Noctisardor Bypass tagbleinken

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The participants have indicated the following reason(s) for this warning: emotional rollercoaster, mention of mental illness

for @Dinah, other tags for ref! leaving it aw for *spying*<3

what good was this wealth of natal land if there were not stewards enough for it?
a day's foraging had at last brought up a frozen haunch of elderly caribou. heda had breathed upon the ice and chased away the birds, and had broken the meat from the ground.
she carried it home for her daughters and for @John, declining any portion until they had all eaten first.
when the frosted night had fallen and she had put @Ava Amara to bed in the den she shared with her girls, heda had then drawn dinah to silencepine for a communion that could be only them.
"we have a decision to make, dear girl," the haggard mother whispered as her ears listened to the lagoon. "there are packs in the valley. we could join one of them. we could try to make it across the mountains, the other ones, and see what we can find."
her teeth chattered. the elements and her own gnawing, daily hunger had begun to slowly separate heda from reality, albeit slightly. she tended her own and returned each day; but now she stared off with soft golden eyes at the figure of caracal which had stepped from the shadows to join she and dinah.
"your father would have gone back. well. he would have never left. but i don't want to go back, sweetheart. we could stay here. but i don't think that's safe. so what do we do, dinah?"
her voice lacked insistence, sing-song as her brow furrowed and she stared at caracal, trying to make out what he was saying.