Altar of Twilight standing in the ashes at the end of the world

paging @Declan @Dakarai @Aries @Cassiopeia 

The trial took place on March 31st, so let’s date this thread for April 2nd (2 days after)? Sound good?

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The pain of losing her firstborn son was far too great, but the grieving mother was forced onwards by Arturo’s promise of death should they linger too long [or ever reappear] in the hinterlands.

They cut a slow pace yet again, their travels punctuated often by the need to rest and nurse the children [who were none too pleased about being taken on yet another arduous exodus.] The ousting had already proved to an exhausting one, due to the impasses that cloaked and concealed Hideaway Strath, the site of their momentary happiness [Olive was loathe to leave such eden]. The ravine and mountainous ranges had already been traversed once, with the help of an entire pack to bolster their efforts — but with only Dakarai as support and Declan as their shepherd, the journey across exhausted her greatly.

Their travels much more grueling [though they were only two days into their hellish affair] by the great sense of guilt Olive harbored deep in her heart. It weakened her resolve but she moved along, compartmentalizing her burdens and letting the acrid thoughts eat away at the framework. She felt guilt for denying her family the chance to escape such a heinous fate [she remember vividly the night when Dakarai suggested escaping from the negative aura of Ravensblood and absconding with their unborn children, and she recalled even more clearly her rejection of such an idea]. Felt guilty because Sirius would never know the pure, unadulterated loved she held in her heart for him. Felt guilty for Dakarai, who was forced to reexperience the  anguish of losing a child. Felt guilty for the pain and suffering she had caused the mummer queen — Olive would never wish unnecessarily pain upon even her enemies. 

The sylph also felt guilty to the two small babes that remained with them, for Olive was greatly concerned that their expulsion had been nothing more than a beautified death sentence. Dakarai would be hard pressed to hunt enough to keep them both fed, especially in unfamiliar lands. How long would they be able to survive without the cushion of packhood to support them? Though her breast remained supple and flowing for the time being [so much so that her belly was often sore and dripped with lactation for the lack of a third belly to fill], the pale mother worried incessantly that her milk would dry from hunger and stress and leave her babes starving before they were weaned. Aries and Cassiopeia, cloaked in their thin skins of ash and ink, were so small, so nascent with their baby blue eyes and peachy paws — and had already survived so much of this world’s evils. 

They would survive this too.

With this thought in mind, Olive chuffed between her teeth [which held the scruff of her spirited daughter] to gain the attention of the two dark men who paved the for the weakened, waifish mothers. They had entered an area of relatively level terrain and she wished to fill her babies’ bellies — Olive would feed them as often as they would be receptive to her teats, as many times they would let her, trying to fatten them up lest they find themselves in the grips of hunger.

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