Northstar Vale I'm gonna be free & I'm gonna be fine; but baby not tonight

and so she took it all, the hope, the love for them, the all the desperate things she'd felt when they'd been for a moment, whole, and cut it away from her. she could not bear to be a mother, a lover, a friend. and this valley was heavy with ash and smoke and memories of those long gone. 

she blinks open her eyes to see a woman, petit and coloured with ivory. "hello." comes her voice, raspy and dry against her throat. how many times had she screamed their names, how long had she searched for a trail she could not find? 

"I'm Dawn." stilted, simple words, going through the motions. she did not know how she still stood here, only that to think about the past week, to allow her mind to settle on it for more than a moment would tear her apart.