Broken Antler Fen Nice Dream

She grit her teeth, trying to keep herself composed.

This wasn't the first loss she'd faced after all. Not the first loved one of her family to vanish, or fates forbid die — Ibis tried to fight the thought as it surfaced, white-knuckling through it; her eyes averted, a shuddering breath briefly inflating her.

Th-thank you, she breathed, shutting her eyes. She held the pain closer than she should have, but it was an intimate thing, a creature she knew well. As she sighed the weight did not leave her body but Ibis steeled herself within the feeling, focusing, listening.

The offer was a good one.

To have so many eyes and ears out there hunting was good, it was more than she'd ever had available to her for any other loss. What if... What if they don't... her voice is shaking, she can't help it now — the rest of her quivers, too.

No; she cannot think like that.