Herbalists' Cache long live the queen

morwenna sighed, a sound heavy with the weight of all that had passed in black hawk’s absence. her limbs ached, not from the burden of her body, but from the weight of war pressing into her bones. she did not resist when hawk pulled her close, did not refuse the comfort offered to her, brief as it was. how she had missed this, the unwavering certainty of the woman’s presence.
but the moment was fleeting. she leaned back, the space between them filled with sorrow and truth. sun eater launched an attack against gjalla, she murmured, her voice barely more than breath against the cold air. she swallowed, her throat tight, her mouth dry. they both almost… died. she could not finish it. she could not let the words take shape, for then they would feel too real.
her gaze searched hawk’s, a silent plea for understanding. i went to her—she is at the glacier now. she lives. but blackfell? she did not know. she had left him behind, left the wreckage of her sister’s broken body in the hands of the wolves of darukaal.
a pause, long and fraught. war is upon us. she felt it in her marrow, in the way the air had shifted. she declared as such. ridgeback, ishmira, have been sworn to me. loyal. true. they had given their word, their strength. not to the war chief. nagruk has been named war chief.
but it was not enough. it would never be enough.
morwenna lifted herself forward then, pressing her forehead briefly to hawk’s, her breath warm against the warrior’s cheek. i need you, black hawk. more than she could say. more than she had ever needed anyone.