Wapun Meadow Slow, I'm getting up

@Ruenna <3

The meadow was one she'd visited on numerous occasions throughout her years in and out of Teekon but its resplendent beauty was dimmed in the midst of winter - at first glance, the healer didn't quite recognize it. 

Had it been she who visited this very flowering field only a year or two ago? 

That had been before everything - Samuel, Horosk, long before Kavik. Funny how her life seemed to be divided based upon the males in it. Perhaps that was something Liri needed to change. 

Frost crunched underfoot, cracking into hoary shards beneath her damaged paws and numbing them blissfully. Withered grass and mud peeked from beneath the frozen layer - a strange trail that followed the sylph's progress as she searched for something, anything, to eat. 

With luck, the ravenous fae happened upon the frozen remains of some bird of prey - misshapen and featureless in death. It had been unfortunate enough to land on the banks as a storm was blowing over, the precipitation having trapped it as it cooled and hardened. Ignoring the toughness of the meat and the feathers that ripped free with every bite, Liri ate her fill. When at last she'd gorged on the fallen predator, what remained looked nothing at all like a bird.

The northron made for the stream, intending to wash the blood from her coat and check the progress of her charred stump before continuing on. 

There was nothing here for her, save for some memories she didn't care to look back on. 

Ruenna, too, had traveled through this meadow before, on her initial journey into the Teekon Wilds. Her last visit had been at the height of summer, when wildflowers of every color imaginable were exploding across the gently rolling scenery. Even though her mental wounds from Red Fern Glade had been fresh back then, Rue could still remember feeling optimisitic as she traversed these breathtakingly beautiful hills. 

As she looked out over the territory now, however, it seemed flat, dull, and lifeless. It was hard to believe this was the same meadow that she had visited so long ago. Rue took a long drink from the creek, shivering as the ice-cold water burned a trail down to her stomach. When she looked back up, a white silhoutte had just barely come into view against the listless white background. Rue squinted. There was something familiar about the wolf's limping gait-- it reminded Rue of her beloved, former alpha Liri, and that in turn reminded her of everything she had lost in the wake of this cursed winter.

The wind shifts, a faint scent is carried to her nose. 

The healer's head snaps up - so quickly she's threatened with whiplash - whipping to and fro in search of the source. Liri is well aware of the dangers being a lone wolf invites. 

Liri squints against the sun's glare as it bounces off the ice and blinds her. Through her watering eyes, Liri can just make out a grey blur in the distance. 

The former leader considered for a moment, weighing the possibilities that the stranger is a threat against the alternative. After a moment, with a fatalistic resignation, the disgraced wife padded towards the figure. 

A low call announces her innocent intentions of curiosity as she approaches, closing the distance between them. 

Something about the woman's shape - the delicate, graceful lines and long legs - nags at her memory as the northron limps ever closer. At last, the lights and shadows shift in such a way as to bring the woman's features into focus. 

Liri might've called her name, if she could have breathed at all. 

She freezes in her tracks momentarily, hardly daring to believe, before rushing to her former Beta. Clumsily, she crashes into the silver on unsteady legs to pull her close in embrace - beyond joy, beyond relief. 

The ivory wraith continued to approach, revealing itself to be a thin, bedraggled creature encrusted in blood that may or may not have been its own. Rue's heart broke for this wolf. Here Rue had been feeling sorry for herself, when there were others out there who had met far worse fates this winter. Liri was one such wolf, Rue reminded herself. 

Stars, the phantom even sounded like Liri, didn't it? It was amazing what tricks the mind could play, when the heart wanted something bad enough. Rue chuffed a response across the meadow, inviting the stranger closer. Her tail switched in large, friendly movements, ushering the newcomer closer. As the ghostly woman-- Rue could now see that she was female-- drew near, Rue regarded her with curiosity. The ivory wraith stopped in her tracks, as if seeing a ghost herself, and Rue watched recognition flash into the woman's expression.

Rue's own recognition came a beat later than Liri's. Eyes wide, Rue managed to breath out, "Li--?" before the woman came rushing towards her. Abandoning words entirely, a joyful whine tore from Rue's throat and she stepped forward to meet her former alpha's embrace. Liri was alive. Liri was okay. Liri was here.

Some wild part of her feared the bird might not remember, might not recognize her. 

Liri had lost much weight, the muscles she'd developed after losing her leg had been depleted by illness and hardship. She was a lean, rangy creature that looked half-starved. Sticky with blood and entirely missing her leg, the healer could only imagine how bedraggled she must look. 

But Ruenna's embrace is as bone-crushingly joyful as Liri's - the warm reunion of lost sisters. 

"I can't believe it. But when I arrived at the Creek..., " she can't bring herself to utter Kavik's name aloud as she steps back to speak, for the pain that closes her throat at the thought of him, "I thought I must have been confused when you didn't come."

"What happened? Where did everyone go?" She questions softly, as she never got the chance to with Kavik, wondering where the other members of her former pack were.

As they pulled apart, Rue circled Liri excitedly, sniffing her here and there to ascertain that she was all right. The blood crusted in her coat mostly smelled like prey, that was good. Rue paused over the charred remains of Liri's leg, meeting her friend's gaze with a look of alarm. She would have started asking questions if Liri hadn't begun to speak herself. 

"You were at the Creek?" Rue repeated incredulously. "We must have just missed one another. I was with the Creek, but I.. left recently." If Liri had been to the Creek, had she met with Kavik then? It seemed likely... and judging from the fact that Liri had left the Creek to stumble across Rue out here, it was also likely that she knew about Myrren. There was no other reason Liri wouldn't have stayed in the Creek with her mate. 

Rue swallowed as Liri asked the inevitable questions. She hated to have to be the one to give the details of the demise of Blacktail Deer Plateau to its former leader. She hated it, but she was also immensely glad at the same time. She was glad to be talking to Liri about anything... she had feared her friend was dead. 

"It started with the departure of Issun, and Minori, and..." Stars, what was the name of that friend of theirs? It felt like it had all happened a million years ago. "Well, they left to start their own pack. We had trouble holding down our borders without them, and a band of coyotes moved in. They attacked when most of us were out hunting, and.." Rue was starting to get that familiar ache in her throat, recounting the painful events.

"And we looked everywhere for you after the attack. We couldn't find you. We.. we had no caches left and it was too dangerous to remain on the Plateau. We had to disband, but..." Rue shook her head. "But I went back for you. Over and over. I've been looking so hard.." Rue choked the final words out and pressed her face into Liri's ruff. She took a deep breath, and Liri's comforting scent steadied her. 

"Kavik and Myrren and I went to the Creek. Siqsa just.. left. Corvus joined Diaspora. I live there too now, and actually.. so does Takiyok." Rue's brow furrowed as she realized that Liri wouldn't even know about Ikkannatuk's disband. There was so much to tell, it was overwhelming.

She can hardly contain herself, trembling with exhilaration. She had thought she would never see Ruenna again. "Lightning, " she murmurs as her friend shoots her a questioning glance. How Liri wished it had fried her heart to a stop, before she could learn of Kavik's infidelity. 

She nods, brows furrowing as she listens intently to the sudden flow of information - hoping it might fill some of the gaps in her memory. 

She comforts her friend, a lump rising in her own throat. It means more than Rue would know, knowing that somebody was thinking about her. That someone cared - even if that someone should have been her husband. 

Diaspora was an unfamiliar name, a pack that must have sprung up while she was ill. The news of Ikkanattuk's disbanding and the formation of new packs would have to wait. 

Confusion had flattened her ears as she pulled back with a slight shake of her head. 

"I don't understand...I was there. The coyotes.." 

A memory surfaced from the murk. 

Noises from beyond the awful dark drew her attention - which was not easy of late. Delirious with a fever, she weaved with imbalance as she struggled to her paws. 

She attempted to step forward, forgetting that she was no longer in the den she had shared with Kavik. Where an opening usually would be, leading to the atrium beyond, Liri encountered only unforgiving walls. 

Panicking, the ill she-wolf thrashed, crashing to the floor as her bad leg gave out. 

Hacking up bloodied phlegm as she rose, the distant scent of coyote - of danger - penetrated the haze in her mind. 

A string of memories tugged at her subconscious. The male - dark, dominant, gentle - was associated with safety, with home. She could not recall his name at this moment - she was hard-pressed to remember her own - and her thoughts locked on finding him. 

Other memories fought to be looked upon - another cave, the creeping shadows of wolves who sought pleasure in her pain, the metallic scent of blood and fear. 

Blinded by watering eyes and with her heart pounding in her chest, Liri finally managed to escape her quarantine den and stumbled through the dark in search of her mate - her steps leading her deeper into the recesses of the Door and away from the light.

"The caves, " she breathed in realization. Gooseflesh had raised beneath her coat and a cold, fearful ache settled in her abdomen. 

"I was lost in the Door. I don't know how or when but I must have found my way back out - after you'd all gone." 

As to where she had gone afterward, Liri could not recall. Hard as she tried, a wall seemed to block the memories from access. 

"I don't know...the illness must have confused me and I must have left the plateau, surviving on pure luck."

A bitter smirk twisted the features of her pale face. 

"Some luck."

"I wish I had died in there, Rue, " she whispered in the tones of admittance. 

"How could he do it? How could he throw everything away just like that? Two months...and it was like I had never existed." Tears filled her dark orbs as she bit her split lip, the pain anchoring her to the earth. 

"He didn't even deny it. It was that easy for him to replace me, " Liri murmured, feeling her heart break all over again. 

Rue hung onto Liri's every word, savoring the sound of her beloved alpha's voice. Liri emitted just a few precious words before she fell silent, gaze glassing over as she was drawn into the depths of a memory. Rue waited patiently, suppressing the urge to whine in concern. Finally, Liri emerged from her memory with a single utterance: the caves. 

Rue's eyes widened. She had done some cursory exploration of the Door, but all of the routes she had traveled had promptly led her to dead ends. She had always just assumed that all the routes within the cave were fairly shallow, but she could certainly see how picking the wrong route could have a wolf twisting and turning deep into the mountainside. Rue shuddered as she imagined what Liri must have experienced, sick and terrified and stumbling on and on through oppressive darkness. 

Liri wished for death aloud, and Rue moved forward to nudge comfortingly against Liri's shoulder. She did this to console the former alpha, but also to hide the look of pain and guilt that she could feel settling upon her countenance. If Rue had only thought to look a little harder in the Door, if Rue had only stayed a little longer after the coyote attack... all of this heartache could have been avoided. The three of them-- Kavik, Liri, and Rue-- might all be living happily together somewhere, making plans to welcome pups and restart their pack in a new location. 

The questions tumbled out of Liri's mouth, and all Rue could do was shake her head. They were the same questions that plagued her own mind. How could Kavik have done this to Liri? To all of them? How could he? 

"You are not so easily replaced, Liri." The words came out more forcefully than Rue had intended-- a stark contrast to her usual soft, retiring tones.  "He could try for a hundred years, and never find a partner worth half of you." At the sight of tears welling in her friend's eyes, Rue's own eyes also filled. They felt different than her usual tears though-- hotter, angrier. "For what he's done, he will have to replace both of us," Rue murmurred bitterly, pressing her muzzle once more into Liri's shoulder. Learning of Kavik's indiscretions had been the last straw for Rue. Once she knew of Kavik's betrayal, the lands he ruled had no longer felt like home to Rue.

The disgraced wife clung to her former Beta, easily accepting the embrace. It was a comfort just to have some kind of contact with a member of her own kind, though it was especially bitersweet to confide in Rue. The silver had always been loyal to the northron, a friend as much as a Beta. 

"Thank you, that means a lot, " Liri murmured. It did lessen the pain somewhat, knowing another shared her grief at the fall of the pack. Ruenna was just as devastated as the former Alpha, if not more so given that the bird had witnessed Kavik's betrayal. 

"You have left the Creek?" The healer asked with surprise, touched that Rue had defected on her account though guilt overshadowed this emotion. It meant that Ruenna was heartbroken as she. 

"Where have you gone? What are your plans now?" Even if the duo were not in the same pack, Liri wanted to make a note of the silver Beta's location. The healer would make sure to come back and visit again, she would not lose her comrade again. 

Rue nodded her confirmation, her throat too raw to speak just yet. Myrren was a friend certainly, and it wasn't her fault Kavik had gotten her into this mess... but it would have been impossible for Rue to remain and help her raise the pups that should have been Liri's. 

@Liri asked her about her current residence, which was an easier topic for Rue. "I was offered a position in Diaspora's ranks. We're at Arrow Lake for now. It's nice there... peaceful. Corvus is there, and so is Takiyok." 

Rue nudged against Liri before continuing. "Come back with me," she urged. "You'll have my rank, Tessarius. We'll.. we'll be family again." Should Liri take the offer, Rue would assume a position at the bottom of the ranks... but she couldn't imagine being part of a heirarchy where she was above her former alpha. Rue was certain Liri would climb up to leadership in no time, and beside her Rue would rise again to wherever she fit best.

Liri's ears pricked curiously at the offer - her heart dancing at the thought of joining Ruenna. But the thought of the dragon laying in wait some distance behind her brought it to a stuttering halt. These were Rue's packmates, not Liri's. They were strangers and Liri had as little right to a place amongst them as she did to her former Beta's Tessarius rank. 

"It sounds amazing, " she began, something heavy curling her shoulders forward, "but I can't."

"Siqsa is with me. He's not ready to join a pack and...neither am I. Not really, " the healer murmured, coffee gaze tracing along the snow-patched ground. "We intend to head west, settle somewhere and make a home."

"I don't know yet if we'll find the numbers to found a pack, " the tundrian admitted with a slight tilt of her head as her gaze sought the silver's earnestly. "But if you should ever find yourself parting with the Diaspora wolves, you would be most welcome with me, " Liri promised, a smile settling gently into her features. 

Rue couldn't say why exactly, but Liri's answer came as no surprise. Leadership coursed through the veins of the northron woman, and assuming the rank of a subordinate would have eaten her up on the inside. 

"Really?" Rue breathed, startled to hear the Siqsa's name come up. Of course she had looked around for the young man after his mysterious departure, but he had seemingly vanished into thin air.. not unlike Liri herself. 

"I..." A large part of Rue was ready to go right now. She, Liri, and Siqsa together.. why, that was the makings of a small family right there. But could she simply abandon Diaspora in its tenuous, fledgling state? The wolves of Diaspora had taken a chance on her, and Rue was loath to part from the pack before seeing it up and thriving. There was still work to be done here. 

"..I truly appreciate that," Rue finished sincerely. Parting with Liri so soon after reuniting left a twisted feeling in the pit of her stomach. How could she be sure she wouldn't lose Liri and Siqsa again?

"And my offer will stand, if you change your mind," Rue added, the corner of her mouth twisting upward into the tiniest of smiles. No matter how high Rue climbed in the ranks, she would gladly trade her position for the chance to stand beside Liri once more.

Liri nodded expectantly, hiding her dissapointment well behind an understanding smile. It would have been wonderful to have Rue back at her side, almost like the Plateau wolves had reunited, but she had not truly expected the silver to abandon her place amongst the Lake pack - she was far too loyal. 

Still, a disjointed and displaced emotion prickled across her skin - a feeling of wrongness. They were family and family should not be split up, how many times had the healer learned such a lesson?

The tundrian pushed it away, focusing on the fact that at least she knew where the bird would be staying, in a pack where she was safe and happy. 

"I'll keep it in mind," she murmured with a grateful smile. Should she fail in her endeavors mayhaps she would need to seek refuge with her sister's new pack. 

"This is not the last we see of each other, you know," Liri grinned, tail wagging slightly. "The ancestors have seen fit to entertwine our destinies. We will meet again." It left the sylph's mouth with confidence. A friendship like theirs was not so easily forgotten. 

Liri seemed to be feeling a similar reluctance to part ways. She spoke her reassurace aloud, likely for the benefit of both of them. Rue nodded, trying to absorb as much of Liri's calm, easy confidence as she could before they were separated once more.

"As soon as you're settled somewhere, you'll send word? I don't want to lose you again." Liri seemed certain that this was the right course of action, so Rue would trust her as always.

"Of course," Liri assured, a wistful smile twisting her lips. Some part of her felt that the conversation was ending, that soon Rue must return to the Diasporan wolves and Liri to the dragon who had become brother. Panic thrummed under her skin, a horrible fear that she was wrong and would never again rest her eyes upon the silver bird. 

She forced such a thought away. She was only being silly and emotional. Ruenna would be there when Liri found her home; she would be there once the healer was established enough in one place to visit. 

"I will miss you, friend," the northron admitted, stepping closer and wrapping her head over the Redfern's shoulder in a wolfish embrace. 

"May your path be walked in sunshine and fair winds, may they see you home safely," a revised version of the tribal farewell spilled from her lips, genuine in the blessings she imparted upon the woman she had encountered hunting in the Flatlands so long ago.

Last from Rue ^^

Ruenna stepped into Liri's embrace once more, heaving a heavy sigh. "You know where to find me," she replied. Liri need not miss her; she was here, and she would be here whenever the Blackfoot needed her. 

Ruenna blinked in surprise at the traditional benediction Liri offered. A small smile played across her muzzle as she replied with a similar invocation from her own forbearers. "May the earth protect you and give you strength, and may the stars guide you."

The pair had previously noted similarities in the spiritual beliefs of their respective upbringings, and being reminded of that now somehow seemed auspicious. Perhaps she and Liri were distant kin, and their destinies truly were entertwined.