Phoenix Maplewood there was an empty space in the shadow beside you

They'd found the wood to be a good respite from the storm, which raged around them even now. Smoldering gaze peered out into the swirling snow and the dark-painted boughs heavy with thoughts she could not quite shake. The sky was draped in shades of charcoal and ink, and with a look at her sleeping companions, she rose silently and moved to pace a little deeper into the wood. She offered one backward glance at Easy and @Aditya before slipping further between the boughs, for a few moments accompanied only by the odd silence that came with such a storm, that only served to emphasize the creaks of the boughs.

She paused when she came to a small clearing, nose to the ground as she searched for the tiny rush of water she could hear only barely. She spent a few moments tracking the tiny trickle until the thick ice that bordered it gaped wide enough to allow her to sate her thirst. The heaviness that had settled in her chest had not shifted since the night of the red moon, and while she tried to suppress it, she could not rid herself of the foreboding. It was wrong to feel this way, surely, did she not have everything she wanted? Did she not have all she could to be happy? And though she did, and the sleeping companions at her rear were obvious of that fact, she could not stop the and yet-