Phoenix Maplewood Thinking 'bout the last time I saw you smiling

For two full days following her declaration that Reek give up his title and leave the maplewood, Saena had locked herself away. On that first day, she returned to their joint den only long enough to retrieve the green pheasant feather Tavi had gifted her with—which she then dropped into the mud and stamped down with a paw as she remembered that Tavi was the other half of the formula for ruining her life—and she found another place to hide, which was Arion's abandoned den. By now, she was certain her friend's scarcity correlated with his departure from the pack, and he was certain to leave now that Reek was gone anyway, so she borrowed his den for two entire days, where she alternated between sobbing uncontrollably and burning with barely contained anger. She left only for bathroom breaks and otherwise wallowed, just her and her unborn pups.

The morning of the third day she emerged, disheveled and feeling like she was starving to death. The pups in her stomach were clearly stressed by the 48 hour fast and moved restlessly, and Saena herself was too exhausted to cry or fume any longer. She dragged herself into the sun, blinking with eyelids puffy from crying, and headed on autopilot toward a half-hollow log in the north half of the woods that the pack frequently used for a cache.

@Shreya