Broken Boulder To The Galaxy And Beyond

She had managed to hold it back. Hold it back, for so long. So long...but looking up at the stars. And after that other wolf they had buried, it came back to hurt her. And it hurt her hard. Hit her like a great wind, smacking her across the face. And there she lay, upon the Star Gazing rock in the evening, sobbing quietly. Sobbing for her sister...for her Galaxy.

@Lily

She rarely stayed up nights, but this evening, Lily's mind was restless. Pulling herself from her den, she shook out her pelt and trotted out of the tunnel, emerging into the summer night air with a deep sigh. She padded in discontent for a long while, her brain flitting from topic to bloody topic until a sound drew her attention. A sort of keening, a mournful noise. . .

Her ears led her down an aural trail, and she found herself at the base of Star Rock. Above her head, Korei was perched--and crying. Brows knitting in concern, Lily clambered up the boulder, pressing herself against her friend's side with murmured, wordless endearments.

"Hey, hey, what's wrong, love?" she asked gently, pressing her muzzle against the pale girl's cheek. "Why are you sad? It's all right, shhh, it's okay." Her dark tail swept slowly over Korei's flank, almost like a hand petting a fretful cat, calm and steady. She rarely, if ever, saw Korei in a mood less than cheerful; something must have happened to bring her down so.

Korei Julia sobbed quietly upon her rock. But what she had not expected, which she should have expected was someone coming to find her. And someone did. She tried to shift away, but Korei did not have much room to move on the boulder as Lily came up by her side. "L-Lily I..." She could not bear to say it.

She just pushed her cheek against Lily's muzzle, trying to calm herself down. Trying to muster up the words to speak.

Korei was overcome, so much so that words eluded her. That was okay. Lily let her cry it out, continuing to make gentle sounds under her breath, eyes calm and gentle. She would open up if she wanted to. Lily had learned the hard way with Alarian: you can't push someone under pressure. Too much of a shove and they'll break--and likely hate you for it.

She did not want to end up on the same footing with Korei with which she now found herself with the Governor (or, at least, where she thought she stood with Ali).

"It's okay, darling, it's okay," Lily assured her in hushed tones. "I'm going to sit here until you're all better, all right? It's all right, Korei--I'm here." She took the girl in her embrace, the sobs shaking her body as well. Despite the turmoil, she felt somewhat at peace here, under the stars with a friend. She much preferred this open show of emotion to the masks some chose to wear.

Korei sniffed and sobbed ever so quietly, hoping Lily would not hear yet knowing that she could. She then chose to speak as Lily spoke in hushed calming tones. Much like how Rannoch had comforted her. "Galaxy..." she murmured quietly, still sniffing as her chest hiccupped every now and then. There was a long pause before she spoke again.

"I miss...I miss my...my Galaxy" she finally said. And that was all she said, so said about missing her. Missing her Galaxy.

She soothed Korei through the sobs and hiccups, and finally, words came. Lily peered over at her, eyes soft. "Galaxy?" she prodded, as gentle as she could. The name wasn't familiar to her. Likely one of Korei's family members or old friends. Or--

Oh, God. It sounded vaguely starlike. Was Galaxy a star that had, like, exploded or something? Lily had no earthly idea how to comfort someone on the loss of a star. "Sorry your star died. . .it's in a better place." ??? But perhaps her mind was reaching. It was likely another wolf. She hoped.

"Who's Galaxy?" she asked, putting the emphasis on the first word and hoping to steer Korei in that direction.

Korei Julia had to try as she held in a wail at hearing her name. The one she had lost so long ago. She tried not to think on her sister. On her Galaxy...that was till Lily asked who Galaxy was that she broke into a series of crying and sobbing in Lily's shoulder. "She was too young!" she cried, sobbing louder and louder.

Her outburst didn't really answer her question, but it did make Lily feel like Korei was at least talking about a wolf, not a star. Lily rested her head against the pale girl, continuing to make hushed, reassuring noises. She had never really gotten the full story on where Korei had come from, what she had left behind when she started to travel with Alarian and Lennon.

She assumed the sweet girl had a family somewhere, and that this Galaxy had once been a part of it. Maybe this was why she had left. She hoped that Korei would tell her in time. It would give her a better sense of who she was, flesh out her friend further.

"I'm so sorry, darling," Lily whispered, holding her as she cried. "It's okay; let it all out. It's all right to cry."

Korei Julia just wept. And wept. And wept. There was no end to the tears and the now wailing into Lily's fur. Lily said it was all right to cry, to let it all out. But she didn't want to, it brought up her pain again. All she had left behind. All because she had lost her sister, and turned her own family upon her for it all. Korei took it all so hard.

Boy, it must be bad if it was upsetting Korei so. She knew the girl was emotional, but to this amount? Something terrible had happened to this Galaxy, and it had altered her friend's life enough to leave her in endless tears. Lily continued to give her silent comfort, a sturdy dark presence in the night beside her.

She couldn't imagine losing one of her family members. There had been a couple of close calls with Daddy, and one time Jimmy had gotten injured on the border--but that had been all. There was always the inevitable, that everyone died some day, but she'd never thought much about it. At any rate, barring any unfortunate incidents, that day was far in the future.

It occurred to Lily, then, that she likely would miss the deaths of her parents, and maybe her siblings, too. That the last time she had seen them would be the last time. . .ever. That thought gave her pause, and a lump formed in her throat, making it hard to swallow. She ducked her head, keeping her own emotions at bay.

Korei Julia couldn't stop, not till finally her eyes were feeling dry. She was hiccuping on sobs now, absolutely exhausted out. She missed her sister, and was glad to have Lily here. She was like a sister to Korei. A new sister to love her, like she loved Galaxy. 

"S-She was my sister...I could have h-h-have helped" she hiccuped, still in Lily's fur.

Her sister. She blinked, trying--and succeeding, to her horror--to imagine one of her sisters dead, especially Dottie. It sent ice through her veins, paralyzing her for a moment, before she snapped back to reality. Lily licked the top of Korei's head, smoothing the pale fur there before replying: both to soothe the girl and to compose herself.

"You can't blame yourself, darling," Lily said hoarsely, ducking her head and clearing her throat. Clearer, she repeated, "You can't blame yourself. She wouldn't have wanted you to do that. I'm sure you did all you could."

Not knowing the situation, these were fairly empty words. Still, in what situation would they not apply? Korei had never struck her as a wolf that would stand by and do nothing, especially for a loved one; for all her perceived shyness, she had a strong heart, a loyal spirit. Unfortunately, that strong, empathetic heart also had a tendency to shift blame upon itself--

She knew the feeling.

Korei just went to crying again. Part of her still thought it her fault. Standing around, doing nothing but wailing over her body. She had done all she could though. And she didn't blame the one others found responsible. It cost Korei her whole family. She whimpered against Lily, exhaustion taking over from all the crying.

"Listen, darling," Lily said in hushed tones, trying to pitch her voice over the crying without cutting it off altogether. She understood the need for weeping, but she also needed to give Korei her words. "I can't imagine how you're feeling right now. But your sister. . .she might be dead, but she's not gone. She'll always be with you, no matter what."

That was one of the few spiritual bits of advice from her mother that had stuck. A comfort, when things inevitably went from right to wrong. Death came to all, but the spirits remained, looking after their loved ones. Regardless of whether it was correct or not, Lily clung to it, and she hoped it would help Korei, too.

Korei Julia stopped for a moment, breathing slowly now as she was now rather exhausted from all the crying. She deeply sighed against Lily now. She heard her words, but something Lily might not have noticed was that Korei was still very much like a child, falling asleep on whomever was caring for them. And that was coming to her slowly.

The crying slowly ceased, and Lily looked over at Korei; her eyelids were drooping. The ebony-furred girl smiled gently, giving her the slightest of nudges. "Feeling better, love?" she asked, her voice pitched low and soft. She wondered whether she should--or even could--extract herself from the situation when Korei inevitably fell asleep.

But, well, it was a nice evening--why not sleep up here for a change? Being out in the open during slumber did give her kind of an uneasy feeling, but this was home, after all. Not some place she'd never seen before. Lily yawned, not bothering to stifle it, herself beginning to drift off. Her eyes raked the sky, looking at the stars.

There were a couple shapes in particular she'd like to ask Korei about, sometime--but that could wait.

Korei only mumbled into Lily's fur, rather comfortable how she was there. She could feel Lily's yawn through her chest, and mumbled some more under her tired breath as she started to fall asleep then. And then she was off in dreamland, kicking occasionally as she dreamed of Galaxy and their joyful moments.