Dragoncrest Cliffs Till my heartbeat stops

She'd been honest with the pack, but the words would never come easily. It was too tempting to lie and to pretend that things were fine, that stepping down had been a choice of preference and not a necessity. That she was not being continuously driven to an unknowable future. Every time she admitted it, even to herself, it felt more and more inevitable. It was as if speaking solidified it.

Still, she was his mother. She knew lying about this would be cruel, and there was no excuse she could make that would hold for long. She struggled to find the words through the shame of it.

Erzulie and Chacal lead the pack now. She began, keeping her words casual but looking towards the trees. I stepped down. It's hard to explain, but things have been changing. It took me a while to know you. I remember now.

She fell quiet, remembering the way Raleska's eyes fell on her. I forgot your mother too. Raleska.

She didn't know if Val was aware, but something about the accusation in the ghost from her dream made her speak on it. Perhaps it would change things. Perhaps he would leave, if he would not have regardless. Perhaps he would no longer see a mother in her. It didn't matter; Raleska deserved to be remembered. And for as long as she was able, nothing would change for Rosalyn as well. She could no longer trust, however, that it would be her choice in the end.