the sweet dreams that we knew so well

She knew she could never say the pain in her heart, never make a move that would compromise him in the world he came from. Their daughters were relying on him, needed him. As did the pack. Her heart would have to quietly break anew, and she would have to tell him that he was needed in Abaven, always.

She didn’t fight him when he wrapped his paws around her. She craved the physical too much. She leaned into his touch, breathing in the scent of her. She cried then, soundlessly, without motion, into his coat. She didn’t want him to see how much it hurt, how much she wished he had the power to drag her back to the living world.

It didn’t help her tears when he told her that Rhythm lived in Abaven now. What she had always wanted, for her Auntie to be there with her in the pack she loved. Now it was too late, and she could not share in the joy of learning healing besides the gentle healer.

“Oh Rhyme, I don’t want you to join me” she lied, drying her tears in his coat, and pulling free to look at him. She put a smile on her face, not knowing where she found the strength. “Samara, I’m glad. She’s what you need” that was the truth, what Rhyme needed, not what Shaye needed. “I’m glad you found her, and she you. Let her pull you together, you have my blessing, Rhyme” oh, but how much that hurt. The words she needed to say. She did it for Rhyme, for Theory, for Motif, and Poem. she said those bitter words, because they were what he needed to hear. She loved him too much to say anything else.