Mudminnow River [BWP2] Wrap me up for am I small

For @Zephyr but @Kavik and any others are welcome after Zephyr steps in if that's okay with you? @Rosalie @Polaris @Helios @Alessia

She had ran away after the monster had began to haunt her around her home, her wandering had stretched days this time and she had taken to camping on the ridge of the Cuesta. She had stayed away for a few days now but found peace in it until the tremors began again. She had began to try and find her way down before anything happened but suddenly the ground beneath her caved in and she fell at an angle with the degree, such a sharp drop that she hit and rolled and repeated at a quickening pace, something in her spine crunching near her tail and then snapping a second time causing a rush of hot and then cold that numbed her and stunned her mind. She rolled and flipped until she landed with a sickening splash into the river, drifting downstream and catching roughly on a rock, her head smacking and waking her from the daze. She gasped and choked, grabbing onto the rock and floundering as she found her hind end unresponsive to the screaming in her brain to kick so she could heave herself up. Her eyes rolled around wildly for help as blood trickled down her face from where she hit, the sheer adrenaline of the fear she felt keeping her going "HELP! Papa! Maman! ZEPHY!! HELIOS! POLARIS!" She screamed until she couldn't anymoreand drifted weakly upon the rock, moaning in terror as her focus began to drift and she felt so tired, so tired it was nearly impossible to convince herself to keep fighting.

staying kinda vague abt the @Atwood thing but assuming he came w zeph to scc

Lainie's disappearance is an unexpected blow. He isn't close to his other siblings, not like he is to Helios, but Zephyr nonetheless tries to keep a constant general awareness of where they are, if only to soothe his perpetual anxiety. So of course he notices his sister missing — and of course he has to do something about it. Even if it means leaving his new friend behind for a bit.
It doesn't occur to him that perhaps finding her is a task best left to his parents until he's well past Swiftcurrent Creek's borders. Too far to turn back, he decides, overwhelmed by a sense of urgency as he follows the faded scent trail he'd managed to find. It's easy to ignore the earth's occasional rumbling; such experiences have already become routine for him, though he finds it odd that others seem to register it now, too. He still isn't used to that part of it.
The trail leads him to a steep drop, and at first he pauses in confusion, unable to comprehend the implications. It dawns on him quickly, though, as he peers down past the crumbled earth toward the river below. He doesn't see her then, but his blood runs cold, and immediately he knows he has to find a way down. He starts forward before he can think about it, one step too far to turn back by the time he realizes his error. He lurches, dirt crumbling further beneath his paws, and tumbles unknowingly down the same path his sister had taken. Zephyr is far luckier in his descent, though. He skids more than he falls, paws and forelegs raw and bloody by the time he hits the water flailing. Muddy water fills his nose, and he rises coughing and snorting violently, fighting to keep above the surface for several terrifying moments. It seems to be working — until he realizes the river is carrying him toward a rock. A rock with an oddly familiar black lump resting against it.
Lainie! He manages between coughs, limbs moving with more desperation and far less coordination as he tries to propel himself toward the rock more quickly. He's only partially successful, reaching the rock perhaps a touch more quickly than he might have otherwise. Unfortunately, he doesn't anticipate any success, and his paw smacks into the side of the rock when he fails to recognize its proximity. He yelps at the sharp pain, forcing himself forward and using his claws to scramble onto the rock's slick surface without giving himself time to think about it. Heart racing, he lunges to catch his sister's scruff between his jaws as soon as he finds balance, hoping against hope that he's strong enough to pull her up despite the pain shooting through his paw.

The water was so cold it numbed her...or was that just her body? She whimpered her eyes filling with hopeless tears as her struggling continued to do nothing to propel her up onto the rock, her hind end still not moving and just drifting in the water behind her like the reeds beneath the surface. She wailed, a noise of pure terror as nobody came when she screamed until suddenly there was a splash and coughing and a familiar voice shouting her name. Her heart leaped and she turned almost sliding off the rock as she stared at him with pupils the size of a boulder, watching with terror as her sister struggled to reach her. "Z...Zephyr!" she stammered with difficulty as her teeth clicked together from the shock in her body and the fear in her system. It was a relief when she crashed into the rock and Lainie winced at his cry of pain, already putting more effort into getting onto the rock when her scruff was grabbed. The extra tug caused her to be able to drag herself partially out of the water with her forelegs and she floundered, dragging herself with a panicked cry until she lay splayed on the wet stone. Panting softly she turned, rolling and sliding until she faced him and grabbed his scruff in return tugging back with all the strength she had in her upper body. When he crawled up beside her she panted and lay still for a few long moments, shaking and shivering as she pressed to the fur of her sister for warmth and for comfort. "Zeph...I can't...I can't move my back legs" she whispered softly, emerald eyes falling upon her face. She didnt know what to do, she wouldn't be able to get home by herself. She didnt even know if she would be able to get home at all without a lot of help if she couldn't get her legs to function soon.

Lainie's disappearance hadn't gone unnoticed; he kept tabs on all the children as best he could and had noted the lack of his daughter's fresh scent around the territory as well as the fact that he hadn't seen her in a few days. He tried not to smother the older kids as much, but he at least liked to lay eyes on them once a day, if not more often, and he had started to grow worried when it became apparent that Lainie had been gone for longer than a day.

Despite the rumbles and groans from the mountains, he set out, alerting @Rosalie that he might he gone for a little bit. With the small number of adult members, it was important to communicate with each other whenever they might be gone for any prolonged amount of time. He followed his daughter's scent east into the valley, growing more furious with her the farther away from the creek the scent led him. So when Zephyr's scent eventually mixed with that of his other daughter, his fury increased exponentially. She had already been missing once, and here she was wandering off again. And with everything else going on, why couldn't they just stay put? 

He tracked them to the river much too far from home and peered down at the moving water from the cliff above, his gaze scanning frantically below. They had both definitely been here. His heart began to race as the scents of both their blood filled his nostrils, and his mind raced with all the horrible things that could have happened. He stared down the rocky slope just as the ground shook again. Kavik steadied himself and waited out the earth's protest before moving down stream where the slope lessened and evened out some, giving him a safer way down. He still slid and stumbled some as he made his way down to the murky river. Not wasting any time, he trotted along the bank as fast as could while still able to track his children's scents. 

He heard their frantic voices before he saw them, and he broke into a sprint, skidding to a halt near the rock as he called out to them. He swallowed hard as he took in Lainie's injured state. His eyes scanned Zephyr, noting bloody scrapes on her paws and legs. The rock wasn't too far from the bank, and Kavik waded into the muddy water. The current was strong, but not more than he could handle, especially now with adrenaline coursing through him. Are you two okay? Lainie, are you able to get on my back? he asked as he reached them, unaware of the extent of her injuries. He only knew that she looked worse than Zephyr, and so he had decided to get her out of the river first. He wanted to carry both of them together, but he was afraid one of them would fall back into the water.

Once Lainie was safely out of the water, Kavik went back for Zephyr, sore and tired but ignoring it to pull his other daughter from the water as well. Once he was sure Zephyr could walk, he would hoist Lainie onto in back and bring them both back home. 

Archiving this; let me know if you want it reopened