Sequoia Coast let me die, let me drown, lay my bones in the ground

there is a change near, she thinks, she does not know how far but only that it drives the restlessness in her paws. the sky is dark with night that seems to have come earlier than expected, and she finds herself on an outcrop of rock that must be near to where she'd last seen Vaati. the rock is cold and solid under her paws, even while she wind off the waves tugs and pulls at her. Screech's existance somewhere out there, in the Wilds, was uncertain but always something she'd considered to be true. he escaped death so often that it seemed impossible to think that his end would come at the paws of something so inconsequential as a cat. 

she sighs into the vastness of the sky before her, and gaze is drawn up to the stars before her. it's been a long time since she's gazed into the night sky for the sole purpose of observing the vast expanse of light and colour above. she shifts on the rock, easing into a sitting position. there's something odd inside her chest, bulky with uneven edges and heavy. her meeting with Maegi, the knowledge of Screech's fate, and the death of the pack that had so irreversably stolen and changed her life - well, it was a bit much. 

as she traced the familiar constellations (the names of which had mostly faded from memory), she began to hum in the back of her throat, the soft sound mostly swallowed by the sea. perhaps a fragment of what she'd inherited from her mother and not been tarnished, her voice had an airy quality that did not seem to suit her in the slightest. it was a feeble, careful song liable to break away and vanish in an instant. the sea would crash against the rocks, the sun would turn again and winter would turn to summer, but Screech would stay dead and (if they were lucky) Blackfeather, too.