dusk fell upon the weeping evergreens, the crystalline waterfalls given a kiss goodbye; the songbird slammed down her foot in hasty finality.
the valley was not home anymore, and had not been home for a long time.
a courtesy word was to be sent to swiftcurrent and to kvarsheim, a calling for them that echoed what once was camaraderie. crowfeather had wished to go elsewhere — the final straw between he and her wife now pulled loose, and so she, reluctantly, allowed silvertongue the time to say her goodbyes. then she led her small band north, well beyond the shady groves and rolling hills of the valley she had once loved so deeply. @Silvertongue was at her side while she shivered; she began to carry her beloved halfway through the trip. @Ksura was asked to carry foodstuffs, herbs, and pelts; @Acantha was to help @Ash Star carry her newest young and hold the rear in case they were to be pursued.
with such a strenuous path on many whelping bodies, they went slow; their trail was woven with plenty of breaks for water and for rest, and in the night they had clung to the wetlands while they slept. dawn scattered rose pink across the horizon as the terrain became littered with permafrost, rolling from marshes to endless spruce forest. the mountains that jut jarringly out of the earth remind her of home long lost.
and by mid-noon on the second day, they reached a river scattered with chunks of glaciermelt, harsh and yet soft with sharp edges and secluded paths. wren thought it to be perfect — or she would, if she were not so blinded by desperation in the moment.
when the adrenaline that had fuelled her up until now ebbs away into numbness, the glazed brown eyes search her travel party for their thoughts.