Wheeling Gull Isle Bears - beets - Battlestar Galactica.
Swiftcurrent Creek
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All Welcome 
remaining vague on what transpired in her most recent thread - tags for ref

Eventually, Lilitu made it to the island—hopefully with young wolves in tow.

She shuffled herself and others (@Lilia? @Etienne?) across the sandbar, ankles sloshing through as the tide came in. Made a rendezvous with @Mireille, and then departed.

She wanted to be alone. She felt it best.

The carnage she'd seen along the beach would haunt her for the rest of her days. She saw it even now, upon this idyllic isle, staring into the endless horizon and the waves that came in, again and again.

It was her fault.

She'd dragged her bloodied body to Sapphique and the bear had followed. Lilitu swallowed hard, tears welling up.

She hadn't meant it.

But now, it would have been better if she had died. What was left of the pack that took her in? What would the survivors think of her?

Bathed in early morning light, Lilitu sobbed openly, toes in the surf, her vision half of what it once was.

She'd paid dearly with her own body—but, still, she had blood on her paws, and she didn't think she could ever forget.
Rivenwood
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#2
the sapphique wolves could often be seen, withdrawn from the others and staring into the sea as if it might summon their loved ones.
heda felt that it would be wise of sweetharbor to send a couple of their members along. but then at the same time she decided against it.
mireille's pack had been strong and large. a bear who would attack them would cross a landbridge.
she saw the woman called lilitu ahead, and knew from her own experience the tears that came. heda came close, and offered an embrace, feeling no hesitance to soothe the cliff-wolves who had come to sweetharbor for sanctuary.
a tragedy had taken one of the other's eyes. she had been scarred by a large animal, heda assumed the bear. so much suffering.
Swiftcurrent Creek
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A woman adorned by a striking flash of red appeared, and draws close to comfort her. Lilitu noted vaguely that her interesting pelt and beautiful features would be absolutely gushed over in Akashingo, but the initial feeling passed quickly, replaced by more grief.

I'm sorry, she managed through stuffy nose and sore throat, after she'd broken down completely in the other's arms. It's— just so hard. To know it's terrible back there, and. . .

She sucked in a sharp breath. It's my fault, Lilitu whispered, as if she sat alone and scared in a confession booth. Mea culpa, mea culpa—mea maxima culpa. I led the bear there. I was injured, and looked for help. . . It's my fault.

How could they still abide her here? How could they ever look at her again?
Rivenwood
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heda shook her head, pressing close with her saltwater softness.
"i don't think so," the advisor disagreed gently. "and i don't think any of them do either. look. you're all here together."
she knew she could not shift the great weight of guilt from lilitu, not so easily. and so heda set her eyes on the eternal sea. "you're here now. maybe god led you here for a reason. discovering it will help you be easier on yourself, lilitu," heda murmured gently.
Swiftcurrent Creek
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She was already shaking her head as the girl spoke, skull heavy with the weight of it all. Not all of them, she countered. Many of them fell back, dealt with the bear. Some might be gone. And how—

Her throat seized up and she coughed through tears, then wretched, caught halfway between grief and vomit. I'm sorry, she whispered.

How can I live with it?! she added, pressing her cheek once more into Heda's plush coat. The tears kept coming, and she was overwhelmed with grief. She couldn't get the feel of Sobo's blood against her paws out of her mind.
Rivenwood
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heda held the trembling woman even as her stomach clenched. "you start by forgiving yourself, lilitu," the girl said with a voice that held a long light. "look how you are here with them. i know mireille. she has been my best friend for a long time."
a breath; sequoia mahler druid
"if she blamed you for this she would not have stood beside you. you're one of them."
voice, moving gently as the waves.
Swiftcurrent Creek
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The ask wasn't easy. It was the hardest thing she'd ever contemplated. She draped her neck across Heda and sobbed, tears falling to the sand. It didn't seem possible to forgive herself.

How d'you know Mireille? she asked, finally, drawing her head back and looking with red-rimmed eyes toward the welcoming wolf.

She felt as if she were stone sinking into the sand.

Perhaps a moment of levity could cast her upright, to make her feel still alive.

A story.

Wraen, help me. . .
Rivenwood
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heda smiled. "when we were girls, i was in a pack called rivenwood and there was another nearby named duskfire glacier. a further pack called moonglow came to do something they called 'winter hunting,' and they camped near the glacier. for a month, three packs hunted caribou together. mireille came down as sapphique's representative."
she glowed with the memory. "we learned a lot. she's always been fierce."
heda held lilitu closer, willing the pale light of peace into the other's soul.
Swiftcurrent Creek
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Oh, Lilitu murmured, taut mouth finally relaxing. An old friend. That's so nice.

She couldn't think of a long-term friend. Not with how she'd traveled. They were either gone or dead. She envied Heda for that.

Tell me about Rivenwood, she whispered, trying to distract herself.

If she could disappear within trees of a memory, perhaps she could absolve her sins.
Rivenwood
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heda smiled velveteen. "it was deep in a place called noctisardor bypass, near the taiga. it only had one entrance and stone walls all around it. oak forests. lakes. herbal fields. caves."
she fell silent at the memory for a moment.
"the man there, he — raised me. like i was his."
something there, sparking under her breastbone.
Swiftcurrent Creek
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Noctisardor Bypass. That sounds like a fairy tale place, she remarked, but said no more, letting Heda speak on her childhood. It warmed her heart.

Had she known her true parentage, she would have found kinship in this young woman.

But it was comforting all the same.

Very nice, she breathed, mustering a smile as she rested against Heda. I'm glad you had that. I was born in a similar place. A valley of. . .princes and princesses. Royalty. It was so lush. Even in winter, it sparkled.

And then Akashingo compared—but was, of course, different.
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a place of princesses, a place of royalty. fairytales; heda smiled and sat closer.
"it was truly beautiful. like the way your home sounds. but i wasn't at peace there. not like i am here."
love now in her eyes as she glanced around at the details of sweetharbor, the one place that had soothed her soul like no other.
Swiftcurrent Creek
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#13
Peace. Maybe she could find that here, too.

I'd like to join you, she replied, but. . .I'd feel guilty leaving Sapphique. They've done so much for me, and now. . . Tears welled up again, and she ducked her head, shoulders quivering. I don't know if I'll ever be able to repay them, Heda.

And a debt unpaid meant she would be tied to the ocean pack forever. At least in her own warped, twisted sense of things.

She'd never fucked things up quite this badly.
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"i don't think of anything in terms of repayment. god gave us one life, lilitu. use it in service to sapphique. but do not forget that you deserve to live."
she smiled softly and stood with a breath. "come on. i think you need to rest, and i have just the place."
her den, high above the greenhills.
Swiftcurrent Creek
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She soaked in Heda's words and followed her with gratitude, ready for the rest. It was the first time her emotions had exhausted her. At least this young woman had stopped the bleeding a bit.

Thank you, she breathed, returning the smile. Thank you so much.

She followed the red-crested woman, paws feeling like lead.