Hushed Willows sávvato

“He is gone, by the way. I—I ended his life with the pack’s help. Thankfully, there is no more threat lurking in these woods.” Just inside my head, she thought. Not that she would tell him so. No longer wanting to discuss the former, she continued with the discussion of the cave. He had asked of her singing and her cheeks reddened.

She giggled at his addition to her own personification of the cave structures. “I do, well, I only just started up again after coming here. I am not from these lands, I come from further north. My life has always been a bit…stressful, and my family was always in the middle of something or another for being the largest and oldest pack of our territory, so you can imagine how often I would get away to find some solace amongst the noise. Why not fill it with something beautiful instead? I would travel high up into the mountains, though not so high where the air thins, but just enough to be alone with my thoughts and my songs.” Her eyes had grown distant as she remembered her home, for the first time not thinking of what happened there in the end. It was a reprieve, that was for sure. Reality had rushed in as he had asked of her songs.

“No, no, this was solely something I did. My family, lovely as they were, did not share the same passion. They were more focused on pack protection and war stories. Though I have the same knack for fighting as my father once did, I do not enjoy it. I am tired, so tired of fighting life tooth and nail. It has to give at some point, right? At the very least, I can escape it here, in Hearthwood, in the Cavern. I can wrap myself up in the melodies, the notes, and create a space where I can feel comfort.” She loved the lakes and ponds on the surface of Hearthwood, but she felt at home underneath the hardened rock that housed the lake of which she visited most often. It was interesting to her that she favorited the underground lake over the Sunspire Mountains that embraced her home. Maybe it was the open air that frightened her, where someone might find her? She missed the birdsongs above, but felt a comfort only those who felt like she did would understand.

What did Everett enjoy beyond songs? Was his life as tumultuous as her has been? She had hoped, for his sake, it has not. If there was ever such a way to turn back time, she would do so in a heart beat. If only to see her family and the rest of her pack once more.

It didn’t escape her that she has only been talking about herself and so she asked of him, now. “You said you also sing…do you have a song, or even a tune, that is your most favorite?”