The Sentinels kohtalo

@Deirdre ♡

Directly following this thread. Slight powerplay of general Donnelaith members.

When the Samhain celebration had come to a close and its audience had dispersed, Lotte reverently approached the altar that had been constructed near Lasher’s grave. Beside it she placed an offering of her own: a glistening conch shell she had taken great pains to collect, as she found the brine-soaked sand largely unpleasant to root through and pick out from between her paw pads. Humming softly to herself, she lifted her voice in song as Emaleth had during the ritual, recalling the words and tune with ease, for swift, impromptu memorization had been part of her bardic training. “You watch over me always, protecting and guarding me, and tonight I thank you,” she sang under her breath, finding particular comfort in the words. She repeated them in a thoughtful murmur: “Watch over me always, protecting and guarding me…” Taking the shell gingerly in her teeth, she adjusted its position to display the patterning of maroon, rust, and peach that striped and dappled the creamy surface.

The smoke-and-shadow bard had been unusually subdued lately, and whether it was because she missed Dagfinn and Lærke or because she felt conflicted about her kohtalo she could not say. She missed Starbuck, too; the kukkatanssija had swiftly become dear to the soot-stockinged rogue. For guidance and for friendship alike, she longed to speak with the málóid banríon — they had seen one another in passing and Lotte cared deeply about the pale queen, but they had not yet been given the chance to converse privately or at length. Still, the usually bold Ansbjørn girl hesitated; she had seen the hurt, stricken look on the forest watcher’s face as she left the gathering and knew that Deirdre must feel some measure of that. When Dagfinn struggled, Lotte struggled; when he grieved, so did she; and when he was happy, no matter what the argent-eyed girl was going through at the time, she was happy.

“Dagfinn, kaksoisveljeni, kaipaan sinua. Kaipaan sinua niin paljon,” she said unhappily. Nothing was ever quite right when they were apart.

reverently, deirdre lingered longer than most at the grave. even eilidh, the forests ghost, had gone from this place! her heart ached, a certainty gripping her as she had watched the pale waif depart the ritual, and yet she understood. emaleth had gone once, too; her disappointment worried deirdre, who wished her dark counterpart would never leave again. father, deirdre thought, her eyes boring into the grave, desperate for him to hear her: guide me! i do not wish to fail you... she could weep, her heart ached so deeply!

but the tones of sorrow filled the air, and deirdre remembered the meaningful look lotte had given to her. deirdre's eyes fell upon the handsome woman, and her subordinate's sadness consumed her--she let it wash over her in a slow, painful wave and swallowed her own misery, knowing well she ought to not grieve for herself. she moved toward the chocolate labhandair, moving to nose her gently. what ails you, mo bláth? it pained her, truly, to see her so!

“Mo bláth?” Lotte repeated uncertainly, bestirring herself at the málóid banríon’s gentle touch. She summoned a smile for the green-eyed girl, turning to press her lips gently to one pale-furred cheek in affectionate homage. The soot-stockinged rogue was capable of frank honesty despite the many masks she wore — masks that had collected dust from disuse, much to her dismay — and her warm, rich alto fanned forth on the wings of a sigh as she replied, “It is similar to what ails you, noitakuningatar. The Bear — you know him as Lærke — has gone without a word, and my twin is far away.” Deirdre was perhaps uniquely qualified to understand Lotte’s feelings of loss, given her own siblings’ recent departures. Although Lotte had never met Casmir and had no inkling of his existence, she had been vaguely acquainted with Constantine and had seen the looks on Emaleth and Deirdre’s faces when the pale creature had departed the ceremony in silence. “Dagfinn — my twin — cannot winter here among the sequoias with me,” she explained, without going into detail and betraying Dagfinn’s trust in her. “He has responsibilities elsewhere.”

After a mutual sharing of thoughts and feelings the two parted ways.