Honeyed Pasture oh, the river

do you think we're going the right way? maggak whispers to @Acrux, jaws splitting in a wide yawn as her tongue unfurls from her mouth. i feel like we are. i can almost smell the sea from here.
they'd been on the run for days now, taking their time as they maneuvered from place to place. maggak began to doubt if anaa had bothered to look for them; if she even noticed they were missing, that they had so openly defied her.
right now, however, she supposed she did not care what her mother thought. look at how big this field is, ru, the starlet gestures her arm outward, the honey-pink sky slowly becoming dotted with stars. it's so beautiful out here. y'think we can see the constellations?

"dunno," he mumbled as he brushed alongside to take a few scouting steps ahead. "place doesn't look familiar but," he lifted his snout to take in a few deep breathes, "it does kinda smell like the sea." that must be a good sign then, right? 

he turned to admire the full view of the field and it's rolling landscape before letting his neck crane upwards to look at the stars. his mouth parted a bit as he stared at the dotted heavenly scenery, "probably. wanna look for 'em?" he asks after bring his head back to a comfortable position.

yeah!
swiftly, maggak trails through the sedge and listens for the hymn of the crickets, laughing as it comes to a stop when she draws near their hiding places. she scans their surroundings and seeks a good spot with soft enough grass to lay in.
crazy how we're seeing so many places we've never even known existed until now, she comments, plopping down on the teetering edge of a steep hillside. she rolls onto her back in order to better see the paint-splattered stars above them, inviting her brother to join her with a whack of her tail against the earth. doesn't compare to home, though, i don't think.
her paws bunch close to her chest as she exhales a contented sigh. oh, look! she points to a particularly bright star that casts its glow over the rest. i wonder what that is.

he mimicked his sister's movements, coming to rest just beside her as he faces the sky belly-up. the mention of home caused a flood of emotions to swirl within, nausea that was not linked to sickness and yet it was there all the same. he did not regret his choice in leaving the mountain, but it was not without the days where he missed his home and those upon it. 

he wanted to say they should send word of their safety, because surely their family was worried, surely there was a search for them! but the words never left his suddenly dry mouth, it was only a gentle hum to the brightest star pointed out in the ever stretching void of the night sky. 

after a moment he gave a lick to his chapped lips and rolled to face the figure of his sister, a soft "maggak," the first of his voice. "i am glad i have you. i do not think i would be me without you and i-" he paused as a million thoughts raced through his mind. and i wish we could be together forever — but he knew that to be a childish dream. "i just want you to know i love you." he knew she knew this, but he could not recall the last he'd said it to her. 

he did not know the next time he'd see his mothers and part of him wished he had told them how much he loved them too before leaving.

surprise wrote itself across maggak's face before she felt herself beginning to laugh; a genuine, heartfelt laugh, rolling off of her tongue like the waves upon a shore. oh, ru, you big sap. i love you too.
she rolls over so that she may press herself into his side, burying her face into his shoulder and pressing a kiss there. i wouldn't be me without you either, big guy, she mumbles, readjusting so that her voice is not muffled by the thick coat of fur he wore. sometimes i feel like you're all i have in this world, y'know? like, sure, we've got our moms, and anânsiak, but... i don't feel as close to any of them the way i feel close to you. you're my best friend.
sometimes she wondered if her moms had any place in her life at all.

"don't laugh!" he teased with a gentle shove to his sister's shoulder as she reciprocated the feelings he'd shared. he turned to drink in the night sky as maggak mumbled something into the thick of his fur he couldn't quite make out. he mucked it up to some sappy words she was probably too macho to say to him directly, and in this he gave a gentle chuckle. 

she gave voice to his own thoughts, and he nodded in agreement before tacking on a, "yeah, it's always been that way for me too." there was a strong sense of comfort in knowing she felt the same way as him. "speaking of our moms," he started with a side-eye to the corner fluff of his sister's cheek, "we should probably let them know we're ok once we reach the shore. they're probably worried about us," or at least he hoped they would be.

do you think they miss us?
maggak grew solemn, suddenly, shifting to peek out at the endless stretch of indigo above them. sometimes i feel like... i don't know, like they're so wrapped up in other things, they can't be bothered to entertain us.
like after you got attacked by that-- that thing, her lip curls up at the mere memory of it. and the brecheliant wolves followed us home. anaa got angry with me for not wanting them there, when it was one of their people who hurt you.
and-- i just feel like i'm never gonna be what she wants me to be, she rolls over to rest her head against the grass, turned away from acrux; she felt the stubborn sting of tears at the corners of her eyes and refused to let him see it. i'm not her. i'm not anânsiak. i feel like you're the only one who actually likes me for who i am.

his mouth parted to offer an immediate response to the first of his sister's words, because of course they missed us! but when the sudden weight of the conversation fell upon his chest like fallen bricks he snapped shut his jaws and just listened. listened to the hurt, to the anger, to the betrayal she felt. listened to the way her voice became thick and her words somber. 

she turned from him, and he pressed his forehead to the space between her shoulder blades. "i don't remember much of that day," but he paused, a lump in his throat being swallowed before correcting, "i try not to remember it." that day was a blur of colors, of black, of red, of two soulless voids of blue consuming him whole. "but i remember you. i remember you fighting for me, defending me, confronting the brecheliant wolves." and it dawned on him then that it had not been any of his parents to do so. 

he buried himself further into the fur of her scruff. "i don't want another anaa or anânsiak. you've always been more than enough just as you are." and if his family could not see that then they were blind to the diamond hidden amongst pebbles.

acrux lulled her into silence with his voice, the tepid exploration of memories which surely pained him to dwell on as much as they did for her.
i'm still looking for it, there is venom upon her tongue, something so rare for the typically calm starlet that she even surprises herself. if i ever find whatever it was that hurt you that day, i swear-- the spirits will not want to watch what i'll do to that fucking beast.
her muscles grow tense, only shifting and calming beneath the tenderness of acrux's touch. she audibly sniffles, her eyes squeezed shut; so are you, she whispers. i'm never letting anyone take you from me, or hurt you, or-- you are the most important thing in my life, acrux.
maggak was the sap now, but she decides that she does not care. throw it all to the wind, let it all burn to ashes or crumble to smithereens; she would let moonspear dissolve into nothing but stardust if it meant it was the only way to keep him at her side. to protect. to comfort. to love.
in all the ways anaa did not.

a frightful, soul-stumbling part of acrux wished to never cross that girl again. for certainly that was what she was — a girl — despite his sister's recognition of her as a beast. a mean spirited, evil child sapped of warmth and stricken with the frigidity of monsters. 

if you drowned right now, no one would care.

he sucked in a breath as he felt the muscles along maggak's back tense, a breath held to the sound of her sniffle. he is silent where she is resolute, and after a moment of nothing but the gentle chirping of cricket, there is an exhale. 

"i want to be strong. i want to be strong for you," he revealed through an earnest press of his forehead. "so that if we find that beast," he decided, adopting his sister's choice of identification, "it will know the strength of us both."

he would not cower behind his sister while she set out to fight his demons. 

"will you teach me?"