bittersweet symphony

Torrent's pelt twitched, her hackles rising and falling without her noticing. Proximity to the smoldering volcano made her uncomfortable, but with Alarr and Tyrian and Valentine present she'd been able to simply keep her head down and follow along with them, wrapped in a bubble of reserved silence that wouldn't seem particularly out of character for her from the outside but was only a mask for the fear that threatened to consume her if she let herself think, let control slip for a single second.

Even now, past where she could see it, awareness tingled through her limbs and chest, the prickling reminder of the terror of that night. The journey here had brought nightmares every time she closed her eyes, so she'd slept poorly and rarely, and the exhaustion added to her discomfort and made her even more prone to terse and snappish behavior.

As they stopped at the border and Rhythm sent up a call for her family, Torrent looked to her brothers to see what she should do. They'd never said goodbye to a parental figure before, and Torrent had no experience to base a reaction on. Did they wait until Rhythm was accepted into the pack? Did they say goodbye and leave? Should they hug her? Were tears expected? Should she say something? Probably better to stay quiet unless she was addressed, or she'd say something wrong. Tilting her head, she instead simply watched the border for this alpha to show up, this relative of Rhythm's and, supposedly, of hers as well though she'd never met the older half-brother who'd joined Abaven long before she was born.