Noctisardor Bypass greimada

for @John, other tags for ref but feel free to join :D <3

the girls were sullen. john remained a man of god. heda was choked by guilt. she had taken @Dinah and @Ava Amara to the rendezvous where she had been brought long ago, when she was skaigona and sequoia was her mother.
her sons! on the coast! sequoia and mahler would never have let her be separated from worripa, from witch, from druid; her eyes stung.
she thought they might be asleep, and crossed over to silencepine in search of the only other grown wolf now in noctisardor. "we won't have to leave for prey," heda said wearily. "we never did before."
there were packs in the valley and the taiga, certainly, but if their little group did not have to depart to hunt, they didn't have to leave at all. 
and as soon she could, heda would visit the coast again and beg her sons to come with her.
or beg her daughters to come home.
her eyes wept no more tears; grief was all she had become.

Heda had found John, and she spoke with him. She told him how they wouldn’t have to leave the territory to hunt for food. “That’s very good.” He told her, “Do you remember from when you lived here, what prey is most common?” He asked, this way if he had to he would know what to track down.

The new territory was most certainly foreign to him. Nothing like the coast, but home is not a place anyway, it’s a feeling. Plus, he hadn’t lived on the coast of the Teekons long enough to establish strong root, so therefore leaving Wheeling Gull Isle wasn’t a huge deal.

But now he had a job to do: to take care of this family and be their shepherd. Like any holy shepherd, he will watch his flock of three, and should one stray, he would go in search if need be. This was his Godly duty, to care for all. Or at least this is what he hope to do in his lifetime, among other things.

"near the thickest forests and around the lagoon," heda told john, her body lightly limned in an ache that did not abate.
unbeknownst to her, she was growing ill, a virus beginning its bleak tendriling inside her thin form.
"we'll need to make allies, maybe. the closest pack was duskfire, but it is gone now."
she was so tired; she wove on her paws and stumbled a moment before righting herself. "we need help hunting, not just now but through the winter."

He listened intently at each of her words. She spoke of the land, this information would be beneficial if he would be assisting in providing food.
She then told him that allies would need to be made, but a once existing pack existed no longer. “That may prove to be difficult.” He replied, “But we’ll find a way.”

All of a sudden, she wobbled, but just as he went to catch her if need be, she righter herself. Something was wrong with Heda, and he could sense it. “Heda, are you alright?” He said, looking into her pale, once gilded eyes.

"oh, john, do not worry. i'm only tired." too tired to think. too tired to sleep. "soon enough we'll all be able to rest, once we're settled," heda lied to herself as well as the loyal man beside her.
offering him a smile of true encouragement, she straightened and tried to wake herself up. "i'm going to take first watch. you rest, all right?"

Only exhaustion, lack of sleep, a good and feasible excuse, but he did not question it. They would rest, but Heda had insisted that he take the first sleep. He would do as she said, and take this chance to build up his strength.

“Very well. I will take up your offer. Thank you, and if you need anything, just give me a nudge.” 

He returned her smile, and laid his head down. He stuck close to Heda, and kept his ears open as he slept.

he slept.
and she tried to pray. and she tried not to pray, eyes wandering to the cold stars above.
if there was a god, he had surely turned his back on them.
this hurt more than anything, but especially when she blinked and saw the familiar scarlet outline of her husband, piercing her iris with an insistence only she experience. only she saw.
i'm sorry i failed you too, she thought to the specter.