Noctisardor Bypass trigeda

her nightmares had worsened and it had become harder to eat anything. the sleep deprivation was awful; often she woke to find caracal staring mournfully at her, only to realize she was not awake all.
the days went on until one day she gathered @John, @Dinah, and @Ava Amara, and they went to find @Reverie and Boone. "i have to go," she said desperately, trying to keep her voice calm for her daughters. "my son @Simeon — i told him where to find us. i told him to come here. so if — if he comes here, i — tell him where i have gone. and i'll be back this way as soon as i can." malakai was on the island. nakano with him. perhaps he would choose to stay.
she felt as though she had abandoned all her sons. she felt as though she would never have them together again. but she could not stay as she was, when each moment felt like death without a home in which she could ensconce the children with her.
giving a description of the trail to the hearthwood wolves, heda again offered profuse thanks and turned her small group onto what would prove to be a week's journey.
noctisardor bypass was technically within the rising sun valley, but the locale had the feel of the taiga. it was vast enough to where they would not need to leave for prey, and her paws bled as she finally led them beneath the sandstone archway that marked the only entrance into the gigantic territory where she had been born.
the lagoon was ice. she dipped her feet into it with a pained grunt, though she tried to bring a smile up now. "look. we're here. this is rivenwood."

it's fucking cold here.
and it was. the entire journey had been, and dinah was exhausted. the pads of her feet hurt, and one of her ears had been ringing on-and-off for the past hour.
but it had become her job to keep her little family whole, oiled, functioning, and by now the girl had settled well into this role. she herded ava along gracefully, fed her family little made-up tales at night to help them sleep.
as they come under the archway, an impending sense of feeling trapped on an alien planet began to prickle dinah's hackles. there are no lavender fields here. there is no oceansong. there is no sand and no greenhills and certainly no daddy.
but this was home now. soon enough, she would have to accept it.
you really grew up here, mama?

After their stay within the Hearth wood, Heda had summoned her two daughters and John himself. She had been with Reverie, explaining to her where they would go, and how Simeon, her one son, could find her. 

The journey to where Heda had spoken, Rivenwood, had begun. It slowly turned into a weeks trip, and time seemed to creep along with each day. Of course, he helped provide what he could, food, protection, company. But, before he knew it, they had reached a pass. The terrain change from green, to cold and frosted — his paws felt cold and numbed from walking on the cold ground. From time to time, he would pause to lick them, with the hope that they would regain some blood flow or feeling.

They spent one last night, and as the sun began to rise, Heda announced good news: They had reached RivenWood!
 
“It’s beautiful, Heda.” John said, as he looked around the vast new territory. And the, when he had the chance, silently gave thanks to God for their safe travel.

they marched for longer than ava had ever known; a band of exiles fleeing the coastline.

spots of blood appeared on the stones, small rosettes of red that caught ava’s attention. her mama was bleeding. she winced as she set her worn feet in ice.

ava shared a silent glance with her sister when she spoke. it was cold here. there were no lavender fields or soft flowers to greet them. no psalm.

john’s spirits were higher than her own. ava’s reception of the stalwart man had not changed — perhaps unkindly. she still remembered the sound of her sister’s skull on sea stone.

she kept her distance, watching small bands of water run in concentric rings from heda’s paws.

rivenwood.

a befitting name for a family riven by ruin.

dinah rejected. john accepted. ava was silent.
heda's heart fell open.
but she stood firm.
"come. we go where we are led." this, an echo of a god she no longer trusted and a time that no longer existed.
rivenwood waited.

home, not-home. a place god could not touch. a place god could not hurt them any longer. mama is still.
she wished her brothers were here.
dinah spares a sidelong glance to john before she turns then to ava, giving a soft nudge to her shoulder. you wanna go look around?
something to do, something to keep them busy until exhaustion kept them awake no longer. she waits momentarily for an answer before turning to face the thicket of tall spruces known to be silencepine.