Moonspear White And Red Roses

Korei was in heat. She didn't know it, she merely ignored the fact as she had come here. The pale wolfess just wanted to see it, one last time. She started climbing, wanting to see her family just once more. And...to see where she had buried Galaxy. That had been the last time of her living here.

@Hydra

Hydra had not been near to where Korei had found access to Moonspear, patrolling some distance away. But the scent of heat was a beacon to any wolf, her included. At once, Hydra ran toward it; the scent of stranger, of once-sister, was indistinguishable to the matriarch as she went. She simply knew she needed to handle this now; if her subordinates did not understand it, she would teach them patiently enough and harry them out of their heats were they not mated and she not spoken to. 

So it was no wonder that Hydra came upon Korei Julia so late. By the time she had found her, her pale sister had made it some ways up; Hydra scarcely recognized her, thin and scrawny as she was. Isilme was much too young to go into heat, and there were no pale woman among them. Hydra advanced upon the stranger with a low snarl; whoever this was had made their final error in this lifetime. The last thing they would know, as so many had come to, would be the face of death.

Korei Julia had kept on her path for the time being. She hoped to at least see their faces one last time. And her sisters grave. The one she tried to save so desperately. 

A snarl caught her attention, and she stopped climbing. Looking over, she seemed to feel relieved for a moment. "H-Hi Hydra. I came to see our parents....and Galaxy. At her grave..."

The wolf looked back. 

Hydra froze for a moment; surprise was clear upon her features, but only for a moment. 

Korei Julia. In heat, trespassing, here of course; Hydra could not believe her sisters misfortune. Her own, too; her face morphed into one of terrible anger as she stared at her pale littermate, estranged, disowned, despised—but never wished dead. Not once. Why did her sister wish for that herself? Why did she ever do this to her? 

Provoked by her scent, Hydra moved again, a step closer, contemplating. You trespassed, Korei Julia, came her voice, a voice not her own. A voice that trembled. Anger, fear, sadness? Another step forward. Leave. Run. Do not come back. She had already told her sister as much, and yet there she stood. Hydra looked over her sisters shoulder to the vast nothingness beyond, her blue eyes then shifting back to here sisters features. You should not be here. You never should have come back. 

There was nothing for her here now but graves.

Korei moved back, turning to face Hydra first before moving back. Tail tucked between her legs, her muzzle down. She had not meant to anger her sister, and recalled their last meeting. "I...I just want to see Ma and Pa." Truly, she had nowhere else to go. She sought forgiveness.

I just want to see ma and pa, Korei expressed mournfully. 

Do you? Hydra snapped in turn, already angry, taking another step closer as Korei adjusted her own position to face her. Incensed by her scent, Hydra's muzzle wrinkled as she rumbled: they wanted to see you, too, Korei; you left them, you ran from them, you let them think you were dead— another step as spittle flew, an intake of sharp breath as she continued in a heated exhale: Alya told us you lived, not you, and now, now you want to see them, see Galaxy's grave, Galaxy, whose murderer you sympathized with! 

Yes, yes; she was justified in doing what she must here. Korei Julia was too weak, too dumb; she would never survive this world anyway, not for much longer. How she had made it so long Hydra did not know, and never would have cared if she had not seen her again—but this! Coming to her mountain in heat, trespassing—Korei Julia meant to challenge her authority. In little ways, she always did; Hydra had never been bothered by it, thought much of it. She was harmless, was she not? 

Not here and now; this heat, she could beget a child from any. From her own subordinates, which likely she meant to do as a challenge to her own authority. Perhaps she was never harmless; perhaps Korei Julia was far more clever than any gave her credit for. Herself included. 

Hydra took another step forward, ears pricked as she wondered what her sister might have to say to that.

Korei shook her head. She had ran away...but she was alive! She was here now, they could see her now. And she wanted that, more than anything. But when Galaxy was brought up...

"It wasn't like that! I told you what it wwas, no one believed me! It was the-" Too late to correct mistakes, she slipped. Only her forepaws holding on.

She felt @Lyra there now; watching, somewhere... but her attention was not for her then and there. Still! Still she tried to save the murderer, still she defied what she saw with her ow—

Hydra watched as she went backward, did not recognize she lurched forward while yelling Korei! Imbecile!!!! 

Unthinking, Hydra clutched Korei's scruff to stabilize her, to hold her there; her breathing was labored, heavy and hard, and she did not yet realize what she was doing as she pulled her sister closer, anchoring her with her own weight now as she released her fanged hold when some of her sisters forelegs found their way to the cliffside with her assistance. Hydra looked down beyond her sister, again to the vast nothingness. Crevices and emptiness.

Why are you so... she shook her head, exasperated, confounded, maddened by the scent of her. 

Why!

Korei yelped as she started to fall back, till...Hydra. Hydra had caught her. Korei managed to get a grip, panting from the near death experience. She dare not look down, even if she could. Instead she stared at Hydra. The only one of the three sisters who tried to teach her things, like how to fight and stick up for herself...and she looked about to cry.

Hydra tried to slow her heart rate but found that she could not. 

For so long Hydra had fended for Korei Julia while she had been here; it was through her acceptance that she was ever tolerated at all. Time after time, Korei Julia made her regret such a thing... and still Hydra had never hated her for it. She abandoned her ties to her because she no longer could do as she had done; as Korei Julia looked to her, she forced herself to remember that. 

Her infuriating heatscent drove Hydra to the edge and she drawled, you should not have trespassed Korei Julia. But... even I cannot keep you from our mother and father, she seemed to relent. Moving nearer as though she meant to pull Korei Julia up, Hydra moved to whisper into her ear: I loved you once, you know, 

And what did she get for that love? Consistent carelessness and persistent defiance. No more. Korei Julia directly challenged her authority; Hydra had no more forgiveness in her left for the freckled moron. Withdrawing, Hydra looked into the features of Korei Julia and asked: did you ever love any one of us? Nevermind the answer to that; Hydra would never have believed Korei even if she had said yes. Actions spoke louder than words. 

Driven by rage and instinct alike, Hydra moved forward to snap at a paw; her own tears made the maneuver a lazy one at best that was likely well away from its mark. She had never fought through tears before; it was a new experience, and this was a battle she felt she had already lost the day Korei Julia had left them first. 

Korei Julia had been dead to Hydra for a long time; now, she would simply ensure there was no denying that fact.

Korei wanted to cry more. Hydra was starting to frighten her, when she whispered in her ear. Once? What did she mean, once? When Hydra moved away and asked that question, Korei went to answer. No words followed. Only a yelp at the snap. And a howl. As she fell. At least she was able to see her parents, and lost sister.

Hydras miss was clear, her strike not true despite her earnest rage; she sobbed as she again surged forward as though to make a bid for her again, to pull her back... but instead she only watched—

It was terrible. She felt no better for watching what she had set into motion, because it was not Korei Julia she saw rebounding and twisting and slamming against bare rock that would soon be covered by the heavy snow that fell even then—it was her father. Some mistakes truly were fatal, weren't they? Though she would always love her father and had even forgiven him (electing instead to hate the witch who ruined him), when one abandoned the Ostrega's they forfeit their lives. An unwitting thing, that. 

The tears that came were silent ones. There was a point where Korei could no longer be seen; Hydra moved then, and Lyra followed. There was no scent to follow; its end was abrupt, final, and it went nowhere. Korei Julia, Hydra eventually determined, had found the core of Moonspear; her blood, with Galaxy's, with their parents, would water this place. Mother and father would be happy that now, Korei Julia could be with them always; she no longer had a choice. 

Their pale-furred sister had been swallowed whole by a crevice that, once there, could never be escaped; she would never be found, or seen again. She would decay to nothing and feed the things she rest upon, but nothing and no one else.   

Where Hydra had hoped to feel peace, she only felt a resounding emptiness; the same as it ever was, when it came to the yellow-eyed wretch meant to be sister. But at least her unhappiness with her could end, and her fear, too; nothing could hurt Korei Julia anymore.

Hydra: her savior, and her slayer.