Bearclaw Valley Only the good die young

This event is not mandatory, but it will leave the pack without leadership. Please see this thread in the pack forum to discuss the continuation of the pack should existing/surviving members wish to do so <3 

Clarifying your plans for your character in that thread would definitely help for those who wish to continue, so they know how many wolves they can expect to keep in pack numbers. We have all worked hard to create and maintain this pack, so if it can continue, we would be happy to make that transition as smooth as possible. This is a friendly suggestion for both active pack members and ones on NPC, who will be tagged in that thread. 

It has been so wonderful to have this pack with y'all. <3<3<3

@Ancelin @Cole @Winslet @Vanja @Rhonen @Dolce @Aurelian @Falk @Arlen

It was Alf, the bear cub, who would lead Ameline to a crevice she had found in the walls of the valley. 

The skeptical mother grimaced slightly to peer into the darkness, allowing some time for her eyes to adjust while her beardaughter bounded ahead. She'd discovered it, and found that it led quite deep into the earth, to a point where Ameline had to keep her shoulder pressed to the side of the cavern to keep herself from bumping into unexpected turns and curves. In one place, a shaft of light filtered down through a crack in the earth above; it was as far as Ameline was willing to go, though Alf insisted that there was more to discover ahead. 

So on a day that began warm and bright, Ameline and Ancelin called the pack together- all who were curious could come and investigate the crevice, with hopes they might discover a secret passageway that led out of the valley. 

The bear cub insisted that it did. 
And her mother believed her. 

Laughter echoed throughout the narrow passageway as they entered, single file. In places the crevice was wide enough for the adults to move side by side, but only for a short while before it narrowed again. Ameline reached for the tip of Ancelin's tail, holding the end of it in her mouth and chuckling. 

The shaft of light she'd seen before still existed, but now existed as an open window for raindrops. Ameline paused beneath it, reveling in the touch of soft, cool rain. She pressed her shoulder to Ancelin's, and kissed his cheek. 

The light faded as a sudden puff of dust and dirt came from one of the nearby walls. A pile of debris, stone, and ancient root collapsed in, and a little squeak! was the last wail little Periwinkle would ever emit. Horrified, Ameline shouted for the others to back up, to leave- she reached for any children nearby, and felt the weight of Alf as she threw herself against her mother's chest, wild-eyed with fear, knocking her against the nearest wall. 

She cried Ancelin's name. 

The crumbling continued. Ameline would hear only a bit of it before she, too, was crushed beneath the weight of Bearclaw Valley.

ive loved it here bcv <3 all of u are part of the history written here <3333

a day like any other ended with a harrowing shriek for ancelin.
it was the last time he would hear his name uttered.
a day which had bloomed beautiful, a day drenched in sungold and the warmth of a springtime wind. he had danced among the purple flowers with the pups, shown them the redsand path and the sentinel stone.
through the ancient forests he had run near silently, demonstrating how the heavy moss padded stone and twig underfoot.
a wild day. a feral day.
ameline was joined with interest, and it became a field trip of sorts. his indigo eyes glowed as the cave shadows swallowed them, watching their bear-daughter run ahead.
when his queenly mate kissed ancelin, he gently nipped her eartip and returned the affection, tail in jubilant arc at his hips.
and that was the final moment of peace.
instinct screamed first. he grabbed for them, his family, his pack; a slab of stone slammed down and took with it any answering shout.
dust puffed from the cavemouth, slowly subsiding.
pebbles flew in a run alongside flowing dirt, inching to a stop as smaller stones rolled out into the grass.
a growling; a settling, deep beneath the earth signaled this end of ancelin bearclaw.

Cole had not planned to follow. He rarely planned anything these days — he simply moved where the pack moved, his pace slow, his thoughts slower. The others were light in their steps, led by laughter and wonder. He brought up the rear, worn as a riverstone, silent as the dusk that had followed him his entire life.

The cave had felt wrong to him from the beginning. Not in sound or scent, but in something deeper— a knowing that tugged behind his ribs. He should have turned around. Should have waited outside. But Ameline had gone inside, and Ancelin after her, and the children too. So he went.

There was no panic in him when it started. Only the cold steadiness of a man who had seen how fast the world could take. The cry — Periwinkle’s — shattered something in him. He lunged forward, trying to reach whoever he could, bracing his body against the shaking earth. But the cave did not care for strength or sorrow. The light dimmed. The air filled with dust. And Cole, too, was swallowed.

No grand final words. No defiant stand. Just a breath, one last thought of @Winslet and the riverbanks she loved, and the knowledge that if the pack was going, he would go with them.

Because that was what he did. He stayed. Even when it ended.

if towhee could scream, she would have.

she grabs tzar roughly, scuffing him though he was too big, shoving him away beneath a tree — safe from the collapse of rock and rubble.

she can feel the tremble in the earth, see the cloud of dirt and rock dust and debris. her heart thrums in her chest as she sobs; horrible, twisted sounds … desperate to dig out her other children — the ones she thought were trapped.

the ones she thought was dead.

her husband had gone missing and now her children, besides young tzar, she believed to be dead.

she grabs tzar and hurries him along, ghost their solemn sentry above; far away from the valley and the heartbreak it now represented for her. she was not sure where she’d go … and didn’t care. as long as it was far away from here.

she'd not been gone long, only off enough to clear her head and let the crisp northern air fill her lungs. she'd always planned to return, and so she did.

but when the view of bearclaw valley streamed to the forefront of her vision, it was not as how she had remembered it. dust hung in the sky, swallowing any light that might have tried to shine down on those who were buried beneath.

she'd felt the earth shake in the distance, but had never imagined this!

her heart jumped to her throat, and only a single thought absorbed her being.

"@Anatolia!" she cried as she ran to the fallen rubble, clawing at pieces of rock and earth until her paws cracked and bled.

she'd split from zephyra at a distant territory, but ana, oh her anatolia! the mother did not wish to think it so as tears stained her cheeks and the white of her eyes splintered red.

please, god, do not take another one from me.

nephele would remain thrown against the mass grave, sobbing and praying, until the moonlight devoured any hope she might have had.