Mature Content Warning
This thread has been marked as mature. By reading and/or participating in this thread, you acknowledge that you are of age or have permission from your parents to do so.The participants have indicated the following reason(s) for this warning: Extreme depression, character death & suicide.
Once, in a land of ice, snow and stone, was a woman as formidable as the land itself. Matched only by the reputation and solidity of her life partner. Brought together by fate, or luck, it made no difference in the end. She committed herself to him. Given herself wholly to him, sworn to stand by his side until their last breaths. She kept that promise. With him she had had all she had ever wanted. A family, three children, friends and a closely knit pack that valued and supported them. Tzila had feared the day should anything bad ever befall her husband.
It had begun that fateful day when he was struck down by lightning. His injuries were severe, but even then, she would not give up hope, despite the twisting in her gut. No matter his odds, no matter his pain or the persistence of the healers to coax her away, she stayed by his side. Day and night, nearly 24 hours a day. She only ever left him to take care of her personal needs and steal a brief few but loving moments with her sons. But as time ticked on, as weeks passed and Wintersbane's condition deteriorated, depression tightened it's grip on her. Hope began slipping away.
But still. Stubbornly she refused to leave his side, now more than ever. The few times he was awake and though delirious, un-recognizing of her, she was a gentle, comforting presence. Trying to soothe away his pain, her tools her voice, kisses and touch alone. She made it always a point to keep one part of her body physically touching him, so he knew, that not for one second, she had left. Tuning out the world, the life of her husband was all she could think about. Even her sons, Arius and Ensio, were but distant thoughts in her mind.
Then the day came. She roused from a half slumber, raking silvered eyes over the thinned, scar littered form of Wintersbane, her mate. He smelled heavily of herbs, but more so of something else. Something much more pungent and foul. She knew it well. Knew that it was close. Endless tears flowed from her icy eyes, her form wracked, shaking with her sobbing. Her heart cracked, splitting. In the final moment when she felt his body go still, felt the life, the warmth slip from his frame, she curled herself tight, close around him. Clinging as his soul slipped away. She laid there for days after his passing, face burrowed deep into the thick furs of his ruff, refusing to be pried away.
He had given her everything she could have asked for, and in the moment of his death, now there was nothing. Realizing what she had to do, in a moment of clarity, Tzila went to her sons. She found them asleep, and did not disturb them. Save for bending down to place one last kiss upon each of their crowns, whispering words of love and her apologies into their ear. Then, numb and hollow, she returned to the side of her fallen mate. There was no shortage of herbs in and around the den which she shared with him. But to be sneaky, she stopped by a medical den and snatched up Water Hemlocke. She was no herbalist, but she knew a toxic plant when she saw one. With tears long since dried, she ingested several large mouthfuls. There was no going back. She had nothing left to live for. She could only pray that her sons would forgive her and find their way in the world, without her. Curled back around the body of Wintersbane, Tzila slipped into darkness, keeping her promise in joining him in death.
The Shadow Queen was one with the realm once more from which she was born.
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