Redhawk Caldera i will sing no requiem

They stood on opposite ends of a tightrope, each yearning to take a step and each aware of how the rope might buckle and snap under their combined weight. Sorana struggled between the self that wanted to run as far from Brecheliant as her paws would take her and the self that wanted to run to her mama and hide her face in her furs again like she had when she was a little girl. These warring dualities held her fast in place.

It was Teya who took the first step, and Sora felt her resolve beginning to crumble. No no no no, she cried to herself, you have to do this! You will never be happy here! It would be so easy to return to life on the Caldera, but it was a life so caged and tainted by tragedy that it was no life at all.

She broke when Teya reached for her. Sora stretched across the distance for a tight embrace and her breath came in a soft shudder. Missed you too, mama, she sobbed, and wished so badly that was where it could end.

But she could not be happy here, and she could not bear to have to share her mother in a land where unhappiness would rule her.

But I can't stay, she admitted in a fresh wave of tears.