Redhawk Caldera Sometimes you gotta lose 'til you win

Chickadee was gone. Maia searched for her frantically until it became clear that she’d gone beyond the border willingly. Then she let the tears come.

She had always been fine with their leaving. But with this one there was no goodbye, and something about that felt like the world was ending. She knew it wasn’t. She knew that she would come back; but then, why couldn’t she tell them? Would she come back?

She didn’t want to go home like this, not when she was going to have to tell Eljay and the other kids that another of their sisters had gone without a word. So she cried until she didn’t have any more tears, then tried to clean herself up. It… didn’t really work all that well.

They’d never left without saying goodbye before. What did you do, Maia? How could you make them think you didn’t love them?! She couldn’t breathe. With her eyes closed, Maia sat near the border, trying to calm down the panic that mixed with her distress. Just slow breaths.