Broken Antler Fen Dead girl!

She intended to pay a visit to Wraen today, though a severe thunderstorm struck in the afternoon, waylaying her. There was plenty of lightning and thunder, the latter rumbling in her bones. Towhee swore she smelled smoke at one point but then the rain came, giving the wilds a proper soaking. It all passed as quickly as it had come and the sun returned, giving the evening air a sort of soupy feel as the Sovereign stubbornly made her way to the caldera's borders, then beyond them to their allies' homestead to the southwest.

Everything glistened with rainwater as Towhee drew up at Brecheliant's doorstep. Her whole underside was damp and she panted in the thick air. She would definitely hang out until past sunset, so the trip home would be much cooler. In the meantime, she sent up a short howl for her friend and then plopped down in the wet grass to wait.

with all that had gone on, teya had not forgotten kynareth. she wished now to go to him, as a stranger called for wraen at their borders. not a stranger, simply not a wolf that teya personally knew.
she did not want to be the one to attend the summons, but the minutes wore on. maia could not go, entombed with growing pups. and eljay would be with her. the delivery of the news, then, fell to teya.
and so finally she drifted to the boundary-line on stiff, damp, red-ash legs, pose slackening only in grief as she said "wraen is dead. it sudden. several days ago," nine to be exact, but how could she tell this woman that she had counted the span of time and said nothing?
clipped, direct, unemotional; but her eyes were soft with her own hurt as she peered toward the she-wolf.

The call struck her heart hard. Ibis knew what loss felt like and refused to let it take root, but she felt the absence of her aunt too. The voice on the wind was not one she knew (nor really liked, considering how off-key it sounded), but the fact that they called for Wraen specifically caused the air to whoosh from Ibis' lungs.

She had just tucked her babies in for a nap. Her mind still buzzing from her thoughts of Eljay, of Maia's sadness, of Akavir — but she could do this one little thing, thought the ex-ruler. Just one little thing at a time, and she could get through anything.

By the time Ibis appeared near where the stranger lingered, she was not alone. Teya was there; her voice was sharply barbed as they announced the news to a thick-set, swarthy, bright-banded wolf.

Objectively, it wasn't particularly unusual for someone else to appear at the borders to greet a caller. But Towhee pulled a face when a svelte young creature paced toward her, looking utterly whipped by the world. Where was Wraen? The visiting Sovereign then stiffened, sensing something amiss. Where was Wraen?

And why was one—no, make that two—strangers answering Towhee's summons and not the woman herself? Her eyeballs bounced between the two unfamiliar faces, in her distraction entirely missing the delivery of the news she needed but did not particularly want. Where was Wraen?

"Where's Wraen?" she demanded faintly, heart skipping like a rabbit in her chest. "Did something happen to her?" Towhee added, wondering if maybe she'd been stung by bees again. Or maybe she was getting ahead of herself and the woman was only under the weather. She sucked in a rapid breath, peering between the two young women, waiting to read an explanation from their lips.

she did not mean to bristle; it happened involuntarily, an aspect of frustration rather than true anger. teya did not want to be forced into saying the words again, into recounting it again. she licked her jaws and stepped back, toward ibis, who had delicately appeared on her peripherals.
all the raven did now was try to catch the stranger's eye, giving a sharp nod in answer to the question of has something happened? 
the girl refused to look toward the woman she still called auspex.
a jerk of her muzzle vaguely skyward, perhaps a more universal sign that the one indicated had passed on.
tears suddenly stood angry and hot in her rushwater stare.

Ibis heard the exasperated demand of the stranger and she too began to bristle, striding up alongside Teya to offer her support. The pain upon the girl's face did not mirror to her own; hurt as she did over the loss, Wraen was one of many, and Ibis had learned to see through the sorrow. In that moment she could be strong.

She isn't with us any longer, Ibis cut in sharply, staring at the dark woman directly. The agitation in her voice was measured, while behind her thrashed her tail in a effort to burn through the tension she felt inside her body.

Wraen -- my aunt, she passed away. We have been in mourning. Ibis did not feel inclined to demand some respect for the fact they were hurting collectively, although her tone belied that sentiment. It would be too bad Towhee wasn't able to notice it.

A brief moment spared for Teya - as Ibis thoughtfully presses her nose upon the girl's shoulder, to show support and usher her away a step, if allowed. That way at least Ibis could confront the stranger while she regained composure.

The two strangers grew defensive and Towhee felt her bile rising. Something was very, very wrong here. The second arrival took a step closer and she finally managed to parse some words. "She isn't with us any longer," the stranger said and Towhee's eyes flicked sideways to watch the other she-wolf look tearfully to the sky. Her orange gaze cut back in time to catch the clarification, lest Towhee think Wraen had simply wandered elsewhere.

She should've been used to this, by now. How many loved ones had she lost along the way? But it somehow never hurt any less. Towhee's lips parted, her eyes bulging a little. Wraen was dead? The Sovereign slithered half a step backward, reeling. She wanted to deny it, to scream at these two strangers for saying something so awful. But Towhee could read faces and bodies well and her stomach knotted at the authenticity of their grief.

Her chest and throat felt tight and her stomach rolled. She clamped her mouth shut to quell the urge to throw up. But it opened a moment later as Towhee suddenly swiped out a paw and hit a clump of grass with such force that it ripped out by the roots and went flying with a clod of dirt. It wasn't enough. Towhee spotted a large stick a few feet away and lunged at it with violence.

Something else surged out of her mouth in lieu of vomit. Towhee couldn't hear herself but she let out an absolutely unearthly scream. She could feel it ripping loose from her throat, almost like she was breathing fire as she raged at the stick, snapping it into pieces and flinging them every which way. By the time they were all gone, she was bleeding in several places and out of breath, collapsing on the ground.

ibis meant to protect her. for a moment teya felt her world narrow to the point of contact between herself and the small woman; wanted to forget that this stranger had come and asked for wraen and made them speak of it, not once but twice; i want to forget
the beginnings of a plea in her eyes,
sundered at once by the sudden ragged shriek and chaos that turned their visitor into a horrible mourner. her turn to surge forward, to plant herself with solid footing and upturned hackles between the woman and ibis.
a call for @Eljay when the other collapsed; teya's grief had burned away.
a growl as she stepped forward on stiff legs, warning the stranger to stay as she was until their caretaker arrived; the little violet felt the scream of grief in the air but she would not allow such erratic behaviour to continue on the borders of a pack holding pups.

Ibis did not know who this was, nor their importance to her passed friend. All she knew was what she saw: shock, pain, and then aggression. It was eked out across the terrain along with the unfurling of a scream; all of which set Ibis further on-edge.

Behind her was Teya, calling for help.

The stranger collapsed in a dramatic heap. Ibis might have been more sympathetic to anyone else, but as she could not recall ever seeing this wolf before, she could only judge them as unsafe and unhinged.

Her short summer coat continued to puff. She paced between the sunken shadow and Teya as if she could protect her, but they were both smaller, and hardly warriors.

The best Ibis could do was quietly call out, I am sorry you must learn this way.

She sprawled there until she caught her breath, then rose on shaky legs. Both women's voices fell on deaf ears, of course. Towhee did spare them a glance, though her eyes were abruptly too blurred with tears to make out anything they might've said. And they were strangers, so she didn't want to be around them while she continued falling apart.

She might've muttered an apology or maybe she only thought it. On legs that felt like they belonged to someone else, Towhee hastened away from the fen, back toward the caldera. She didn't feel her small wounds, not right at the moment. She didn't even feel it when her blurred vision caused her to stumble, tumbling partly to the ground and breaking her fall with her fucking face of all things. None of that could possibly compare to the psychic pain of having yet another lifelong thread of friendship so abruptly and cruelly cut short.

When the call at the borders came, Eljay kissed his girls and Maia on their heads and then he started heading towards the borders. He felt worried, because usually when he was called someone was hurt. The caretaker took the shortest route to the borders and ears cupped forward as Teya and Ibis came into view. He could see the form of someone who was running away, but he didn't recognise it as Towhee because she was already so far away she was no more than a speck.

What happened? asked Eljay, worry shining in his eyes, as he looked over the two grief-struck wolves and tried to decipher if they had any wounds. Had there been a struggle at the borders, and did the culprit just run off?

ibis was there once more, and for a moment it felt as though they were united. the stranger departed, tripping, and teya's hard eyes followed.
for a moment, she looked at ibis, unable to help herself.
eljay was among them now, concerned. he had proven himself at the borders more than once, and he had shown himself to be a level head in a horrendous situation, as with wraen.
now the man inquired after them both. teya nodded. "woman with red, black, orange. strong. not hear?" perhaps that had been it, or perhaps grief had made the wolf skip over what she and ibis had been saying.
"looking for wraen." her mouth thinned into a bitter line. "turned crazy when we say she has died." teya's voice hoarsened; she only motioned to the land into which the stranger had disappeared. 
they had not been harmed, only her blood still beat with the potential of what might have happened.

As swiftly as the woman had appeared, she streaked away. Ibis was stunned by the transition of events, left to wonder if the woman was ill or somehow more deeply affected than any of them realized. It wasn't a face she knew — but maybe she had come across the woman before, and merely forgot.

Eljay's appearance helped to alleviate some tension Ibis was feeling. While Teya explained the situation, the mother groomed at the girl's shoulder. It came as a surprise that Teya thought the woman was hard of hearing — maybe that was a joke? An attempt to soothe the moment.

Maybe she knew Wraen? Ibis offered softly, only to fall silent. It felt wrong to utter her aunt's name since her passing.

When Teya asked him if he didn't hear, it was as if all the puzzle pieces came falling together. He had heard the howl, he supposed, but he hadn't immediately linked it to Towhee even though her call was so very recognisable. Maybe he'd just blocked it out. Ibis suggested that she must've known Wraen. Eljay was actually kind of happy that he had missed Towhee in, apparently, a crazy state of being.

It must've been Towhee, Eljay said, frowning. She and Wraen were close. She, uh, she's the leader of Redhawk Caldera. A sensitive subject, still, since he had never returned to its fold; not even to say hello to his old family and friends. It was just difficult; difficult to travel, of course, but also difficult simply because he had left on such a bad note. He wasn't sure how he could ever face them, honestly. There was so much resentment and hurt there, but he mostly feared that from their side. He'd left them at a terrible time, after all. While he didn't regret leaving and was glad for his choices, Eljay certainly felt guilty when he thought of it all, still.

towhee, and she had known wraen. it explained a good deal of what that reaction had been. teya gave a sharp nod. no matter how long they had known one another, she could not find much empathy inside herself at this moment.
coolwater eyes glanced to ibis. what did she make of this all? did she care? teya was not certain she herself did, a malaise brought on by the still-existent pain of wraen's loss.
"i go," she muttered, wanting to entomb herself somewhere and forget that the apple-eyed woman was gone, if only for a short while, if only for a short time.

i'll just wrap this up for us :)

All these reminders were hard on Teya, he knew that. Eljay frowned as she said she would go, then nodded solemnly. Yeah. Uh. I'm glad it wasn't necessary. He glanced after Towhee, hoping that she was alright. Then he looked at Ibis and Teya and said, See you later. And with that he departed, too, thoughts swimming with nostalgia for Redhawk Caldera and the family that he'd left behind there many months ago. Had they ever come to ask about him? Did they miss him? Probably not so much, he thought to himself, but it was okay. Maybe it was better that way.