Northstar Vale she plays a tune for those who wish to overlook

if you have the time :)

a reunion with antigone tormented her sleep each night.

then zosime had disappeared.

it was as if the heartache she had suffered birthed a new zulema. who she was now was not someone she was fond of. was the fire dimmed, or had it gone out all together? she felt completely and utterly detached.

when she was not hunting, the young girl was trailing the borders of the vale; her ventures straying farther some days. she knew that her brother and sister would not be there, but what if they were? sadly, today was not one of those days. her entrance to her mother's den was usually paired with a rabbit slack in the girl's jaws, but she was empty handed.

❝mom?❞ she hadn't meant for her voice wobble, but it did.

the girl had an idea @tamar knew how to navigate this feeling; perhaps she felt it as well.

the vale closed in on itself.

antigone gone. zosime gone. maxim gone. meadow remained distant. towhee searched for her mate.

arsenio had stepped down to handle things at the den.

she had a small smile of welcome all the same for zulema, inviting her close against saleem and sylianos. to bond. to heal.

got carried away lmao :,)

the smile that was returned touched on a wistful expression. she had spent to much time in her head lingering by the tombstones of certain connections. was the tie of blood merely something that could be cut?

❝home doesn't feel like home anymore.❞ zulema uttered, settling beside her mother and small brothers.

she knew less pessimism could shine light on her days and wash the stain of sadness away, but for now she did not want to. how could she? zulema assumed that one day her siblings may chose to leave, perhaps herself someday as well; what she didn't understand how it could be so early into their lives, and with that there was no goodbye. she wished she was angry, thinking that maybe it'd hurt less.

she could not forget, no, but she could heal. though her sister had not been gone long, when she looked to the stars she would think of zosime. the stars were hers, as well as the melodies tamar the girl shared. she would think of the way antigone's strong will ignited fire in his eyes when she'd pass the stream, or lotus spring. surely her mother knew? surely she could offer comfort, a way to see past this? perhaps she'd offer the words the spurred a painful, moving on.

always welcome <3

they had endured much.

one moment, the vale was home. the next, touched by death. brushed by talk of akashingo, by her own tears. by inner strife, which drove antigone away, and perhaps the love of her brother which urged zosime to follow.

she offered her mother's embrace to zulema and sighed only into the fur silently for a moment.

"things around us are changing. home sometimes takes a new meaning." zulema was approaching her first year and it occurred to tamar that she had only once been away from home.

"if i told you i needed a plant that did not grow in the mountains, would you find it for me?"

zulema closed her eyes, as her mother offered her embrace; it was the only way to dispel the tears she felt would follow. she nodded profusely with a strained, tearful expression as her tamar explained that home could take on a new meaning. thankfully, her mother's embrace was as comforting as it sounded.

❝yes.❞ she would, truly.

there was a growing curiousity, touched with a bitterness about the world outside of the vale. she knew their was more out there.

"all right."

"i need red hyssop. it grows in high reaches. you will find it blooming after dawn. be careful on the slopes."

she did not want zulema to go! and yet she had lost two. perhaps her third must go first out into the world before the world came for her also. tamar ached.

come home, begged her gaze.