mama and Marrah and Aweho here with her. She gave a quiet whine.

And then there was a bird. A talking bird. Enera's head cocked. She'd never met a talking bird before. Not one she understood, anyway. And this one had a name too. Huginn.

She was glad for Ymir. Now he had a friend! He still didn't have a mama, or an Aweho or Marrah, but at least there was someone for him to be with. Her eyes lit up at the mention of sky walkers again. She'd liked mama's last story about sky walkers.

"Why is it a rare gift?" she asked, unable to keep herself from interrupting.

Her daughter relaxed, and Rhae watched as her imaginative daughter lost herself in the story. Rhae had grown up with these stories, and passing them down to her daughter was a gift in and of itself. It was something that she would never take for granted, especially knowing how short life could be. She hoped to live long enough to see her own grandchildren, but her parents had been taken from her incredibly young and so she would just savor every moment. The question came, and she smiled softly, nuzzling her daughter in a comforting manner.

“It’s a rare gift because the sky walkers see everyone. Occasionally, they see someone they need to give extra attention to. They need a guide. Ymir needed a guide in order to find his way, because he was the first… occasionally, the sky walkers will see someone who needs guidance like he did, and send them an animal companion.” Rhae had personally walked around trying to talk to birds for months after she had first heard the tale, and knowing her daughter, she would not be surprised if Enera did the same.

“The Skywalkers then sent Ymir another wolf, her name was Ase. She was his other half, his soulmate… with them were Astrid and Ake. it is from those four that all wolves are descended, across generations.” She offered again, the origins of the world that she had grown up hearing.

She knew she was watched by the sky walkers because her mama had told her so, that her grandparents were watching over her. It was nice to know that the others would be too, if grandma was ever too busy chasing after Sirius to see her. She was okay with that; Sirius deserved some companionship too. She nuzzled back into her mother to listen to more of the story.

Enera's mind was racing, trying to think if she'd ever had another animal talk to her, if she would get a companion like Ymir did. But then her thoughts turned to Marrah and Aweho and wondered about them. Would they get special companions too? It wouldn't be fair if she did and they didn't. Maybe they could share?

But mama was still talking, and the young girl was looking up at her with wide eyes. "All of us? From four?" she asked in awe. That was a lot. She knew by now that there were other wolves beyond the pack, as she'd run into them, but it was still staggering just figuring in the ones she'd actually met.

She knew she was weaving a complex web of stories for Enera, but they were more than just stories. They were their legacy. It was their history, and there was always some measure of truth in history. How much truth, she wasn’t sure, but in due time perhaps she and her daughter would find out together. Perhaps the sky walkers would send one of them an animal companion who could clarify truth from legend.

“Yes, Little Dove, all of us from four.” She confirmed, smiling softly. “Everyone, distantly connected by our ancestors.” She confirmed again. She didn’t stop to think of the mechanics. The spirits had willed it so, so it had happened. “We’re all wolves, and so we are all connected… much like all of the birds are connected, or all of the deer are connected.” She explained further, wondering if her daughter had any more questions. She was such a curious bean, and Rhaegara would always feed her insatiable curiosity and creativity however she could.