Silver Creek cerulean

On silent paws the Queen slipped away from her guardian, from the watching eyes of her family. Moonlight struck a sickly pallor against the shadowed trunks of trees and their shining new leaves, but Thalassa's dark furs became one with the night as she stepped between them and vanished into the forest. The quiet rustling of life among the undergrowth never slowed beneath her feet. The woodland creatures went on as if she wasn't there at all.

A mouse flashed beneath her paws. A raccoon scrambled up a tree at the sight of her, little more than a masked shadow with beady eyes glinting in the dark. Her ears twitched to catch the sound of its prompt retreat as she passed. Nothing stopped her until she reached the forest's edge, where the creek cut a path toward the distant horizon.

Only then did she allow herself to picture his face, to let her mouth form soundlessly around his name. @Orestes. Her grief filled her throat like ancient blood, cold and thick and choking. Ancient blood bound by ancient curse, that the Raven Queen's joy should always turn to bitter poison on her tongue; that so long as she ruled, her people would always know peace as she never would.

A small sacrifice. Her mother's words always came to her in her grief. One for the sake of many. Thalassa turned her gaze skyward, seeking the eyes of the Gods in the glimmer of the stars above, but their light gave no warmth.