omens in the clouds

Raven · (This post was last modified: October 20, 2018, 02:45 PM by Raven.)

@Quixote! Other tags are for reference. :)

Weeks had passed, with still no hide or hair of @Fire to be found. Raven had relied more on @Eljay, @Niamh, @Towhee, and any others willing to puppysit for her than she ever had before as she relentlessly combed the lands surrounding their plateau for any sign of her friend. Each day that she came back with nothing to show for her efforts put another crack in her heart. She loved the Blackthorn with an intensity that surprised her. "You never fully appreciate what you have until it's gone" -- no statement had ever been more true than that one, and it ran through Raven's thoughts with maddening repetition each day that she searched fruitlessly for a tuft of fur, a pawprint, a faint whiff of scent -- anything that might tell her what had become of Ceara.

Some scenarios had crossed her mind. Had Ceara given up on the Redhawks? Had her unrequited love for their alpha female finally driven her to seek happiness someplace else? Had she had a falling-out with someone and left without saying goodbye? All of these explanations were plausible but none of them really added up. Raven believed that the bond they shared was too strong for the fiery she-wolf to simply walk away without a word.

One word kept coming to the forefront of her thoughts, and it was the one explanation that actually made sense: Blackfeather. They were lurking near the Redhawks' lands again, and Ceara had already turned up injured once. All she could think was that they'd somehow come back and gotten ahold of her, taken them back to whatever accursed hellhole it was where they liked to torment their victims. A dark, lurid rage simmered deep down inside of her as she sought out her mate now. Her mind was all but made up, but she wanted him on board for it too.

She wended her way through the trees surrounding their rendezvous site, anticipating that Qui would be there with the pups. If not, then one of their sitters might be able to point her in the direction of her always-busy beloved.