It had been hard to swallow at first.
Denial had set in first, urging her not to believe the truth that would break her heart - that they had gone, all of them. Even Kavik.
When panic gave way to acceptance, to survival, the pallid woman drug herself from the dim den where she had been confined for over a moon's turn. Hunting was out of the question in her condition and in the end, Liri ate stale meat from the caches - the dry taste of the game flashing across her tongue with the metallic flavour of fear. It was only another sign that her fears were true - that she had been abandoned by her loved ones, her family.
The pain was worse than anything before - familiar as it crashed over her and the young woman doubled over, torn open by the crushing betrayal. Broken sobs rent the air, lonely cries of a she-wolf that would echo through the forest and go unanswered.
Liri lingered well into the winter, recovering some of the weight that had dropped from her bones and waiting until at last the final clinging odors of sickly sweet illness had fled her limp pelt.
She didn't look back as she left the plateau, too plagued by memories to say goodbye to the ghostly outcrop where she had once staked a claim.
It seemed ages ago now when really it was only months - had she really been that young spritely woman? So convinced she had overcome her past to live out a future of happiness with her newfound love?
A familiar emptiness filled her as she left it behind - a colder, sharper feeling now that she had known Kavik's warmth.
A fear that this was all she would ever know.
Denial had set in first, urging her not to believe the truth that would break her heart - that they had gone, all of them. Even Kavik.
When panic gave way to acceptance, to survival, the pallid woman drug herself from the dim den where she had been confined for over a moon's turn. Hunting was out of the question in her condition and in the end, Liri ate stale meat from the caches - the dry taste of the game flashing across her tongue with the metallic flavour of fear. It was only another sign that her fears were true - that she had been abandoned by her loved ones, her family.
The pain was worse than anything before - familiar as it crashed over her and the young woman doubled over, torn open by the crushing betrayal. Broken sobs rent the air, lonely cries of a she-wolf that would echo through the forest and go unanswered.
Liri lingered well into the winter, recovering some of the weight that had dropped from her bones and waiting until at last the final clinging odors of sickly sweet illness had fled her limp pelt.
She didn't look back as she left the plateau, too plagued by memories to say goodbye to the ghostly outcrop where she had once staked a claim.
It seemed ages ago now when really it was only months - had she really been that young spritely woman? So convinced she had overcome her past to live out a future of happiness with her newfound love?
A familiar emptiness filled her as she left it behind - a colder, sharper feeling now that she had known Kavik's warmth.
A fear that this was all she would ever know.
"i'll keep you here when I lose my mind."
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