Stone Circle When the party is over

Leta had been working on becoming braver. 

Doing so meant patrolling, now and then, and that was what she was doing. She felt that @Nanook would be very proud of her, fierce as she was, and mother and father too when they realized. All along her patrol, Leta had been thinking about a tawny boy and the shade of his emerald eyes and their conversation. He had dreams for himself, and she... she did not really have any. Not for herself anyway. Not before then. But now she dreamt of him sometimes, and them together, and also, of the stars. 

But such dreams could not be reality until she was that person she wanted to be: braver. And she would work long and hard at it until she was. Admittedly, she was a little nervous at the borders... it felt like something had gone wrong already, and the closer she came to one particular location, the more she felt out of control of her own legs. Leta had not revisited the spot in her lifetime, but her vision felt blurry all of the sudden. 

Inexplicable, all this strangeness, and she swallowed thickly as she felt heat rise well past her throat, to her ears!...

They rang, but blessedly still worked. She could hear a commotion that pulled her away from this, and Leta found her legs running without her even thinking on it too long. What she arrived to was much worse than what she had fled, if only because here were things she would never, ever forget. 

What was worse than being hurt? Seeing those that you loved, splayed before you, bloody, bleeding, beaten—

Her eyes landed firstly upon Nanook. Valette stood there, and Leta sprang to her side; she could not hear the whispered goodbye, but as her mother stepped away, Leta looked upon unearthly stillness. She needs help, she breathed, confused, and then her gaze shifted to Kaito. He was just as still, t-they need help... she murmured, voice faint.

And then her gaze was upon the cougar, its gaze glassy and empty. Blood on its teeth. Her aunts blood. Kaito's blood. Her gaze turned to Arlette, bleeding too, and her own breathing became labored. Aunt Nanook, she whispered, lowering her muzzle, how can I help? How can I help you? she asked, crouching low and nosing her. 

Limp. Why was she so... blood on her, now, Nanook's blood, but... eyes, eyes like the cougar, glassy, she wasn't moving, and Leta whispered, voice a little higher, aunt Nanook?... her hazel eyes darting on the crowd around her. What do I do? What do I do?

Her ears pricked to hear her mother say, The Circle, and it struck her then. Leta nearly reeled backward when she heard the voice of her aunt with resounding clarity: 

Be strong. 

Her gaze looked to her mother, with West and with Arlette. Having not heard her mother send off her brother, Leta offered one last nudge to her aunt, trusting then that she could be seen. Believing, with all of her heart, that she was. I love you, she whispered faintly, I love you so much, and... and I am going to say that more. I wish... I could have helped, she continued, but I will now. I will be better. 

Unafraid as she could be, even with some fear in her heart. She stood and darted toward her mother with flattened ears, though paused when she noted that Kaito was not so still as she had thought. Thinking he might be able to saved yet (young and naive as she was), and although she was about to whisper to him an overwhelming feeling seized her and bid she move on. So, she continued toward her mother, not daring to look back, and asked, what can I do? 

Be strong, Nanook had said; her voice did not tremble as she asked.