Stone Circle and at once I knew I was not magnificent

She'd been wrong it seemed, in her assumption that the herbs she collected were safe and good, harmless. Initially, she'd avoided touching the herbs she didn't know, but the increasing pain in her forelimb had her try the lot of them, going through the piles methodically, applying first poultices and later, chocking down the most benign looking along with the poppy seeds she'd started to ingest. It was this insignificant day near the end of the year's first month, however, that she found the castor beans. They seemed, small, shriveled, insignificant, and reminded her of much larger poppy seeds. It took a moment of inspection for her to decide that surely they could not be used in a poultice, and thus it was after a moment of trepidation that she carefully swallowed down one of the tiny things, hoping for relief from the grating pain in her leg. 

She knew almost immediately that she had made a mistake, knew it when her throat started to burn and her lips itched and swelled. She twisted, making for the entrance of the den as her face started to water, and made it to the small clearing outside before her throat started to close, and it got hard, suddenly, to draw air into her greedy lungs. Fear made the situation all the worst, had her crash into the snow as her face streamed with blurred tears and her maw fell open in rattling breath, the brightness of sun upon snow suddenly blinding, until the tiny bit of fog that resulted from exhaled breath faded into a wisp, and then nothing. The girl twitched once, twice, until finally, her body spasmed and her heart ceased it's beating. Wide blue gaze stared sightlessly into snow-dusted branches, the eery silence of the scene already disturbed by an inquisitive raven.

She'd left the mountain pack with a few wounds to lick and aches everywhere. She decided to backtrack and once again found herself outside of the pack that housed that dog she'd tormented. Only hesitating briefly she cautiously made her way into the territory, wandering deeper than she had before. Suddenly a strong and ugly scent blew to her and it was instant that she knew what it was. Death. something had just died recently.

The cawing if crows drew her forth until she spotted the white body laying against the snow, lifeless blue eyes already glazing over to officially lose all the light life once brought to them. It was fucking disturbing to say the least. Bhageera moved closer and swatted at the crowd pecking at the girls body. "You poor thing....well....waste not want not" she murmured and lowered her muzzle, tearing into the still warm ribcage of the girl. The meat was fresh and she settled down to fill herself before she would turn and run like hell, not wanting any wolves to blame her for this hideous death.

Valette trotted through the territory. The female was in a chipper mood. The weather was becoming better, and they had taken down one of the bison. They had plenty of food. Steph seemed to be healing and Nikai as well. Valette knew they were all going to be well. All thanks to the healing knowledge of her daughter. Valette couldn't be prouder of Keoni. She hummed, then by chance she found her scent. It wasn't too old!

Valette decided to track it and have a happy chat with her daughter. She wanted her to know how happy she was with her and how much she loved her. Valette smiled at the thought. Her tail was wagging happily as she tracked her scent. But then blood came to her nostrils. Valette frowned and made more haste to find out where that fresh scent of blood came from.

Then the mother saw the sight of Keoni on the ground and being eaten from. Valette yowled in shock. She rushed forward and could tell instantly that he daughter had died. Valette let out a mournful cry. She draped herself over her daughter. "No, Keoni!!," she started to sob. First Steady, then all those injuries and now... Keoni had died!? Valette felt her heart break. Why did this happen!?

Valette let out a mournful long howl. Pain laced within the sound coming from her throat. @Nikai should know. Valette watched her body through the tears. She seemed eaten but that didn't seem the cause of her death. Her lips were weirdly swollen. Valette couldn't look at her and just buried her face into Keoni's neck and started to cry again. Her daughter. Dead.

The slow hobble of his three legs tore at Nikai as he walked. Step, step, hop. Step, step, hop. Step, step, hop. The call sounded urgent but there was nothing urgent about his pace because he simply could not move any faster. He had been thinking he should ask Keoni about his leg, because it seemed to have only gotten worse the past couple of days and he still wasn't able to put pressure onto it. He hadn't wanted to bother her with it too much, he'd always thought it would just pass in time, but what if it didn't? Something war wrong with Valette, so he continued, a frustrated frown on his normally so chipper face — Step, step, hop —

— Step, step, hop. He saw Valette in the distance. There was someone on the ground that she was draped over. Ears perked forward as though it would help him see better. The slowness in his gait became more and more frustrating the closer he got. His heart skipped a beat as he saw his sister's shape. Forgetting everything for a moment he put his bad leg on the ground, tried to run, ran for a meter or three before he crashed to the ground with a yelp. With shaking legs Nikai heaved himself to his feet and he had no choice but to step step hop closer. The burning in his leg was easy to ignore as he watched Keoni intently. Everything else seemed to have just gone away.

As he arrived Nikai fell down by Keoni's side. He buried his face in her neck for a good moment, his body shaking softly under the weight of reality. Even Valette was forgotten for a moment, until eventually Nikai said, his voice calm and even: "Who did this?"

i assumed that @Bagheera is already gone considering Valette's post mentions her no longer being there, but if that's an incorrect assumption, please PM me and i can edit!