Sun Mote Copse I'll be resting my eyes

So much was going on around her, but Raven only had eyes for Wildfire. The only wolf remaining in the world with whom she had shared a womb. The only wolf in the world who understood her -- truly understood her. Her dearest friend. Her closest confidante. Life had taken her away from Raven far too soon, when Wildfire had somehow ended up running with the wolves of Drageda, and now that she had returned, life was once again taking her away. It was so damn unfair! Was this what it was to live and to love? A seemingly endless parade of losses and goodbyes?

She swallowed those sour thoughts, along with the hideous sense that she had somehow failed her sister. Wildfire had just come to her and asked her about the lump in her throat, and Raven had advised her to keep an eye on it. That was all. "Just keep an eye on it." There had to have been more than she could have done. What kind of Master Medic was she when she couldn't even save her own sister?

Wildfire's final words to her left her baffled and confused. She had never mentioned anything to Raven about any sort of poison, and she hadn't displayed any of the symptoms that typically accompanied poisoning when last she'd visited. She flattened her ears at those words, shaking her head as if to ask, "What?", wordlessly asking for more explanation. But she would not receive it as, mere seconds later, her sister took her last breaths and died.

The words and actions of everyone around her faded out of existence as Raven crumpled to the ground at her sister's side, leaning forward to bury her face in the soft autumn fur for which the beautiful she-wolf had been so aptly named. She inhaled Wildfire's scent, allowed it to surround her, as she squeezed her eyes shut and felt her heart literally die in her chest. If anyone were to ask her what it felt like to die, she knew in that moment that she could rather competently describe it to them. It felt like watching your favorite person die and knowing there was nothing you could do to stop it. With her face still pressing into Wifi's fur, she whispered softly, "I'm so sorry."

Moments later, she rose to her feet, turned, and stumbled blindly away, cold and numb and suffocating on her own devastation.