Golden Glade Farewell Tour

brb crying

god damn, was it good to be back.

there'd been so many lows. she could remember each and every one of them-- vividly. her disgrace to porcupine ridge, her naivety towards her own heat, wesleigh, the religion she'd let plague her home and family, the family they'd chased from their own home, and then the abandonment of... so much. her own son, tapat, for one, but so many other things. but she'd also remembered the highs-- fondly, too. the moment reek asked her to become his beta, and then his wife, the birth and survival of her sons, the claiming of the glade, and then of their new home-- away from this place. standing here, beside reek, she felt it all.

back home astik was in charge, and he had been raised well enough to thrive as the packs leader. jhala had no doubt in her mind that he was capable, and she was happy to leave it in his paws. she was still young, perhaps not spritely, but reek was craving retirement by now-- and she had stuck with him long enough to want to follow him wherever he went-- even if that meant releasing a little bit of power to her son. 

all was well, in her mind. her husband-- though old-- was as great as ever. he'd seen his own lows, and she'd been there for each and every one (since she'd entered his life, anyway). to her, this was just another visit, a mere trip. soon enough, they'd pack themselves back up and return to astik and live a quaint little life in retirement. hell, she'd even thought about more kids, because now they'd actually have the time to invest in them-- they would stay together, too.

she wondered how tapat was. she thought about him often, but knowing him and his memory... she could only assume and reek and astik were long forgotten by now. she hoped he was happy and safe. 

"d'you remember the day we met?" she asked, breaking a long moment of silence. she remembered it, very clearly too. "we were so different back then."