Moonspear I am like a satellite,

Keeping vague! open

 

Hydra kept to the borders more oft than not. She had not allowed herself further space to properly grieve beyond the burying of those she had loved; she set to distracting herself with productivity. In making sure those that lived and breathed still were safe. Hydra knew that were she to grant herself one thought, the rest would come bursting in through the floodgates—and for all the strength Hydra had, she was not strong enough to withstand the aftermath of that. 


Her eyes looked to the sky, searching for the familiar shape of @Eagle idly. Instead, another strange thing within the sky caught her attention. Far away, it was not like anything she had ever seen before... she paused to study it, wondering if this might be the shape of grief she saw. Or perhaps a new sort of star, the combination of all she loved. Pandora's box, that thought—

She continued ahead. 

And when her patrol was done, she went to find the remaining children of her youngest brood—@Mira, @Caelum, and @Altair. The dead, she had decided on her stroll, would only die once their names were no longer spoken. With her tongue,  she would resurrect and breathe life into them as best as she could. Their brother would live on yet, as would the rest who had gone with him.

The mountain had gained too many new graves, lately.

In his most recent of days, Jarilo had stepped back from duty and grief and reached up, heading to the higher elevations of the Spear he knew he could still traverse in wintertime. Even some of those routes were unfavorable to an experienced mountaineer, so he kept himself adaptable as he ranged where he was able. There was one place in particular he had set out to find: an old, gnarled, out-of-place tree trunk perched oddly on an edge. And, a bit to his own surprise, he did manage to find it, albeit not without difficulty; he had not come since his parents had died. However, once over the initial satisfaction of finding it at all, and proof that he had not dreamed it entirely, he did not linger there long. He found he didn't need to.

The snows were awfully deep, and he already knew he was pushing it to have come at all... but silhouetted against the starry night sky, a bright moon illuminating the stone and snow, his resolve steeled despite the shiver cutting past his furs--raising an odd contradiction against the restlessness so much grief had made in him. But, by the time he got there, he already had everything he felt he needed to know. At least for the time being.

Now, after returning to the lowlands, windswept and more in his own head than he had been before, he moseyed down to the borderlands to reground himself. He would find Saviguk and Sialuk soon after, he thought, before he was distracted by the possibility of his sister's company first. Jarilo's ears pricked up, and he then went jogging after her to catch up, intending to join her side once there.

short post, exhausted Kit is exhausted ;;

 

It was Jarilo she saw before any other; Hydra altered her path, moving to meet him in bounds. Surging through the snow exerted plenty of energy, but it seemed next to nothing in comparison to the mental exhaustion she had endured. And somehow, now she felt tireless. Perhaps it was simply because resting her head at night and sleeping soundly felt more difficult than ever. 

Moving to press her head against his shoulder, the matriarch felt now more than ever grateful for her brothers presence. She would ever be a shoulder for him to lean on, but now more than ever she needed his own.

Once their pathways converged, he splayed his ears and swayed his tail with a bit more energy than before, though his gestures carried the weight of despair still. More than that, he intended to rise to meet her, and more than merely in that instant; times had been too difficult now to not. He had always wanted to stand by her side, and offer his support, however he could. She was too important of a pillar in his life for him to be anything less. Though he knew nothing he could do, or say, would truly equal what they had weathered.

He wished he could have the right words to offer as well, but physicality spoke its volumes too. Jarilo could tune into those quieter frequencies, too, and leaned against her fondly. A low rumble deep in his throat only to say he would hear her woes out, or help make the silence not so lonesome.