I can't roll with these punches

She felt him breathe, hoping in vain that her foolish plan had worked, but then she heard him speak her dead mother's name and then he was gone, tearing away from her grasp and disappearing out into the night. "Dad!" she cried after him, collapsing onto her haunches as she stared out into the darkness, her mouth agape as her body began to tremble, fear and confusion mixing together to overwhelm her system and shake her to her core. She just couldn't figure out the why? Why would he do that? Why did he run away? Why was any of this happening? Why was everything crashing down around them? She wanted to run after him, figure out what was going on, demand answers, but she didn't. She sat here staring in shock while her paw pressed to the bleeding bite on her neck.

At some point Marigold appeared at her side, fretting and fussing and questioning what happened, but Briar didn't hear any of it. Her father... He bit her. He bit her and ran away. Her mother was gone. Dead and buried. She thought about going to one of her siblings, maybe going to Asla. She was important now, maybe she would know what to do. She got up, ignoring Marigold's demanding questions, yelling at her to lay down so she could take a look at her wounds as she began to walk out the entrance, but then she stopped. What would everyone think? Would her father get in trouble for this? She supposed he should, but... She just wanted to get away. Get away from all of it. Go to the one wolf that she knew would understand. He hesitated for a long moment, but finally decided that she had to do both. She had to be responsible, but she also needed what she needed.

"I'm going to Artorias," she told Marigold quietly, her turquoise eyes pleading with her companion. "If I don't come back in a few days just... Pack up my herbs on Dandelion and come join me. I'll go tell Asla what happened first, but... I have to go." She didn't wait for Marigold to finish tending to her wounds or pay attention to her protests, she walked out of the den and made a beeline for Asla's. She was going to tell her sister and then she was going to go. She had to go. She had to get away.

"Briar" | "Marigold"