Whitefish River that girl with a broken heart

maybe @Vercingetorix? — but no obligation! she can let her message with anyone willing to pass it on! tags for reference! forward dated to: 9/18-ish. ♥

the earth still rumbles with fury underfoot but praimfaya has never felt as steady as she does now. whatever guilt she's first felt at leaving diaspora — accursed as she thinks it is now — is soothed by what she knows she has to do now. it is a terrible responsibility and not one that she thinks she's old enough to bear alone. her heart aches and she keenly feels the absence of blodreina, knowing that no longer will her mother ever stand as her setnes or ...anything else; and while the wanlida's body does not deserve to rot trapped beneath the rock that had crushed her there was no removing it and no moving her body. as sick as the thought makes praimfaya she knows her mother corpse, with no other choice, will be left to the scavengers to pick clean and for the earth to reclaim what they could not devour.

it was the will of the commanders. you know to be commander is to be alone.

tell the commanders that they've taken my mother and that they do not need to take my father from me too. what would she do without @Ingram? she doesn't wish to ever find out. though without anything solid to aim her fury and grief towards praimfaya risks letting it burn her alive. at least now she understand's mesa's anger ...but she cannot afford to let it consume her. she must chalk it up, as linkoln says: as the will of the spirits of the commanders. for blodreina's sake. for the sake of the fledgling roangeda.

her steps slow as she nears the coast pack — kaistleoki — wishing she had better news to offer her blood kru; but verx deserves to know even if him and blodreina were not close. the sadness feels like the weight of stones upon her shoulders as she stops a respectful distance away, unable to help but think that blodreina should be here with her. they were supposed to visit here together. now, praimfaya stands alone, directions gleamed from a stranger that she's passed on her journey there.

she tips her head back and lets out a howl to announce her presence.

ingram cameo, just skip me going forward. <3

how strange ingram found it, to follow in the footsteps of the life he (and blodreina) had created. he wondered briefly where it was praimfaya got such a spine of steel -- and he knew instinctively it had not come from him.

so he followed, mute and dumb like a lost gosling following a drake; he followed in shock and in awe, he followed out of faith. he followed out of quiet fascination, knowing in his heart that this girl, this daughter of his, was cut of a cloth he would never know or feel. she was here to carry on in blodreina's name; he knew in that moment that the child was his warrant, his last will to live -- without praimfaya, ingram would surely be lost.

what father doesn't think the world of his daughter? choked by grief as ingram was, he still found the time to marvel - to walk silently behind his daughter and vow he would do anything to keep her safe and happy, where he had failed to do so with his mate. ingram, consumed by the demons of his own thoughts, set a distance away from praimfaya. close enough he could intervene if things turned sour, yet distant, for he still felt unmitigated sorrow for blodreina's end.

He was happy to hear the call ring out. Verx had been fond of Praimfaya on their one and only meeting and was looking forward to their training. Wondering if his daughter would arrive as well, he made his way to the border, tail wagging and shoulders set in friendly manner.

Instead of Blodreina, whom he'd expected, the girl was accompanied by the dark man he'd known only briefly (actually, their one and only interaction had been kind of a dumpster fire, but what's new?). Her father? He squinted at the pair of them, smiling but a little confused. Hadn't his niece said she'd bring Praimfaya herself?

Hei, he greeted, giving the male a look that held some apology ("sorry for being a douche that one time"). He then turned his eyes to the presumptive fos goufa, unable to pick up any sadness that might be between the pair from Diaspora. Here for your training?

praimfaya spares her father a glimpse over her shoulder — she worries over him with blodreina's untimely demise — but turns her attention forward as footfalls give away that someone, vercingetorix she hopes, approches. relief floods over her and whatever joy she would, under normal circumstances, feel at seeing verx again it is rapidly overshadowed by the bomb she had to drop on him. as far as she understands it, he and her mother had never been particularly close but they were bloodkru and he deserved to hear the news from her rather from the lips of some irrelevant passerby ...not that praimfaya thinks anyone cares about blodreina's legacy to carry her death upon their words like ravens wings giving flight.

hei, praimfaya greets him in return with an imperious lift of her muzzle as if to hide the grief ( and guilt ) that twists at her heart, focusing on a patch of grass just behind verx for a moment and thus missing the apologetic look that he sends her father's way as she tries to think about the best way to speak the news. no, not today. how she wished that she was, though! it does not slip out of praimfaya's notice that with blodreina stolen away from her too soon that she needs to focus on her training now more than ever. for now, until her bruising heart can heal, what her mother has taught her will have to be enough.

she can prioritize her training once roangeda is established.

i wish i was here on better circumstances and with better news, a lump begins to grow in her throat, threatening to constrict the air and wordflow. she steels her shoulders — i must look in the eyes of my warriors and say: go die for me — and speaks, wanlida is ...gone. saying she is dead sounds so crass, so disassociated. when the earthquakes started she pushed me out of the way of a large rock that shook loose. she died protecting me. the way any warrior should go for her commander, yes; and yet the guilt does not allow praimfaya to see it so unambiguously.

Not today? Then. . .why --

Wanlida is gone.

Wanlida? Surely that meant no other wolf but her mother. His niece. Blodreina. He swallowed upon hearing the circumstances of the death, feeling grief well up in his throat, much like the blur of tears that surprised him, somewhat. Verx hadn't known Gavriel's daughter all too well. . .but faced with the sorrow of a child who had lost her mother, he found it easy to get caught up in the emotion of the scene.

Oh, Praimfaya, I'm so sorry, he said softly, shaking his head. He turned his gaze to Ingram, brows drawn together in a pained expression. I'm very sorry, Vercingetorix added in common tongue, for the man's benefit.

Rock slides? That just went along with everything that had been happening lately. The mountains don't sound safe, he mused, frowning. Will you stay there, or go? You're welcome here, if you need somewhere to live for a while, he added, blinking gently at the pair.

It wasn't really his call to make, but fuck it. Why would Evergreen and Ira say no, anyway?

praimfaya swallows against the grief that wraps 'round her throat like a clenching fist as verx offers his condolences. thank you, she speaks after a moment when she is fairly sure her voice will not come forth breathless. still, it is fresh and it is hard for she loves her mother fiercely. we are kru, bloodkru and i thought you should know. praimfaya knows what she needs to do now, though she also knows that it will be far from easy. she will face the challenges standing as tall as she can, drawing comfort from ingram's presence — as she does now.

verx switches to common, for her father's benefit she does not doubt and praimfaya offers a gentle and affectionate smile to her great? uncle ( romanova doesn't know how complicated family trees work, lmao ). he is kind to make the offer and would blodreina not have set her on this path, praimfaya would've taken it. it certainly would be the easier choice ...an established pack offered food and shelter — but she can't. before she died, wanlida begun to set the foundation of a geda of our own: roangeda in broken antler fen. as it's worlida and future wanheda it is my duty to continue what she has started building. maybe that wasn't true: but the truth was, praimfaya wanted to even if it is an impossible task.

she's too stubborn to give up, especially on what she feels is the last thing she has of blodreina's.

Verx nodded, agreeing. He was glad to know, although he hated to have to pass on the news to Drago and Isi (and Aure, when she got back). They all seemed to love Blodreina even more than he had; her loss was definitely a blow to them all, if not the earth-shattering occurrence it was for Praimfaya.

Wait, a pack of her own? Scratch that. . .a geda of her own? Vercingetorix tilted his head slightly, impressed by her initiative but wondering just how that would work. Were only she and Ingram involved so far? How established was this Roangeda? What to do if Ajatar found out and came to crush the band of natronas?

It seemed like a fucking uphill battle -- and yet, it seemed like a hell of a lot of fun, too.

Where is Broken Antler Fen? he asked, tackling an easy question to start. Hopefully far away from any mountains or places that could get fucked up by whatever's happening to the ground right now.

the fen lies south of here in the great bear wilderness, praimfaya explains, trying to recalling the name of the region. there are many of them and many more territories and she has tried to keep of track of the ones that blodreina has named to her during their scouting missions. it is away from mountains, yes, praimfaya responds.

and then adds, i've had my fill of them to last me for a lifetime. she says a bit more bitterly than she's intended. it wasn't diaspora's fault ( hardly, they had no control over the freak tremors of the earth ) — but she cannot help but think of them as being accursed all the same. not that, mind, it would entirely keep her away from exploring great bear wilderness' neutral territories in full as she seeks to acquaint herself with the resources that be could be useful to roangeda.

Shit, he didn't even know the name of the region. That was something. He nodded, trying to remember 'south.' South south south, if he wanted to visit his great-niece, or if his kids did. He'd keep an eye out for a small silvery girl guarding a big-ass swamp.

Understandable, Verx rumbled, giving her a sympathetic look. He then turned to @Ingram, raising his brows. I'm assuming you're going with her? The man wasn't kru in the traditional sense, and he wasn't quite sure about how close he'd been to Blodreina. Had it just been a fuck, or something more? Either way, he was pretty much kru now.

ingram was silent as praimfaya clued the male in; he had known vercingetorix once, though only by passing.. and the last time they had met, it had been wild to say the least. however, these impressions were far from the male's mind -- which presently seemed lost in perilous thought.

his darkened gaze lifted sorrowfully as he was addressed. coming to attention, he gave a nod that was devoid of hesitance entirely. praimfaya was his daughter -- the last of his kin -- and ingram was utterly devoted to her. "yes." he answered simply, his tone grave and still wrought with the undercurrents of fresh grief.

praimfaya's lips twitch — a simple gesture with no actual meaning behind it — as verx rumbles that he understands her desire to wish to never step foot on a mountain again. whether it was the mountain — foul and ill-timed circumstance — or the will of the spirits of the commanders that brought about blodreina's death: it didn't matter. praimfaya could never again traipse so effortlessly the trecherous outcroppings and rocky paths as she once had. not without the image of blodreina's body, broken and trapped beneath the heavy boulder taking over her mind's eye.

verx turns then to ingram, to address her father. given that verx hasn't been for any part of praimfaya's life except for their first meeting which now feels about three lifetimes past his question doesn't seem to far-fetched, even if it takes her by slight surprise. ingram was her father... why wouldn't he go with her? still, if her father is insulted by the question he does not show it, instead responding with a simple affirmation. praimfaya peers back at him once more, worry swimming in the depths of her eyes before she looks back to her great-uncle. i'm going to have to put my training on hold until things are settled. she tells him, her brows set and ears fluttering back slightly with apology. but i won't be a stranger. she promises in the following breath ...because she'd miss him and isi — and drago though it has been a long time since she's last seen him — too much.

He nodded, giving Ingram a kind look, before turning to Praimfaya again as she spoke. It's okay, he replied. Plenty of time to pick it back up again. Maybe we'll come and visit, sometime. Maybe we might be there to stay. He was still unsure of their future in Kaistleoki, especially with Aure gone. Speaking of that. . .

Hey, have either of you seen Aurëwen? Verx asked, his brows coming together as he frowned. She went to Moonspear or something like that and was supposed to be back several days ago, but. . .she isn't. I'm worried she's hurt, or lost -- maybe she never got there. . .

She wouldn't just leave the children, right? However she felt about Vercingetorix, she still loved her children -- she wouldn't leave -- he had to believe that. Not believing it would drive him completely insane.

i'd like that. praimfaya tells verx earnestly with a wag of her tail — in regards to both of them visiting or staying. whether you visit or one day decide to stay you and yours are always welcome in roangeda. she assures him, swallowing the small lump of grief that's lodged its way into her throat as she thinks about their first meeting and how she assured both her mother and verx that she did not look at either of them and see natrona. she saw only two brave wolves who left everything they'd ever known for their children, making the decision with their heads and not their hearts.

at the mention of aure, praimfaya does not attempt to conceal the troubled expression that flutters across her features as she peers over her shoulder at ingram to see if he's seen her. i haven't seen her; i'm sorry. just because praimfaya had not been very generous or kind on her judgement of the woman the last time they spoke a while back does not mean that her disappearance and verx's worry does not needle past her bravado all the same. aure had been her mother's friend, once upon a time, after all; and praimfaya does not wish for her family to go thru the same grief that she has.

Much appreciated, he responded, smiling. He didn't know where she got such good manners from; Blodreina was no dummy, but this girl really spoke like someone much more seasoned. Ah, well. He chalked it up to something perhaps he'd never understand and moved on from it, only for his face to fall at her answer about Aure. Shit, he muttered, eyes drifting over the border, out into the flatlands.

Where the fuck was she?

With a sigh, he looked back at Praimfaya and her father, giving a shrug. Oh, well, Verx said, badly stifling his stress over the matter. Blodreina dead, Aure gone. . .whatever was going on with the world these days, he didn't like it. At least he had his kids, still. Thank you for coming and telling me about Blodreina. I'm sorry again for your loss.

After giving their requisite farewells, he left the border, grappling with how exactly to break this news to Drago and Isi. Perhaps he'd wait a little, let it settle. Do his own private grieving before handling theirs. It's not as if no one close to him had ever died before -- but. This seemed different.