Sun Mote Copse how hard did i just seal the deal

When Njord and Meerkat broke the news to Stingray about his brother, he was too stunned to react in the moment. He appeared to take it remarkably well, much like his dam's initial reaction. That was only due to the way time froze in place when they uttered Swordfish's name, his true one and his chosen one alike. Stingray's thoughts froze, too, and only began a sluggish churn hours afterward.

How many nights had he lay awake with Fish's sea blue eyes piercing into his soul? How long had he carried the guilt of leaving his brother behind? He believed Swordfish must be dead, and that was the only comfort Stingray could find in not searching far and wide for him.

To learn his brother was indeed alive, that Stingray had forsaken him ... That was too much for the young Sveijarn-Corten to bear.

It began slowly, a persistent stabbing of guilt in his belly while he patrolled the southern border. His brother's oceanic gaze was back in the rear of his skull, weighing him, judging him. By the time he crossed the river into thicker forest, the stabbing had moved up into his chest. The closer he drew to Fish's Loch, the more it felt like a hand was reaching in there and squeezing his heart.

When he could see the lake, it all came to a head. It felt like he couldn't suck enough air into his lungs. His heart pounded and his ears began to ring. His stomach was filled with writhing snakes and his head was filled with the sense of impending doom. Stingray's legs wobbled like jelly. He made it only a few more steps before he dropped to his hindquarters and began trembling and gasping for breath.

Hope you don't mind if I snatch!

Seal never managed to cross Whitefish River, and so she looped back toward the Hinterlands on her final stop before returning to Moonspear.

I wonder how much Skipjack and Otter have grown! Seal wondered to herself as she crossed from Ghost Lion’s Crag into the Copse. Summer was fast approaching the Teekon Wilds and so her new siblings would be entering a new stage of development. A little guilt hit her heart for missing so many family milestones.

Just then, she spied a familiar golden pelt right by a small lake.

“RAAAYYYYY!” Seal called cheerily and skipped-ran to greet her big brother, only to realize the state he was in. “Hey, Ray… is everything okay? What's wrong?” she asked with concern as she neared his hunched and shivering form.

Her youngest son had gone missing for half a day, long enough to give Meerkat quite the scare. He was eventually collected from the neighboring sweep, weak from hunger and thirst. She called Njord to help her carry their son to The Taigh, where she played the part of mother hen quite well.

She couldn’t help but think of tending to Fish at the roja den. When Skip told her just why he’d left the copse, Meerkat collapsed like a dying star. She held it in until the bairn fell asleep, then sneaked out of the cottage to find somewhere she could weep in private.

She tried to collect herself over the course of that evening. She grounded Skipjack, asking that all members of the copse keep an eagle eye on him. To his credit, her son seemed quite sorry for upsetting her. He promised he would never leave home again, spending nearly all his time in The Taigh without complaint.

It was hard to let him out of her sight, though the lady of the copse forced herself to go for a walk the following afternoon. Meerkat decided to stroll the perimeter, especially since Towhee had gone again. She wondered if her mother had gone after Swordfish despite everything, her chest aching at the thought as she slowly made her rounds.

After finishing near the southern stretch of the borders, she headed back toward her family’s home by way of Fish’s Loch. As she approached the small pond, she heard voices and paused to listen. “RAAAY!” a familiar voice screamed, hastening Meerkat’s step.

Several different emotions flitted across her face as she came upon her son and daughter, whisky eyes flicking back and forth before settling on Ray. She rushed toward him, her heart in her throat.

Are you hurt? she asked, wondering just why the world liked to torture her sons.

No matter how much air he sucked in, Stingray just couldn't catch his breath. It felt like his ribs were being squeezed inward, and with that came a pain in his chest. Was this what it meant to die? His ears snatched back on his head and his eyes rolled with fear.

There would be no death for Ray, only the anticipation of it, the same suffocating dread his father had felt all those moons ago. And just like when Njord had reached for him and tethered himself to his real son, Stingray turned toward Seal and reached out for his little sister.

Help me!

His breathing came rapidly as he swept his sister into a tight embrace, clinging on for dear life. He was not much more composed when Meerkat rushed up to them. His blue eyes found her face over his sister's shoulder and then he screwed them shut, unable to bear the worry he found there. He heard her speak but did not comprehend the question.

Instead, he picked up a keening moan while he rocked helplessly against Seal: we left him we left him we left him...

Wrapping this for us!

Seal’s smile faded. Her brows knit with concern and her gaze analyzed Stingray’s signs of stress. It scared her… the way the whites of his eyes rolled in his head. The way his ears were pinned against his skull. Suddenly, Stringray reached out and clamored for an arm – an anchor.

“I’m here,” Seal reassured her panicked brother as he embraced her tightly. The young woman quickly fell into the role of support despite not knowing what ailed him.

In the next moment, their mother was by their side.

Are you hurt? Meerkat asked. Seal’s shocked face implied she had found her brother this way. She looked from her mother and then back to Ray, praying he would answer so they may save him from this invisible hurt.

Invisible hurt…. Seal thought of Bridget’s lessons.

We left him we left him we left him... her brother wailed in a primitive, animal way.

Though Seal didn’t know what he was talking about, she rocked in time with him. “My friend taught me some breathing exercises,” Seal explained to Stingray. “Tae help me calm down when things get crazy. Follow along with me, okay?” Then, Seal began to guide her brother through a series of deep inhales and exhales, hopeful this storm would pass.

She could only clutch at Ray as his sister guided him through some breathing exercises. Meerkat’s gaze mostly rested on her son’s face, though occasionally she looked at Seal with wonder in her eyes, grateful for and impressed by her composure in this moment of duress.

We’re here. You’re okay, she muttered quietly against the shell of Ray’s ear.

It was strange: despite all the feelings she felt for her son in those moments—fear, concern, dismay and a plethora of others—Meerkat still had the presence of mind to refute the three words that kept tumbling from his lips in frantic repetition. Every fiber of her being rejected the notion.

Of course, she did not speak of this out loud. Meerkat only wrapped her arms around Stingray, cheek pressed to his golden temple, and held him for as long as he needed.

Last one for me, thank you both! <3

Seal's and Meerkat's lips moved, but the sound that came out of them was little more than roaring static. It filled all of Stingray's senses, blotting his vision into swimming black spots, blocking out the ambient sounds of the loch, and turning his sensibilities to water. No matter how futilely he tried to bite at the frayed ends of his composure, to catch and hold them, they eluded his grasp.

He was transported back to that day.

WHERE'S MY SON???

They had found traces of Swordfish after that, but never any answers. Believing Swordfish was alive and well was what had carried Meerkat through it, but believing his brother must be dead was what carried Stingray. Now that he was faced with the reality, he forgot every minute they had spent scouring the Tangle and surrounding area for Swordfish. He forgot how they had found traces of his scent and concluded that he must have run off on his own.

He forgot that it was Swordfish who had left them, and was left only with the pain of having abandoned his most beloved sibling, his brother from the womb.

Ray scarcely heard Seal's instructions, but he felt her chest swell with a breath and unconsciously matched it. In. Out. The weight of Meerkat embracing him began to calm his racing heart. In. Out. The blue eyes stared at him from the backs of his eyelids. In. Out.

Gradually, Stingray came back to himself.

When he felt steady enough, he allowed himself to be guided back to The Taigh. In the days to come he would struggle immensely with the temptation to go off and find Swordfish, at first to show his brother how much he cared, and later to accost his brother for leaving them and never returning. In the end, he would do neither of those things. He would eventually accept the dismal knowledge that Swordfish had made his decision and it was not Stingray's place to correct it.

Even Vixen's unexpected return could not pierce the black cloud that would descend upon him once he did.