Ravensblood Forest All I do is love in spades

Days had passed since the children had been born, but the ache of grief was as keen as the moment it had arrived. Grief was a shadow that followed her, at times consuming her. Her thoughts meandered like leaves on the wind, revisiting past losses as if they might be tombstones in a graveyard that existed only in time. Rosalyn, Erzulie, Sobo, Valravn- each loss was a wound that had never fully healed, cracks in a dam that she had given up on trying to patch.

She feared for her sister's well-being. Her hips wobbled when she walked, occasionally a toe would drag- indications she had not survived the traumatic birth unscathed. While the children would have no shortage of milk between the two nursing women, Chacal took on the role of nurturing Mireille as well.

She sat by a nearby creek, searching the water for any sign of a fish though the mesmerizing current transported her deeper within her own grief. She took time to feel her grief, exploring it in spite of the pain it brought because at least through her grief she could find some semblance of escapism.

A familiar lullaby pulled her from her reverie, causing her to gasp. She glanced to Mireille, and then squinted into the dark forest. Not wanting to arouse suspicion from their captors, Chacal casually leapt to the other bank of the stream, so she could study another bend in the water, searching still for fish. The move brought her, quite intentionally, closer to the shadows where her son and Anselm were hiding. To disguise the sound of her son's gentle voice, she hummed the melody herself, fighting back tears at the realization that there might be some hope for them yet.

Help had come; but would it come with a cost?