Ocean's Breath Plateau avappasugjuk ⏧

Heph trailed after the party, following with mute grief and without a smile. She had thought, she had hoped, that the birth of Samani's pups would be a time of joy. A time to bring gifts and laughter and stories. She had thought it would fill Moontide and the plateau. Yet Rodyn had gone to ferry the precious young life to Moonspear and Samani was gone, forever.

She did not know what they would do with the body, what they would do with Samani. And yet she could not simply leave her. A bright soft smile. Promises, a journey south, just like old times. Arriving to the shore side by side. Memories, layer upon layer, all bound up with the hopes and dreams of a future that would never come to pass and so soon after she had just returned and reignited that flame of hope.

The last dead body she had seen had been her brothers, and from that she had fled. The urge to run, to forget Moontide. To forget Rodyn's laugh as they spoke of his and Samani's pups eating up all the prey in the coast, to forget Chakliux's pawpads as they ran alongside, to forget the warmth of Iiana's new den. She thought if she could not forget at least she could run faster than any of those ghosts could chase her.

Her breath lay heavy on her tongue and she found it difficult to swallow the ocean's air, before it had felt so light.