Northstar Vale And I can end the planet in a holocaust

Jack had slept in!

The boy was roused from his nap with a snort and a jumpstart. His paws kicked into empty air before he righted himself and tried to remain cool. It was then that he noticed his sister had gone off somewhere after lessons. She’d snuck away to do something without him and he was not going to let her get away with it.

Sniffing her out, the boy found himself lost along a ledge. Like she’d been there and then she was gone. He paced back and forth, unwilling to take the risk of any slippery leaps. His eyes were squinted in a problem-solving way, but Jack wasn’t much for thought. He backed down from the ledge and found a winding path to the lower earth.

This was when he scented blood. The boy furrowed his brow and trekked forward, wondering if Leona had come out to catch something to eat. He wanted to see if her prey was beatable, if he could nab something bigger and better.

Oh, there she was! Jack grinned excitedly to his sister and raced to close the distance between them.

Whatcha doing stupid? he mocked her teasingly. But something was wrong…

Jack’s ears rose and fell on his head. He glanced over his shoulder, uncertain. There was a feeling like a stone in the pit of his stomach.

@Leona?

The boy had drawn closer. He saw the way her legs had crumpled up beneath her. He saw the blood before realizing that it was hers. Sickness swam in his belly. Jack’s eyes were wide, shocked, unable to look away from that horrific sight, no matter how hard he tried. He vomited in the snow.

Without knowing where to go, Jack ran.

Zulema's ear picked up at the sound hurried steps. Raising her head from the boring ground she was sniffing at her head moved with him as he ran.

❝Jack?❞ It was nothing short of a shout, hoping to slow him down.

If the boy did not slow she would hurry after him, something wasn't right.

She felt perky again today and poured her energy into several long patrols. The latest one was particularly uneventful, save for two bouts of sudden vomiting, which Towhee figured was as good a way as any to mark a border.

As she moseyed back to the roost afterward, Towhee paused when she saw Jack streaking across the vale. Her eyes cut from him to Zulema and she wondered if the two were playing a game of tag. She was still feeling rather zesty herself and wondered if the kids would mind if she joined.

Hey, Jack! Zulema! Can I play? Towhee bellowed as she trotted after them. I’ll be ‘it’! she offered.

It was Zulema’s voice that slowed the racing boy.

Jack spun around to face her. His face was streaked with tears. He didn’t want to cry in front of a girl but he had no choice, as the tears continued to pour from his eyes. The young wolf didn’t know what to do. He was filled with indescribable grief that he didn’t think Zulema would be able to fix. She was just a friend and Jack had seen-

Towhee’s voice made his eyes grow wide.

Fear filled Jack like nothing ever had before. She barked out to play. She’d wanted to join them in a race. The young wolf saw his sister’s legs crumpled brokenly beneath her. He saw the red and remembered the smell of her blood.

Jack flung himself to the ground and cried some more.

Again, something wasn't right, and Zulema had known when his racing figure first entered her view. Her ears turned towards Towhee, but she had not looked at her. Zulema's gaze had remained on Jack, breath catching tight in her chest when he had turned his head towards her. The expression on the young boys face whispered to her there was a gravity to this she did not understand. That thought that had registered in her mind was further supported as Jack had crumpled into the ground, sobs racking his body.

Zulema did not know what to do. Why was he crying? Of course it was not over something small. No, not with that look. What could have happened in this home she loved so dearly? Was it time for the allusion of peace the girl had grown in to finally go? Even without an understanding of what had happened, Zulema had finally understood that Epoch was not immune to all bad things. The bubble she had imagined them to be in had burst, even if it had no involvement from the outside of this vale.

Her small limbs had ached with a feeling she did not know, her stomach making her want to keel over. Despite this, she approached him with furrowed brows and wide eyes.

❝Jack?❞ Zulema's voice was shaky as she had lowered her head to him. ❝Jack, what happened?❞

When Jack turned and Towhee saw the look on her son’s face, all her playful energy mutated in an instant. Her protective instincts kicked into overdrive as she made a mad dash toward him. He fell to the ground and she dug her heels into the dirt a heartbeat later, halting to stand over him for a moment before immediately slinging her own belly to the earth.

Jack? Jack, what is it? What’s the matter? Towhee demanded, checking him over for any sign of injury. She thought she smelled blood, though she could see no evidence of a wound. Jack, Jack, I’m here, she murmured even as her heart thundered frantically in her chest at the sight of her confident, goofy, upbeat son in this wretched state.

She sensed Zulema coming to a stop nearby but Towhee didn’t even glance at the girl, her world narrowed down to a focus on only her child.

Phox had been hoping to track down his niece and (re)introduce himself. He had not yet reconnected with her since he had come back, and it would be nice to spend a little bit of quality time with her. A tracker by nature, the Redhawk's stomach turned when her trail simply disappeared over a steep ledge.

Carefully, Phox made his way down an alternate path—picking up Jack's scent now—stopping frequently to plot the best route downward. And when he found himself at the bottom, his fears were confirmed. His niece's body crumpled. A pile of vomit in the snow.

Jack had found her first.

His heart dropped, and Phox put his head to the ground to search for his nephew, fearing he may bolt far and away before anybody could reach him. Such an awful, awful shock it would have been to see his sister like that. Phox couldn't imagine. And Towhee. Towhee.

Finally, he spotted both Jack and Towhee, along with somebody else he did not know. -Towhee,- he said, ears flattened against his head. -Leona—she-—but he couldn't make the rest come out. It caught in his throat.

Phox showed up at either the best or the worst possible moment. He signed to Towhee.

Jack felt his eyes well further with tears. Zulema was going to see him crying like a great big baby. He couldn’t even pull himself together to tell his mom what was going on. All he could do was look pleadingly into the eyes of Phox, who was being shafted with sharing the news of the accident.

The boy felt a squirming of fear in his belly.

What would happen when she found out? What would happen to his mom when she knew that Leona was gone? Jack Snipe couldn’t imagine that sadness that would sweep through their family. His eyes were fixated on the ground. He thought if he looked at his mom while she was being told her daughter was dead, he would be washed away in his own tears.

Towhee barely registered her brother’s arrival, still desperate for an explanation for her son’s distress. Only when no answer was forthcoming did she glance up at the other two, her confused and stricken gaze imploring someone to tell her what was going on.

Phox began signing and her eyes cut to him, recognizing her daughter’s name. He couldn’t seem to finish his sentence. Towhee’s eyes bored into him, willing him to spit it out. Then she glanced at Zulema before her eyes dropped to Jack again. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to intuit something horrible had happened to Leona.

-Where is she?- Towhee signed, her limbs practically jackknifing the air. -Stay here with Jack,- she added the moment Phox gave her some semblance of directions.

Not sure what state her daughter would be in when she found her, Towhee could only brace herself. She supposed she already knew the girl was dead, based on the reactions of her loved ones. Trembling from head to toe, knowing her life would never be the same again, the mother went to her daughter.

I’ve revived this and posted out of turn since it’s an important thread and I wanted to tack on a post for closure!