moonsong crescendo
She awoke with the dawn, and the chill brought on by the frozen coals and a brisk winter wind coursing into the cavern. A soft groan tumbled from her lips. Slowly, she rolled to her paws and shook the sleep from her muscles. Her mother didn't stir, but she had taken a rather heavy dose of herbs the night before. The mornings had been very hard on Lirika lately, and the young shaman was doing her best to make things easier on her mother's joints. Thus, she kept quiet. Padded softly to the low pile of kindling she kept within the cave, and grabbed a long stick. Perhaps with some prodding, a few warm coals could be found to restart the blaze. That way she wouldn't have to endure the laborious process of starting a new fire. It seems the fire wasn't yet fully dead, and beneath the cinders a few warm coals could be coaxed back to life with a few pawfulls of fibrous kindling and some dedication. By the time she had the fire crackling, the sun was nearly all the way above the horizon now. The sky outside was turning a warm shade of pink. The young healer rose to her paws again, and decided to check on her mother. Lowering her head to sniff at her mother's snout, she sought out any signs of laboured breathing. Nothing stirred the fur of her snout. A chill rocketed down her spine, and every muscle in her body went taut as a bowstring. "Mama?" she croaked the word out around the distinct sensation of her heart leaping into her throat. Tongue slipping from the confines of her maw, she swiped it against her mother's nose a few times. It was cold. Too cold. A whine slipped past her pink lips now, tears burning in her mismatched eyes now. "Mama?" it was more urgent now, afraid. No, anything but this. The pale femme all but tripped over her own paws to get to her mother's flank, and frantically jam her ear up against her ribs. Silent. Not even the gurgle of churning guts. "N...o." she choked, joints giving way suddenly so she could collapse against her mother's side, rendered suddenly to no more but a frightened child. Loud, unabashed sobs wracked the wolf. Burying her face into her mother's ruff, she begged and pleaded with all of the gods that Lirika could come back. Of course, they couldn't grant her wish.
"speech" |