Who am I without you?

TABLE & CODE © SKELLE 2021
"Speech!"
Nights were long lately, both literally with the turning of the season but also emotionally. Psalm had not found sleep came easily to her anymore. She'd always felt herself a light sleeper, even more so after their mother had left but now she often found it denied her outright. She'd lay awake in her alcove, listening for the soft breathing of her siblings, ears perked for a slight shuffle of paws or any indication any of them might be leaving in the dead of night the way their father had. It was often only as the first lights of dawn would color the mouth of the den that she'd finally relax enough to sleep, for however few hours she'd get after that.

So it was a little odd that sleep found her so much quicker tonight, the darkness swallowing her up and cradling her in its warm and empty embrace, a better escape from reality than most dreams as she simply existed in oblivion for a while. Then when she opened her eyes where she expected to see the den around her, feel the hard stone under her, instead, she found herself under the sun, grass at her paws. The girl blinked, bright blues scanning and she realized she was in the place where she'd last dreamed of her mother. The young woman lifted her muzzle to sniff the air, voice lifting as she called out: "Mom?"