Phantom Hollow bluegrass

for @Vaska or @Ceridwen or both! <333

"'dwin?"
chickadee's voice was plaintive in the lowlight of late evening. she had managed to sit up, aware that a stranger's scent was all around her. but with it was that of her loyal sister, and it was to this that she clung.
her breath caught; chickadee stared around at all the details of the hollow with a horrified expression.

Dwin had spent some of the most horrible hours in her life, while waiting for the pale man to get help and observing Chicadee, making sure that she was still breathing and that she did not get cold. Eventually she decided that the best way to deal with her own frustration and fear was to do something and she spent time cleaning her sister's wounds and talking to her softly, telling her everything. 

Dwin had not been particularly close to Dee, when they had reached their adolescent months. They were very different, even their taste for stories did not match. As it happens, there had been moments, when both had been annoyed by one another and Dwin could remember at least one occasion, when in the heat of the moment she had told that had they not been of the same litter, she doubted she would be friends with Dee at all. 

Now all that felt wrong and insignificant, because Dwin was facing the very real fact of losing her sister and her own helplessness in being able to prevent that. Though she pleaded to all gods and supernatural creatures she knew, she also realized that in the end no one was going to help. That Ash Paw may have been right in the sense that some things are predestined. There was nothing you could do about them. 

Therefore it is easy to imagine her joy, when Dee's eyes fluttered open, she woke up and the first name she spoke was that of her sisters. "Dee!" Dwin replied pressing her head gently against her sibling's neck gently and then looking her in the eyes. "I was so worried about you. I am glad you are awake. Help is on the way," she told.

her mouth tasted awful! but dwin was here, dwin was close, and it was like she had never been gone.
help. pain flashed through her body. she sat back and decided she would not try to get up again. instead she lifted a weak arm and wound it around dwin's shoulders.
"where am i?" it didn't feel like brecheliant. but then again, chickadee had not been herself since what she had seen.
"there was a man, i think?" her voice was soft. she looked quizzically at her sister, feeling that same earth taste in her mouth.

Dwin let another wave of frustration wash over her - she lamented the fact that she had not paid attention to medical herb lessons, when Eljay had given them, and that, when a healer was really, really needed, no one was around to help. Both cases were out of her control, she knew that, hated it and then just let it go, exhaling deeply. Her being angry and stressed would not help anyone. 

"I have no idea, but home is over there," she told beckoning to the chopped-off mountain peak in the distance. "There was this big, white, rude guy, who I saw dragging you somewhere. He denied any wrong-doing and he promised to go home and bring someone... anyone here," she told. "What happened to you? Who did this?" 

chickadee closed her eyes, shaking her head swiftly. "i — i was trying to find ani," tears welling harshly, a sob on her throat. "then i found a —"
flashes of the torn body, the shredded face, the blood, the blood
and she couldn't say it, she simply began to cry, openly and keenly into dwin's fur, unable to say any more even about the man who had found her. she didn't remember him.

Ani? Who was Ani? Dwin furrowed her brow, not recognizing her adopted sister's Shenanigans name right away. She had never got around calling the girl by the nickname, because it was annoyingly similar to another word. One which was less associated with pretty and kind-hearted girls more with anatomy, therefore would make Dwin struggle not to roar out in laughter every time she heard it.

"You were playing hide and seek?" she asked, not being able to fathom a reason, why the two close friends would go on their own, especially outside Brecheliant. "Wait - did something happen to her?" it dawned upon her that there might be another injured wolf wallowing around somewhere. 

As the silence of the hollow engulfed him again, Vaska knew that he had done it. Finally. He'd drop these ladies off at the river he'd left the sisters at, then hurry off to some lonelier corner of the scene, maybe find a hollowed out tree or a nook in a rock or something. Anywhere he could catch some much needed sleep; in these last hours of the race, he'd fuzzed out of reality enough for him to know that he'd been awake for way, way too long. But Brecheliant's entourage followed behind him - and this kept him awake. He'd be sorely outnumbered and on a bad page of more than one wolf if he decided to take his time in delivering these wolves to Chickadee and Dwin.

And thank the stars Dwin had listened to him and hadn't gone far from where he'd left them! As the sisters bobbed into sight, Vaska flashed Dwin a cocky look, before he gave a nod to @Teya, @Amalia, and @Bridget, and peeled off towards the nook of some vacant tree. He'd done what he'd been asked in getting these wolves to Chickadee. The least they could give him was some space to rest.

But while he'd sink to the ground in a pile of mud and blood and messy fur, he would find his eyes drawn to the girl still in the mud. And he would watch them, through pale ruddy eyes, for at least a little while.

Bridget didn’t immediately move in when they arrived, though she did step closer.

She wanted to treat any wounds and make sure things were fine, but things didn’t look quite as dire as they’d sounded at first. Ceridwen was there, which was definitely a surprise, and Bridget gave her a friendly look as well as she paused and looked on.

She would wait until Chickadee seemed ready, or until there was opportunity to ask.

Amalia stayed to the side, observing. She'd be available if Bridget needed her to fetch something. She may not be as good as Alaric, but she had spent enough time with him to know some herbs that could help. While she waited. She pulled at some cobwebs with a stick, she wasn't sure if Bridget would use them, but she wanted to feel useful instead of just like some extra baggage.

teya followed as fleetly as she was able. chickadee and ceridwin were there; she dropped close with a low sound of worry and looked to bridget. but she did not ask; teya would trust.
where she was directed, she would be, and when she had a chance to step aside, she might murmur to @Vaska that he should come back to brecheliant in the weeks to follow, to check on the girl he had rescued.
teya decided she owed him for this, even if she would not put the debt on the rest of the caldera wolves.
the raven would pick a path for them all back to brecheliant when bridget decided the girl was ready to be moved.

she can be skippable! last post for me!

chickadee wanted to say, she wanted to answer, but then others were arriving: the man she did not recognize, bridget, then a woman she did not know, and then teya, following.
and it was all too much for chickadee, who was relieved to see and smell those scents which she knew, but whose faces looming so direly over her frightened the girl into silence.
her paw tightened to that of dwin, and she did not let go so long as she was able, eyes mutedly taking in all that was happening even as her voice died.

Last one from me as well! You can PP Dwin following everyone home.

Waiting for help felt like an eternity, while in real life most likely not much time had passed. She had fallen asleep, not aware of it, until the sound of approaching footsteps made her head perk up and look around. She was relieved to see familiar faces and once they were near enough, she got to her feet and greeted them, told all about the situation as far as she knew. 

Then - happy that there were others to take over the responsibility she gladly followed orders and helped to bring Dee home. 

will wrap and archive this!

Bridget noticed Chickadee’s discomfort immediately and motioned for Amalia and Teya to stay back and away from her. Then she got down and approached slowly, speaking and smiling reassuringly. Hey Dee. We’re here to take you home. First, I need to check and make sure you aren’t hurt. Okay? I just need to look. She could treat anything she found once they were home, unless it was life threatening or infected.

Now that they were here, the rush was over. She’d take as long as she needed to gain the girl’s trust and ensure she was okay to make the travel home. In the meantime she quietly suggested that Amalia and Teya might go try to find something for both girls to eat. They looked like they could use it, and it was a way for them to help without all crowding around. It was a bit of a trip back home.