The Sentinels Randy Dandy O

Doe was no longer looking for anybody when she walked the ruined remains of Donnelaith. Qilaq had returned home, and that was all the woman could bring herself to hope for. She had her daughter back, and that was all she could ask. Now, she merely paced among the ruins, musing on the way the cold - which was proving to be just as deadly as fire - turned the black burns into white. It might even had been green under the snow. They wouldn't know unless they dug it up, but Doe had no plans for doing that. She much preferred the sight of a white-frosted Donnelaith to a black-burnt one.

"Things will never be the same," Doe sighed, looking down at her fire-burned paws. There was already fur growing over the scorched flesh - where fur could still grow, at least - but nothing would ever erase the memories from her mind, or the hurts from her heart. She'd regained her daughter, but Deirdre -

Her throat felt tight. Doe turned away from the forest and began walking back toward the sea, her heart buoying as she thought of her daughter, who was safe at home once again.

By the time she caught the scent of another, there was a shred of her good humor returned to her, and she tracked the other down with a curious glint in her eyes.

"Hail," she said, observing the other as she bit into the flesh of a crab. Doe kept her distance, not wanting the other to think she might poach upon her meal. "Even in the dead of the winter, the Sea always provides," she mused, thinking more of her returned child than of actual food.