Gyrfalcon's Keep one evening as the sun went down and the jungle fires were burning

During Teaghlaigh’s trip to their new territory, Olive will be experiencing the 7 stages of grief — grief over the pain of Dakarai losing (and regaining his memory), BFW, being demoted and abandoning Ravensblood Forest… and a little bit of postpartum depression. Each thread will represent a different stage of grief, dated in order (albeit, a little expedited). This thread represents stage one: shock and denial.  Of course, feel free to skip Olive! I’ll bring her in when she is needed and/or addressed.

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The nightmare would not stop, not even in the face of some of the most beautiful moments life had to offer. It was not long after Blackfeather Woods showed up on their doorstep that Olive and Dakarai lost their positions of power within Teaghlaigh’s ranks — her title and authority had never meant much to the girl, but the fact that Arturo’s trust had been so decimated absolutely ruined her. She couldn’t understand why Ceannasach was blind to her unending dedication to the family — it was why she did everything she did.What was best for her had to be best for the family; what was best for Dakarai was best for the family. How had it come that Teaghlaigh’s inner circle included everyone but the two dark and light lovers?

The family’s decision to move had been made without her. Dakarai had attended the scouting mission with Ceannasach and his wily heir — something that Olive protested immensely, not wishing her beloved to leave her side and the sides of his newborn, mewling children. When the scouting party returned with news of an oasis far away from the coast and they were preparing to leave forthwith, Olive simply refused to believe it. It didn’t make sense that her actions would result in the entirety of the family being uprooted from their home: the bleeding sequoias that she loved so much. She was the reason that her queen had to travel while nurturing pups within her womb, that Isley [or was it Hemlock?] had to leave the forest and had just returned to. Somehow it made sense to leave [for the safety of all within, she was told], but such a perception refused to take root in her shellshocked brain. The alacrity of the decision, and the need to protect the babes who depended upon her and Dakarai for life, left her spinning.

It had been barely a week and a half after the delivery that Olive was roused from her birthing bed and forced to travel. Traveling, an act that once gave her so much pleasure, now made her feel threatened and vulnerable. Her body was weak and still recovering from the labors of motherhood; her waifsh frame tired easily and needed to stop ever hour of so to rest and nurse their three babes. More than herself, Olive was overwrought with worry for the little ones who, at that very moment, suckled at her breast. The three were so nascent and so small that the mother worried such rigorous travel would break them. The druid worried that they would become too cold being carried in the mouth of the family and not nestled against the furnace of her body, worried that the stress of such a trip would cause her milk to dry up and leave them hungry, worried that exhaustion would overtake their infantile hearts and souls and the worst would occur. These thoughts plagued her daily, hourly, every minute and she withdrew from talking, from Dakarai to Lotte to Chusi to each and every one of the newcomers. The lamb felt their hot stares and their fiery impatience every time they needed to take an intermission and knew they blamed her for such upheaval. It wasn’t real, this all couldn’t real — yet it was. Olive wanted to pull away and leave, to flee from the intensity of their arraignment, but she could not. Her life was no longer for her. She must stay. 

Lotte called for the next sentries and Isley [Hemlock!] answered the call. The queen settled down next to her side, kissed the velveteen fur of her cheek and sang a small ditty. It soothed the ragged Olive for the moment and she reached down to her belly to nudge her hungry babes closer, kissing each @Sirius @Aries and @Cassiopeia on their tiny crowns. They ate hungrily, grunting softly with the effort, and she urged them to suckle to their full capacity, not entirely sure when they would find their next sanctuary.

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