Ocean's Breath Plateau until there's nothing left of green

It'd be cool for her to meet another someone outside of DL, but I'm open to anyone! She'll be returning home tomorrow if she's not found in this thread.

She had been alone for nearly two days and nights, instinctively huddled in some abandoned burrow to protect herself from the gnashing teeth of those that might prey upon her youth. Although death was a fair sentence for the chaos she had wrought upon the world, little Emaleth was not ready for the next life— and so she remained in her hovel, even to relieve herself, for fear of being found were she to leave it. Whether she were found by the wolves of Donnelaith, or predators, or the Threefold Law itself, the dark child knew the outcome would not be in her favor.

But it was a sharp hunger in her belly that drew the child from the safety of that place.

Emaleth moved slowly, her posture low enough that her empty stomach nearly dragged upon the earth. The bugs were here, too, feasting upon the grasses and sparse foliage that covered the plateau; and they occasionally crunched beneath her paws with a sickening, wet sound. She was old enough to attend hunts with the wolves of Donnelaith, but not yet old enough to participate— she could mimic the movements of the adults, but she was not yet graceful enough to kill even small game.

Insects, however, often met their fate in the snap of her small, needled teeth.

After a moment of skeptical thought, that was how the child ebbed her hunger. She began to eat the swarm that had eaten her home, and after some time of this, little Emaleth found herself at the plateau's eastern edge. As she lifted her small, dark head to snap at a locust that had begun its ascent to the heavens, the youth caught a glimpse of the landscape before her.

Donnelaith; or, rather, the skeleton of Donnelaith. Its tall, proud trees were stripped barren. She had never seen her home from this angle, but she would know her treefriends anywhere— guilt clenched her heart, and a pang of homesickness threatened to coax a sob from her chest. But it was the realization that the storm had extended far beyond her home that awoke a new horror within the small witch; for she could see the Whole World from this altitude, or so it seemed, and the destructive clouds were everywhere.

the bugs that had descended had eaten everything. caught in their temporary state, the nomadic pack had been caught off guard, and without the caches of the Maplewood, Casmir was afraid that their attempts to find food would be unfruitful at best. the locusts had devoured every bit of green, leaving very little cover for prey, skeleton branches reaching to the sky.

he loped alone under their stretching fingers, shivering a bit at the sudden haunting nature of the land. a rabbit flushed before him and he gave chase, but despite his efforts and his speed, it escaped. Casmir swore and panted, pausing to regain his strength before pressing on.

Saena would need every bit of what he found, though he too knew he must eat. but without food, her milk would dry up, and that meant death for the pups. he thought of persuading her to donnelaith, but now that the green was stripped away, it meant that they too suffered.

the quiet snapping of little teeth drew him -- at first Casmir felt it must be a fox, and though he was not thrilled about it, the meat of a fox and other carnivores would suffice when nothing else could be found. he readied himself to pounce and moved closer in a prowl.

"Em!" he exclaimed when his vision revealed no fox, but his baby sister. "Emaleth, what are you doing out here, alone?" where were their parents?

Fear gripped her small frame as the sound of something bigger tore her horrified attention away from the world's edge, and Emaleth did her best to make herself smaller. She wasn't sure if it was another wolf, not yet knowing the sound of their approach, at least not out here— and so her eyes were shut tight, willing the creature to disappear. She believed that somehow, if she didn't look and didn't see it, that she would be safe. Even as a familiar scent reached the child, it wasn't until that the stranger spoke that Emaleth realized she knew him.

"Casmir!" she cried, this time her voice quaking with a mixture of fear and sadness rather than joy. Emaleth ran to him, doing her best to stifle the sobs that rippled through her, and buried her face in the familiar chest. For the moment, she would not answer his question; instead clinging to the comfort of his presence, for as soon as she told him the world would come crashing down again.

"hey, hey, hey, kid," he crooned as she flew at him, sobbing. he held her for a long moment, then pulled away to seek the mismatched eyes set in her downy little face with his own. there were bugs everywhere; his lip curled in distaste, and he flicked away a few of them with well-placed aims of his forepaw.

"now, you gonna tell me how you got out here alone?" Casmir prompted Emaleth again, leaning forward to lick her face free of tears. he glanced to Donnelaith standing silent and bare some distance beyond her shoulder, and frowned.

I'd like to wrap this up soon, but I'd rather wait for it to come to a natural conclusion. ^^

She sniffled against his chest, allowing herself to feel the emotions that erupted in their fullness; this was new, and different, and Emaleth was diligent in her pursuit of understanding. If she did not feel it, how could she know it? All her fears and sorrows thus far had been temporary and fleeting-- she had known this instinctively, and had thus allowed them to flow through her as a breeze. But the death of Donnelaith; that was a sorrow lasting, and one she would experience as a storm that consumed her. Emaleth would know this later as one of the Defining moments of this life.

"I cast a spell," she told him in gasping breaths. He, at least, would believe her as the other had not. Casmir was of her blood. But just as surely as he would understand, he would loathe her for what she had done. "I wanted the trees to grow. They guard Donnelaith, and they are my friends. I wanted them to grow, brother," this last sentence, she spoke in a whisper, her throat strangling the sound as a sob began to quake within her chest.

"It went wrong. They have been harmed because of me," Emaleth wailed, then, unable to continue. Perhaps he would fill in the gaps, that in the chaos she had fled.

<3

unlike his little sisters, Casmir had never believed in the stories and magicks woven by their father. he was a man of the tangible, of the changing seasons and what he could see, though he admitted to himself that at times there seemed the possibility of unseen and supernatural powers at play. a frown tugged briefly at his mouth as emaleth gasped out her guilt, and he found himself shaking his head. 

"no, sis," he murmured. "you couldn't have done this. you mean well, and this is a bad thing. your goodness wouldn't have caused this to happen." he hoped Em would buy it.

She rested her cheek against his chest, feeling suddenly weary; sleep that had eluded her since the destructive storm threatened to take her all at once, but Emaleth would refuse it. She didn't want to escape this raw pain. Only analyze it and store her knowledge of it— too see how it fit in the puzzle of her soul, and how it would change her. Her eyes were closed as Casmir shook his head, the movement shaking her own as she laid against his breast. But she did not look at him, and queried softly, "But how do you know? How do you know that I am good? What if there is something in me? I do not know how to control it." It faded to a whispered whine, and a fear clutched her heart with icy talons.

"Because you're a Mayfair, Emaleth, and we aren't bad. We may be odd, but we aren't bad. If there is bad in you, then there is bad in me too, and i don't believe that." he drew back to seek the girl's eyes, to smile reassuringly. "we don't have to go back right away if you're not ready. wanna walk on the beach with me a little?" he would not force the girl home until she said otherwise; besides, it would be good to bond with her a bit.

Last post. <3

She accepted his words with a stoic silence; he was older and wiser than she, so his words must be true, but Emaleth still felt as though a small piece of her was Alien and Other. A small, dark hole that threatened to feed from her light - the Mayfair light! - and grow until it was large enough to consume her. But she said nothing of this, and allowed her brother's words to wash over her in comfort.

"Yes," she told him, her voice a soft whisper. They would trail along the shore, Casmir being the one to speak (if at all), for Emaleth would remain subdued and quiet as she struggled to make sense of what she had done, and her place in this world.