The Sentinels Time gets distorted when

Edited for many writing errors that were painful to look at. ._. I COULDN'T HELP MYSELF.

It had taken her longer than she had anticipated, but when she saw the ancient sequoias looming grandly in the distance she knew she would soon reach her destination. Her mahogany gaze burned brightly as a small smile slowly slid across her face in quiet, happy reception of the warm invitation they seemed to extend to her. The great trees made her feel like she was going home, curiously enough, and she was suddenly struck by an intense longing for the giant redcedars she had grown up among. It would soon be a year since she had left them behind.

The afternoon sun was only just beginning to descend, casting its first shadows of The Sentinels towards the east. She didn’t dare venture further when her location was confirmed with her far off sense of Donnelaith’s borders. It would never be her intention to further strain relations between her pack and theirs, but she would not be able to leave without an answer to the question she’d brought with her. With a long howl, tipped with amicable invitation, she beckoned someone to join her beyond their wooded boundaries. If no one answered or if she was chased off, Sassafras would simply try again another day.

gonna bump this up to after she was accepted

Tansea was new, blissfully unaware to the tensions both within Donnelaith's inner workings and to those beyond its borders. The call was curious as it came from beyond, leading her outside the borders somewhat warily.

"May I help you?" Her voice was soft, the usual half smile missing from her features for once in place of a guarded but curious expression.

She paced a little restlessly, then lowered her dark body to the ground to wait for whoever would eventually receive her. She didn’t have to wait long, but she chewed on her paws in the meantime and basked in the peaceful shadows of the Sentinels, stretching out languidly as though she was already welcome company.
 
When a tiny, creamy white wolf approached her somewhat cautiously, Sassafras promptly stood and bounced playfully on her fore-paws. She wagged her tail, then held it close, angling her ears back and stilling her energy so as not to appear as though she might charge the other female at the blink of an eye. Her intentions were pure, and should Tansea pick up on her affable countenance, they would get along just fine. Sassafras would be on her way back to Redhawk Caldera before she knew it.
 
"I’m sort of just checking in to make sure everything is okay over here. I’m Sassafras," she introduced transparently, "and I’m looking for Lasher."

"Pleasure," she commented, relaxing slightly as it became apparent that this Sassafras wasn't hostile. "I'm Tansea. I recently joined but from what I can tell things seem fine," Rowan and Aria seemed to have tension but Tansea didn't admit that.

"I'm sorry, from what I have learned Lasher passed not so long ago," Tansea's ears flattened, unsure how this stranger would take the news. The dryad had no idea how close the two might have been or how Sassafras would respond to such news.

a wild sassyfrassy invited me in!

it was the scent of the caldera that caused deirdre to cease her conversation with the old owl on healing herbs amidst a walk throughout the sentinels, and to redirect her course. peregrine, she worried. he who believed her father would make it. to tell him he was wrong caused her true pain, and she stopped and winced at the feeling before continuing onward. like caiaphas, peregrine deserved to know.

she was so within her thoughts she did not even notice the scent of her newfound friend, tansea! she greeted, her tail waving behind her. and as she looked at the wolf ahead of the woman, deirdre realized that this was not peregrine at all. she had missed, entirely, the topic of conversation... but the somber mood upon them seemed to hint toward what she had come for. still, she could not be sure. bonjour, she greeted, standing beside tansea and peering at her pack-mate, and then to sassafrass. she herself could not swallow the words: did peregrine send you?

Sassafras beamed as Tansea introduced herself, stating that her situation was similar to her own; they were both new additions to their respective ranks. The dark female almost interrupted to ask what the other thought of her new home, curious as she was about other packs in the region, but she was silenced by the news of Lasher that was quick to follow. Her ears pinned back in a fluttery sort of motion and her expression changed to one of empathetic sorrow. This wasn’t what she had been expecting when Peregrine had sent her to check on things in Donnelaith.

She was about to respond, but bit her cheek instead as an ivory sylph with eyes as verdant as the greenery around them stepped forward like a graceful dream. The french washed over her in a wave of nostalgia, and for a moment she was reminded of her mother. Although Sassafras did not respond as quite as warmly as she had only moments before, her tail still swayed in welcome greeting. The one who approached seemed to know exactly what was on her mind, and for a tenth of a second she found herself surprised.

"He did," she affirmed solemnly. She dreaded returning to the Caldera with this news, but knew that Peregrine would not have sent her if he hadn’t suspected something was amiss surrounding his companion’s absence. "May I ask… what happened?" she inquired softly. She was certain the dark Redhawk chieftain would want to know.

Tansea could not help the stab of sympathy for obviously this girl was effected by the news, regardless of how close she had been to Lasher. Tansea did not know him but he had seemed like a well loved man.

Deirdre appeared and Tansea felt herself slightly on edge at the sudden grouping, never had she been a favor of crowds. 

"I believe it would be best if Deirdre told you, that is her story and I do not know of all the details," Tansea murmured somberly, shifting to the side some as if to give the spotlight to Lasher's daughter. She would offer moral support but would not interfere with Dierdre's telling of her father's death.

deirdre glanced apologetically toward tansea; normally, so late into interaction, she would not encroach, but she knew her father had felt for peregrine (simply not the extent) and that he would want peregrine to know of his fate. she had wondered if this might be the man himself, but the wind had not told her that much as it shifted to lure her nearer. that she might be able to speak of it in a way he might wish it, too, was important to her. 

she took a deep breath in and explained, peregrine knows most of it; when your leader had been here, my father had been ill. there had been a terrible plague of creatures that devoured all that was green in these lands. there were no herbs to give him that would aid him... she had to pause, to steel herself for a moment. this stranger need not see her weep! she grit her jaw for a moment, but her voice was still rich with emotion, and her emerald eyes glistened, a dam threatening to break. all were greatly weakened by the plague, but my father perhaps most of all. he sacrificed food for the cubs within the pack, so that the future generation might live beyond the curse that touched the wilds. it was not for naught, she was proud of this, but her heart ached. he is in a place where hunger cannot harm him. he was malnourished, and had wandered into the heat where it all took its toll upon him, where he had his stroke, and collapsed to the earth, and ceased to live and breathe. none knew why he had done this, and deirdre still pondered this; she wished she had been beside him, that morning, so that she could alter his path!

The disarray Sassafras felt slowly slipped away even as Tansea made way for the other woman to tell… her story? The context of Deirdre’s following words made the Calderan’s eyes widen slightly, although they immediately softened again as her heart made to reach out to Lasher’s daughter. She simply hadn’t expected to be met by someone who had been so close to the man, or for his last moments to be divulged. She was a complete stranger, after all, even if she had been sent by someone the wolves of Donnelaith likely knew very well.
 
As she became immersed in Deirdre’s words, she found herself unintentionally imagining what it might feel like to lose her own father, and tried to push the thought away only for her heart to squeeze at the time she had been away from her family. She continued to listen to the retelling of the love and sacrifice Lasher had given with his life, and certainly long before he had passed. She could see the way the pale beauty’s jaw clenched to reign in her emotion, and the way her eyes began to shine with tears she did not allow to fall. Sassafras was not so sure that she herself would be so strong if it had been her own beloved father.
 
"Deirdre… I’m so sorry," she offered, dipping her dark, velvety muzzle and closing her eyes in heartfelt respect. It was slowly that she raised her head again and regarded Lasher’s daughter with an undertone of admiration. "I would prefer you were the one to tell Peregrine," she hazarded to say, "but I would neither ask you to travel all that way, nor to retell your grief again and again. Is there anything you would like me to say on your behalf?"

This was obviously a hard tale to tell, though Tansea could not empathize given that she had no love for most of her family. Her own father's passing had been a heavy blow and she missed him dearly everyday. 

There was nothing she could say to make it better for her friend and Tansea hated that. Instead of attempting to force herself into the conversation or offer empty condolences, the dryad shifted closer to offer silent companionship to the fellow witch.

deirdre would not have minded the journey, truly. perhaps one day she might make it, but it was her duty that kept her here. she had more to learn, and more to do! she hated to disappoint the other, but knew that she must; a soft frown came across her features that melted away from the touch of tansea. only that peregrine is still welcome here, she decided, her ears perked atop her crown. as dear as the man was to her father? well, he was in turn dear to her!

Tansea moved closer to Dierdre and Sassafras felt the distinct and foreign urge to do the same herself. If she have could stood the thought of her dark fur and unfamiliar figure marring the image of the two beams of soft light that were the Donnelaith wolves as one moved to comfort the other, she might have done so. She ultimately kept her distance instead, but closed her eyes in quiet thanks to the scintillating beauty who was kind and open enough to divulge her grief to a stranger and offer that stranger something to return to her father’s friend. Sassafras finally nodded as she lifted the lids of mahogany eyes that shone warmly, and with one last heartfelt smile, she turned and left the towering sequoias behind her.