Blacktail Deer Plateau I'll hold you inside me till the moon has gone and the sunlight come

It felt like Osprey was seeing the world from a shell - her body was there, lying unmoving as the rain soaked her coat wet, while her spirit had retreated to the darkest corners of her mind, hiding away from the truth and trying to make it's ice cold hands warm, by holding them to the dwindling candlelight that was called hope. It was few days ago, when she had spoken with Peregrine, when she had made amends with her friends, it was then she had for the first time dared to believe that everything would be fine in the end. The road to the realization that she had many friends, who cared for her, if she only let them, had been long and rough. It was only the last days, when she had set her pride aside and understood that she did not have to fight alone. That for a long time she had had a supporting and loving family here at the plateau.

When Blue willow found her and came to lie beside her, Osprey was grateful that she did not ask, why and how everything had happened. She would have no answer and just looking for it would shatter, whatever confidence and strength to move on was left. Because, who was to blame, if the children were born dead, if not the mother? The cold seeped through her skin and she began to shiver. This simple thing suddenly reminded her that there was a job to be done, she got up to her feet and cast a distressed glance at her friend. "We have to burry them. So that they are not cold," she said and with that she approached the lifeless bodies of her children and touched them gently with her muzzle, as if not wanting to wake them up.