Broken Antler Fen Phoenix Flies

praimfaya turns her head in dacio's direction, watching as her klikalida retreats from the scene. though she finds his wordless departure a little strange, she chalks it up to him finding that henwen isn't a threat. the older woman was the first and only recruit of blodreina and praimfaya — though some might call too young and naive — trusts her despite her disappearance. perhaps, in this, the worlida is too trusting but she is desperate not to lose any more of her kru. already, she has lost three bloodkru and one is missing in action. she is not sure she can stand losing anyone else — though she is bitterly aware that loss is inevitable.

praimfaya's attention returns back to henwen soon enough though as the woman begins to speak, affording her, her rapt attention. henwen speaks of getting lost after having followed the herds too far. understandable, praimfaya thinks, and the deduction of the earth trembles having spooked them away was the same that she, herself had came to. it would seem so, though some herds would've begun migrating on their own anyway. i am glad you are alright and that you've returned to us, the worlida welcomes back her kru with open arms.

as for how she's been ...well... that was far from a simple thing to answer. worried about what schemes the rusalkan crone was plotting, worried about isi — a worry made worse by her bloodkru's apparent disappearance from the safety of moonspear — her father's believed murder ...it was a lot; and to say that praimfaya did not feel the weight of warring worry and grief would be a lie. she is very good at keeping a brave face, telling herself that 'the dead are gone and the living are hungry' ...but practicing it when she was alone was a different matter entirely.

my father has been murdered, ironically, at my mother's grave. the image of finding his body: blood soaked, innards spilled out on the stone blackened by his lifeblood, his muzzle inclined towards her mother's bonebare one still haunts her. i am ...doing the best that i can. by 'best' she means throwing herself into her lessons and the search for isi and the hunting of the rusalkan crone by avoiding actually dealing with her grief — just as she had before. was it healthy? probably not ...but it is how praimfaya chooses to cope with the two fissures in her heart that her parents had left behind.

nanowrimo: 429