Blacktail Deer Plateau and i will reap the locust crop

anyone is welcomed <3 backdated to the 26th

She collapsed in a soft field.

Anyone with a keen eye might have noticed the thinning along her sides. It was hard to maintain any weight when she constantly roamed to and fro.

She wondered what @Maegi made of it.

If her mother noticed the way she had been restless and finally sleep had returned to her the nights she was bedded at the plateau. At a high price, but it returned nonetheless.

Kigipigak had been found once more.

Another had gone missing though. Gleipnir. She could not help but wonder if she had driven him off with the arrival of her family and her chasing after the cat-marred mountain man. Such guilt welled up in her. She was already keenly familiar with the fact that she could not have it all.

Yet that had never stopped her from trying to.

Exhausted, but overwhelmed, she could only find it in her to laugh. Light like a spring songbird despite the soft build up of tears in her squinted eyes.

The dark red form against an empty field hit too close to home.

No, Maegi whispered, taking steps forward at a walk, then a trot, then an all-out ambling sprint as she tried to get to her daughter as quickly as possible. Not you, too; not you, too!

But she caught the rise and fall of ribs as she drew close, and the sound of laughter reached her ears.

Sakhmet, she said softly, and nosed at the girl's shoulder. Thin—much too thin—but her body was warm. Alive. Thank Jaes. I thought—

Did she remember her twin's death, out in the cold, alone? If he had only stayed put. . .

Maegi shook her head emphatically, laying down next to Sakhmet, her sides heaving. You're exhausted, she murmured, noting the hollowness of the young woman's face, the shadows of too-angular bones, showing through the mahogany pelt. What can I do for you?

Had it been anyone else, she would have stumbled back to all fours, but she did not budge. Head craned to lean into her mother's gentle touch.

"I thought—"

Her missing? Lost?

Perhaps everyone had thought her succumbed to a fate much like Kigipigak's. Her head swam with the thought of him alone and — very briefly — she forgot the concern that painted her mother. Pressing into her side like an eager child when Maegi's pale form was upon the ground.

Ignoring the concern in favor of praises, hazy in her exhaustion.

You are doing so much. She crooned softly. I go everywhere and still I come home to see you here. Warmth and relief in her voice. Often times she worried she would return to an empty plateau after her adventures.

I'm going to make this place something real, Ma. She paused, a smile curling her lips into the barest exposure of pale teeth. There is a man — Kigipigak, Had her mother remembered how she had called out in the woods for him? He is healing nearby but I'm going to bring him home. We will grow more.

She might have rambled on further had such already not sucked the air right out of her.

The answer didn't reassure her overmuch; concern still painted her face, but she managed a smile at Sakhmet's answer. Brave, persistent girl. She remembered how they had searched for Sobek in the mountains, how she and Anansi had just kept going. Despite their youth. Despite everything.

She would make it just fine.

I know you will, tala, Maegi murmured, remembering the name she'd used for her daughter in the early days. Where did you find this Kigipigak? The name struck a familiar chord within her, though she couldn't place why. 

After all, she was getting old, and had met many wolves. Anymore, they all blurred together.