Red Fern Forest just like the photos

Private for @Enera only, but also tagging @Woya and @Adelard for information. Marrah is officially leaving FGC.
Mid-morning, Scattered clouds, 69F/20C

I’m Done Putting Out The Fires You Start

The day really had nothing significant about it, it was just like any other. Temperate by summer standards, sun shining and ducking between scattered clouds still not quite at its highest point. There was nothing about today that should have made any difference, but when Marrah woke up earlier than usual she knew, she knew this would be her last morning waking up in Fool’s Gold Chasm. The yearling had watched one last sunrise as the rays lit up the gold like stones and shimmered in a way she wasn’t sure she would ever find anywhere else.

Maybe this was the calling that Adelard had warned her about, but she didn’t think so. Nothing was calling her away so much as she felt like she was being pushed out. Pushed out by the ghosts of everyone who should be here but wasn’t. Pushed out by the deep pit in her stomach that opened up everytime she couldn’t avoid Rhae’s planted grave. Pushed out by the guilt that made her feel like she weighed a thousand pounds whenever she caught sight of Enera, someone who is supposed to be her best friend but who she couldn’t bring herself to comfort. She had failed her sister-friend, who she had come to realize on her own was not even really her sister.

Marrah had been failed, and she had failed those who she cared about the most. And it was those thoughts that carried her outside of the territory as if she were in a dream. It wasn’t until she had passed the borders by about a mile or so when she paused. She couldn’t leave like this, without a word, she wouldn’t. So she lifted her head to the sky and called for Enera, she couldn’t face the others and wasn’t sure she could do this either, but she had to. Once they had their talk Marrah would call out a goodbye for everyone else, and then she would run as far and fast as she could, hoping no one would come after her.

When The Cranberry Vodkas Hit A Little Too Hard

had a dream so big and loud

JUMPED SO HIGH I TOUCHED THE CLOUDS

Things had been... quiet, of late, and the Rayvne girl didn't know if she should be grateful or worried. There was a tingling creeping up the back of her neck, and she kept an extra close watch on her sisters. She couldn't let anything happen to them. They were all she had left of her mama.

She was soon about to find out she had been keeping watch over the wrong loved ones.

When Marrah's voice rang out Enera thought it odd her friend was calling for her, but she stretched and padded off to meet her. When she passed the borders the prickling feeling started up again. When she saw her, there was something flighty, like when they'd been little in the thunderstorm and slipping in the mud.

Enera reached her and affectionately rubbed her head against Marrah's shoulder. "Hey Mar," she said casually. She couldn't muster her old cheer, but she wasn't as glum as she had been recently. "Why're you out here? Need some help with a hunt?"

She really hoped the answer was yes.

I’m Done Putting Out The Fires You Start

When Enera embraced her the yearling felt her throat tighten and her eyes mist, and for just a moment she doubted her decision. How could she leave her sister-friend? And it wasn’t like she could ask the other teen to abandon her sisters - who Marrah was still convinced were killers - and run away with her. Blinking hard, once, twice, three times, before pulling away, confident that the tears would be gone.

Shaking her head at the suggestion of a hunt, Marrah wasn’t sure exactly what to say now and had to take a deep breath. Then, she shook her head again, ”No um, I’m not hunting. I’m uh leaving. Today, now.” She hoped there wouldn’t be too many questions about this statement, but knew that was far-fetched. She wasn’t the type to leave, or she had not used to be. In only a year she had suffered so much heartbreak that it had changed everything about who she was supposed to be.

She could only hope that Enera would understand, and Auntie Woya and Adelard. They were the only three she had left and it was hard to believe she was willingly leaving them behind, but here they were.

When The Cranberry Vodkas Hit A Little Too Hard

had a dream so big and loud

JUMPED SO HIGH I TOUCHED THE CLOUDS

For a moment things felt normal and Enera almost dismissed the unease within her as she embraced her sister-friend, until Marrah pulled away. She was shaking her head, and then shook it again after a deep breath and Enera's heart sank. She felt sick as the other girl spoke, her gut churning. Her breath caught. She had to blink rapidly to clear her blurring vision.

She shouldn't be surprised her friend was leaving; she'd been out of sorts lately, more so since her outburst the day m... that day. Enera hadn't been much of a friend after that, at first angry Marrah would say such things about the newborns and then too depressed and awkward to fuss over someone else's problems.

It was her first instinct to blurt out, "I'll go with you," but her words trailed away and she looked over her shoulder towards home, to where her sisters waited with their foster mother - with Marrah's aunt. She looked back to her friend, the first sister she'd ever know, pained.

I’m Done Putting Out The Fires You Start

Guilt made the yearling’s stomach twist when she saw the tears in her sister-friends eyes after she had said she was leaving. It made her own tears resurface, and no amount of blinking this time would keep them at bay. Slowly, and silently, they began to trickle down the dark cheeks, splashing into the drought dry dust below her face.

For only a moment there was hope, but before Enera’s sentence was even finished that hope was dashed. Marrah’s face was pained, and her voice thick with emotion when she responded, ”We both know you can’t,” she thought about leaving it there, but then followed it up with, ”they need you.” Who they was was clear. The yearling still felt guilty about her outburst that day, but also could not shake the feeling that something was wrong with them.

Something superstitious was just beginning to bud in Marrah’s subconscious, and it would only get worse over the coming months. Maybe it had been all the abandonment, or Rhae’s violent death, or the drought, but something about the woods around them, and those children felt bad, haunted, deeply unsettling. She knew she needed to get out of here and see if it was this place, or if it was her.

When The Cranberry Vodkas Hit A Little Too Hard

had a dream so big and loud

JUMPED SO HIGH I TOUCHED THE CLOUDS

Enera didn't want to cry; she'd done enough crying this year. She certainly didn't want to make her best friend cry either, but it seemed she'd managed to do so anyway - which only made it that much harder not to burst into sobs herself. She didn't deny what Marrah said; it was true. Her sisters had Woya, but they needed her, too. More, she needed them. They were a piece of her mama. She couldn't abandon them.

She looked into her sister-friend's face, and then away. "Is it... because of me?" she asked. She couldn't bring herself to say the words 'are you leaving'; it made it too real, even though it was literally happening before her. Marrah was leaving. Right now. No warning - but at least there was a goodbye. She'd called Enera out her so she didn't just vanish. The Rayvne girl would always remember that, always be grateful.

I’m Done Putting Out The Fires You Start

Was it because of Enera? No, well, not entirely. Maybe it was part of the reason, her sister-friend was always the person she had to lean on and they had done everything together their whole lives, until the new children had arrived. It had been a terrible day, the twisted death, the rage that Marrah had never felt before, the way that Enera has lashed out at her. The way that neither of them had had it in them to get past their own problems to patch it up.

The yearling couldn’t meet her friends eyes as her own tears continued to flow. Taking a deep breath, she shook her head, then hesitated, ”It’s not you, but, it’s just everything.” Marrah didn’t know if that made any sense, or if Enera would question her further, she hoped not. How was she supposed to tell her that her sister was the final nail in the coffin? That she had endured so much in the Chasm but the birth of the only family Enera had left had been the thing she couldn’t take?

She couldn’t say that, so instead Marrah said nothing at all.

When The Cranberry Vodkas Hit A Little Too Hard

had a dream so big and loud

JUMPED SO HIGH I TOUCHED THE CLOUDS

Enera wasn't particularly reassured by her friend's words; it felt like there were more implications, like Marrah had meant to put the word 'just' in the first half of the sentence, but all the Rayvne girl could bring herself to do was swallow and nod. She moved forward, just enough to offer an embrace. "I... understand," she said, and she was only partially lying. If it weren't for Adonya and Sovanya, Enera would be leaving with her sister-friend.

But that was the heart of it, wasn't it? When everything changed. If it wasn't for Adonya and Sovanya, none of this would have happened.

"Will you come visit?" Enera asked, little hope in her voice as she stepped back.

I’m Done Putting Out The Fires You Start

The Maceio-Tainn was not sure whether or not her friend was being honest when she said she understood what she was doing. This whole conversation felt like there was much more information being passed than what was actually being said. Sniffing once, and wiping at her face with her paw in an attempt to wipe away some of the tears that were free flowing from her cheeks it took her a second to answer the next question.

Finally, she shook her head, then hesitated, and shrugged. Sniffing again her voice cracked, ”I want to come visit you, but I don’t think I can come back to this place anymore. Maybe… maybe you can, maybe we could meet halfway?” Even then her voice didn’t have much hope, how could she meet halfway when she didn’t even know where she was going? She let out a big huff, trying to force herself to say what’s next.

Squeezing her eyes shut and forcing a few tears out, she said quickly, ”I have to go. I’m sorry, I just. I have to do this.” Then she whispered one more apology before opening her eyes and backing away. She wanted to take it all back but was in too deep. Marrah turned and disappeared from the Chasm with no intention of going back, sprinting until she was sure she was far enough away. Only then did she slow and give a heart wrenching call of goodbye, which ended in a choked sob. Marrah was gone.

When The Cranberry Vodkas Hit A Little Too Hard

had a dream so big and loud

JUMPED SO HIGH I TOUCHED THE CLOUDS

She wished there was something she could say to make her friend stay. She wished she could say sorry, if that would help, wished she could promise to change things... but she couldn't. They wouldn't help anyway. She would go with her, if only she didn't had her sisters to care for. She couldn't abandon them... not right now. They were still so little, and there was still the drought to consider.

Enera was nodding, agreeing to a meeting half-way, even though she didn't know where that half-way could be. She just wanted to believe she'd see Marrah again. Before she could say anything, though, her friend was dashing off and giving a goodbye call that pierced Enera to the core. She stumbled after her, calling out a faint "Wait!" but it died in her throat. She stood rooted to the spot, staring at the place her best friend, her sister-friend, had disappeared, and felt in her gut that she might never see her again.

She sank to the ground and sobbed.

FADE