Ouroboros Spine nature of life on earth

After a scenic detour through the mountains and a serendipitous rendezvous with her half-sister, Meerkat made another pit stop: the hot springs. She didn't get into any of the warm pools of water, mostly because the odor was rather off-putting. But she did linger, enjoying the raised ambient temperature. She even took a short nap before waking, refreshed, and turning south to complete the journey home to the glen.

As she passed close to Neverwinter Forest, she considered calling for Kyr just to say "hi." But she really needed to get back. Soon the trees were in her rear view mirror as she passed beneath the shadow of Ouroboros Spine. Meerkat could see the glen's familiar fringe from here, as well as Moonspear looming beyond, though she only spared either a passing glimpse.

Something tickled in her throat suddenly and she coughed. The sensation persisted, so she stopped and dipped her head into the crook of her foreleg as she began hacking inexplicably.

@Sialuk

Reuniting with anaa had given Sialuk hope that others had survived, but she refused to believe that until she saw them. And even then, could they really be real? She second-guessed herself at each step, wondering if her mother was but a spirit, here to comfort her until she could handle the truth of things. Still, this small ring of mountains was quickly becoming her home, temporary or otherwise.

A hacking sound put her on edge, and Sialuk froze mid-step to listen, hoping to locate the origin of the sound. When she did, she realized she knew the wolf.

Meerkat? Is it really you?

A soft voice spoke in between coughs and Meerkat's eyes shifted up to see a familiar pale face. "Lil—" she rasped, "Lil Ms Fierce, hey! Sorry," she added as the hacking persisted another moment, her eyes starting to water a little.

When she could finally breathe again, she cleared her throat and raised her head. "How are you?" she asked, thinking of the last time she'd seen Sialuk. It had been at the little puppy party at Bramblepoint. That memory was bittersweet, from what felt like another life.

It was her, and the nickname confirmed it. At the very least, it was a friendly spirit who had taken the form of Meerkat. She did not mention the mountain, the glen, with sadness in her voice, and Sialuk wondered if she knew.

The spear, the glen… they… a great bright light and strange thunder came and took them away. Anaa and I are staying here. A pained expression crossed her face. Meerkat had loved ones in the glen, she knew.

Sialuk's words cut through the memory like a stinging slap. Meerkat blinked as the information processed, not quite sure what she was hearing. Reflexively, she turned her head to look at the mountain rising over yonder. Her mouth fell ajar when she saw the scars on its face, unnoticed in her brief glance prior.

It took her a minute to tear her eyes away from the horrible view. Sialuk had said, "a great bright light and strange thunder came..." What did that mean? What had actually happened? What about the wolves who lived on the mountain and in the glen?

All of a sudden, the coughing jag came on again. It was worse than before, a terrible tickle that eventually led to Meerkat gagging. Her stomach heaved and she very nearly vomited, though she managed to quell the urge, instead spitting sour saliva in the snow.

The winds had pushed the dark clouds in to Meerkat's throat, just as they had done to her mother. For whatever reason, Sialuk had managed to avoid it, or it just wasn't affecting her as much.

Eat the snow; it will help with the cough. Sialuk wished that she could have her herb stores back. Goldenseal or mullein would have lessened the effects. Perhaps wild ginger, too. Alas, she had to work with what was available. At least snow was in ample supply.

She gave Meerkat a chance to do so before asking a question.

Did you travel alone? If more had been with Meerkat, perhaps they had survived, too.

Sialuk advised her to eat the snow, yet Meerkat couldn't do much but lift her head and offer her a stricken look. It took her several beats to parse the following question. When she did, her scratchy throat tightened. Why didn't she ask Bronco to come with her to the coast?

"Yes," she whispered, lips trembeling. "When—" Meerkat tried to ask, only to succumb to another brief coughing fit. "When did this happen?"

Nobody had been with Meerkat. Sialuk hid any sadness or lost hope she might have had with that statement, trying to remain as neutral and hopeful as possible.

One... no, two nights ago, she replied. Time had moved at a different pace since the strange light. It felt both quick and agonizingly slow. Each moment that passed was another without her father, without her brother, without her aunts, uncles, and cousins. She squeezed her eyes shut, sucking in a slow, deep breath before letting it out and returning her focus to Meerkat.

I have made an ulaq—den—of snow for Kukutux to recover. She is very weak and in need of rest. You may stay with us if you wish, for a little while or longer. Sialuk was clinging to any sense of normalcy and familiarity that she could, and Meerkat fell into that category. Perhaps not a close friend or confidant, but certainly a wolf she knew and trusted by association.

A breath shuddered from her raspy throat. Bronco and the others might have been killed two days ago, while she was gallivanting obliviously in the mountains. Meerkat's eyes closed as she grappled with guilt. There was relief in there too, which made the guilt come on stronger.

Sialuk told her about her mother's condition and her eyes reopened. "Will she be okay? Were you—were you guys on the mountain when it happened? Is anyone else here?" Her voice shook as she spoke, though she forced out a final question: "Do we know if anyone was killed?"

A flurry of questions, but not unwarranted, came from Meerkat.

Anaa will recover. I was not on the mountain, but she was, when it happened. It is just us now, but we have called again and again for others and—her voice hitched in her throat. Sialuk did not believe any of them lived until she had seen them with her own eyes, and even those she saw, she half-believed to be spirits not yet gone to the island of the dancing lights.

You are the only other I have seen from the spear or glen. The spirits look kindly on you. And on the others? Sialuk did not know. What had they done to deserve such a fate?

The way Sialuk's voice hitched made Meerkat want to cry. In fact, tears pricked at her eyes. It was painful enough hearing this information, she couldn't imagine living through it. She blinked hard, the tears falling free, and jammed a fist toward her mouth when a noise somewhere between a cough and a sob escaped her.

Sialuk had invited her to stay here, which might be a good idea. Hopefully there were other survivors and they would find their way back to one another and regroup. But Meerkat couldn't fathom staying in this strange place and waiting. It would hurt like hell to go see it for herself, yet if howling hadn't drawn them out, then perhaps someone needed to go in.

She sucked in a breath suddenly when another realization hit her: the wolves of Moonspear and maybe even Firefly Glen were homeless now. Of course, on the coattails of that knowledge, Meerkat knew she would never be truly homeless. There was always Redhawk Caldera. Bitterly, she remembered how she'd already considered leaving the glen to go there.

But first things first. "I need to go and see," Meerkat said in a voice pitched so low, it wasn't even quite a whisper. "I will call to let you know what I find." Before she could think better of it, she surged to her feet. Her legs felt like jelly as she surged forward and touched her nose to Sialuk's neck, murmuring, "Take care of yourselves." With a final cough, she turned toward ground zero.

She understood, and she hoped that Meerkat would not find anything she did not wish to see. Sialuk said a silent prayer to the spirits, old and new, for Meerkat and those she sought to find.

The touch from Meerkat was gentle and more intimate than she had expected, and Sia’s skin felt warm for a moment. When the Redhawk pulled away, Sialuk felt herself wishing to go with her, but her place was here with anaa. She must remain strong for Kukutux; she must bring her back to health.

She watched for a little while longer, then turned north. She needed to hunt. Not just for her sake, but for anaa’s.