Swiftcurrent Creek put your dreams away for now

dated to the 15th :)

she's not been back here since her first litter's disappearance. the creek is a haunted place, quiet and empty. she'd told @Artyom that she would be back before nightfall, and @Daylily had agreed to help with the children (and ensure that Juniper would not try following her again, though she was beginning to think she'd learned her lesson with the threat of being grounded to the rendezvous). 

the gentle birdsong here does not seem fitting. this had been kavik's domain, once, the setting of her first failed family. her paws drew her to that den she'd shared with stone and brook. her throat grows dry as she nears, something too large to fit lodged in her chest. she noses over the vegetation that's bloomed around the den in its abandonment, remembering a family imperfect and lost. 

she withdraws, shifting to face the mountains. it's selfish of her, to get caught up in the past and her own mistakes when one of their own is missing, yet again. unlike pele, however, surya's disappearance has a distinct, tangible lead. the mountains. it has become apparent that at some point, he's crossed them. the matriarch can not, will not follow him over the peaks. never again will she leave those she loves in search of the missing. 

but she owes it to the man to search where she can, and this close to the mountains, she holds out hope that a loner, a scout, might make their way into the valley with some indication of what's occurring on the other side of the range. both are reaches, but they're what lies within her ability at the moment.