Stavanger Bay the stars feel your sorrow and aching heart

There isn’t enough sleep in the world that will roll Qilaq out of her slumber longer than a few minutes. Having resorted back to being barely more than a newborn, she finds herself eating and sleeping and barely room for anything else. She’s hardly given her younger siblings the time of day—there had been three when she left, four before she killed one—and she doesn’t even recognize them. They are weird little things with stumpy legs and fur and Qilaq is far more afraid of them than anything, keeping herself tucked somewhere near the back of the den she feels entirely unfamiliar in.

Night has fallen by the time Qilaq’s eyes flutter open again and she blinks back against the darkness. It makes it difficult to orient her mind and she unsteadily picks herself up and works her way out of the den, careful where she puts her feet. The squeak cries in her head with each step and doesn’t clear until she’s out in the open where the winter bites through her coat. Her ears droop against her head and she swings her head back to the entrance, tempted to tuck herself back in the warmth—what the five of them can share—but she refocuses and takes a few steps out into the snow. It’s only a matter of minutes before her toes become numb but it doesn’t slow her down.

Sage had yet to have the linger feeling of nostalgia leave her after seeing her old friend Judas again. He seemed well, and that's all that really mattered. He could have easily died or fallen more insane than the first time they met, and the shadow likely wouldn't care, but the members of Moonlit all held a sense of concern from her, no matter how miniscule it be. All except for Issun, she had no desire to speak to the wolf again. He cheated on her, and the Hills had softened her rock hard edges, forcing her to forgive him. What an imbecile she was to do so, and now to abandon Blackrock, what a coward. 

The ebony contour of her body was hardly visible in the already night fallen atmosphere, she moved about silently along the grounds, aimless as could be. It wasn't until a new scent filled her nose did she pause, ears twitching for any sense of direction of the stranger. Soon enough the wandering creature is spotted, and it was a yearling, one equally, if not more so, as jet as her own. She blinked for a moment, before uttering out into the darkness. "Are you allowed to be wandering?" 

Qilaq had wandered the expanse of Blackrock Depths for months prior to her getting lost and rarely did she find another. She didn’t go far too often but once in a while she found herself on the edges, wandering around until she came back around to the den. When she moved from her parents den not long after the birth of her siblings, she didn’t explore as much with the den she’d found to be calming enough to settle her through the night. Now, tucked away in the back of the family den until she felt comfortable enough to be elsewhere, she found herself wanting to stretch her legs.

When another approaches and speaks to her, her ears droop back against her head and she stills all movement except for the way her face scrunches up in confusion. Neither of her parents have forbidden her from doing the things she wants to do but she has felt they were closer than usual. Perhaps because the puppies were a little bit older or because she had been missing but she didn’t mind their company. Still, they do not stop her. “Yes?” she asks more than says but her confusion doesn’t clear her face just yet.