Snowforest Taiga ten fingers to the sky

---

set shortly after this

morning comes without the usual fanfare of birds and colours, the skies overcast and heavy, the heat unbearable as it climbs rapidly to its peak. sleep doesn't come, nor does the numbness she craves, only swirling thoughts and a building resolve. she's sought self-destruction before, but not in the singlemindedness that scares her now, even through the stark determination. she hated herself even for this, the knowledge that she hadn't been strong enough to outlast it, failure familiar now, and yet novel in all the ways it managed to cause her pain.

her unraveling comes swiftly and without any warning, though if she'd been thinking, she would have known this was to come as soon as knowledge of her brother's mateship ignited not joy, but mourning for what she'd had. jealousy. 

and so she went with twisted purpose, gaze roaming over the spaces between the trees, moving ever south.