bottle it up

Jökull wasn't alone with her grief for long. The soft sniffling summoned Bazi, who had been dozing on the outskirts of the Sveijarn den - as if that would somehow keep Tuwawi and Njal from leaving. The pale Alpha got to her feed and shuffled quietly in the direction of the weeping pup, head cocked to one side and brows furrowed in concern. Her tail swayed gently at her hocks, engaging the longest blades of grass in inter-species, miniature hair-fives.

"Hey, squish," she cooed softly at the unusually silent Jökull, lowering herself slowly onto her haunches. The pup was crying hard enough to flood Swiftcurrent Creek. She couldn't possibly understand that the family was on the verge of leaving, nor that she was unlikely to see her extended family again - but somehow, instinctively, Jökull knew to be sad. "I'm sad, too," Bazi whispered.