Redhawk Caldera Fwoosh

all aboard the pain train

Finley and Nevouku took a moment to share their news with each other. Lucy listened with swiveling ears and a slowly turning skull. She pointed her muzzle toward whoever was talking and then returned to the other for their reaction. It was almost as though she was studying them, but she did not know why. Still, the young girl felt an unease that crept through her and pricked her skin like nettles. All this while, Skwol stood behind her like a stoic guardian, but he did not say a word. Part of this bothered Lucy; she wanted him to speak. The ghoul had found that she felt far more grounded when he was near, and even more so when he attempted to quell her fears with a quiet rumbling of his voice. Nothing seemed to be able to calm the fire that was burning inside of her.

When at last, her question had found its way to the grey-furred female's ears, Lucy watched her with baited breath as the Alpha of the caldera faced her. There was a curious sort of sadness in the woman's eyes. The ink-cloaked girl was capable of recognizing it, but she did not understand where it had manifested from. Yet, when the Alpha finally spoke, something crumbled inside of the girl. There seemed to have been a fortress that stood quite tall and guarded any vile, dreadful things from approaching her heart. Lucy did not know that it could have been demolished so quickly.

Mothers never forget their children.

The ghoul became rigid where she stood. Her legs were pressed so tightly to the earth that she believed she might be sucked up inside of it. How could she have forgotten? Like crashing waves, memories rolled through her mind and churned her gut. Lucy was starting to remember. She remembered being swept away by the wicked Marbas. She remembered finding herself on the edges of Neverwinter Forest, and the kindness of the Frostfur wolves. She remembered the bright glow of Rannoch's gaze, and the sweet and soothing rumble of Cypress' voice. Even then, she could recall showing up on the edges of Duskvale – half starved and shattered – and finding a temporary home with the roaming wolves.

A final memory lingered in her mind. She evoked at last when Finley had come for her and found her in the wood, scared and alone. Lucy could still hear her mother's voice, asking her to return home, and in her anger... Lucy had refused. She had been so hurt by her own loneliness that she had not been able to swallow her own pride. The wisp of a girl had been so destroyed that it had taken them that long to find her. Lucy had wandered on her own through the wilds, relying on those around her to survive and she had barely done that well enough. Now, she stood before her mother again, but she did not have the words to address such a significant happening.

“But you let me go.”

It did not seem like her voice had conjured the words. It felt as if they had come from somewhere else entirely, but Lucy knew that she had said it and that it would likely cause some degree of pain. Still, she could not help but to feel that same hurt that she had felt more than a year ago. Then, she had been so malleable and she had relied so heavily on those around her. The ghoul had witnessed more than she ever cared to, and she had endured the harshest of life's realities. Many of them had been blocked from her mind, and she knew that she had forgotten her own family in order to stay alive. If she had not, the pain would have killed her.

Yet, in that moment of flooding cognizance, Lucy wished that she could forget again.