Greatwater Lake it must be an omen

Since no one else saw fit to look for neither Vuk or Terich-mir, Diane haughtily took up the task herself the very day it had been known that the latter of the dissenters had gone without notice. That was two friends too many, and beginning to feel the pressure of loneliness on top of her insecurities about taking up leadership, she thought she might expend some of the negativity on a fruitless journey to locate her friends. It felt better than sitting around and waiting with a group that seemed to grow smaller by the day— and once she had left the cover of the Ridge, she had to shift her awareness outwards, which immediately  whisked her thoughts away from the dark pensiveness she had taken up as late.

Vuk's trail had long gone cold, but she was able to track Terich to Whitefish River, which was where her trip seemed to end. Though she was sure he had crossed, Diane whined in uncertainty and could not come to cross it herself. Swimming was still off the books for the former seawolf, and she could feel her uselessness mounting as a tremendous wave in the face of this task. The thought of being consumed by her ineptitude sent the girl flying south along the river, just hoping upon hopes that she might cross his scent again. There was a chance that he hadn't crossed after all right?

Diane's senseless search brought her to Greatwater, and in the night when she arrived, she crossed paths with a lingering cougar; and she was violently accosted for her mistake.

* * *

She cannot account for what happened after the yowling cat's teeth sunk into her back, but when Diane woke up, delirious to her present state. Surely she had died, but if that was the case then why did Heaven hurt so much? Hell.

Diane let out a terrified and pained howl, struggling to account for her body and mind all at once, but nothing made sense. Especially not the searing pain shooting up her right foreleg every time she tried to readjust herself. There was a thundering of footsteps above her, and the small wolf cringed in expectation of facing the cat again. She exposed her teeth and cried out sharply, the tone of her warning marking the clear sound of a desperate and injured animal.

But instead of being met with teeth and claws, she was coddled by gentle Shhhh's and the absence of more pain. Her gaze adjusted, and instead of one great and terrible puma, she saw that there were two wolves— a timber she-wolf and her chocolate mate— standing over her, panting and looking a little worse for wear. Diane choked on a fearful whine, her body sagging in instant relief. The female crawled to her, licking her ears (probably the only uninjured part of her) as she wrapped her long, lean body around her. The male disappeared from Diane's view, and the wary part of her wanted to watch his movements, but her head drooped against the female beside her, and for a time she succumbed to bloodloss.

* * *

Arrow and Vincent were good wolves, but practical and on a mission of their own. Diane learned a lot about them in the week or so they spent caring for her, but one night they simply did not return to the hole they had hidden her in. The girl was left in emptiness to wonder why she had been attacked, or why Taggarik had not come to rescue her by now, or why no one at all had come looking. But how could she have expected that when the same courtesy had not been given to Vuk or Terich, both of whom had been there before her. The vastness of the world suddenly seemed unconquerable, and fear of perpetual loneliness consumed her in that muddy hovel near the lake.

She began to accept this as a consequence of running away from home. Of not looking for her loved ones when she should have. When she could have. Karma was cruel, and she did not care for the disposition of her victim or what excuses one might seek to use to abate her. Diane was not innocent, and she had atoned for her sins with her own blood and the relationships she had forged in Teekon. There was nothing now, and she felt to be no one.