When you lose something you can’t replace

They had locked her mother in the dungeons.

Daphne’s stomach still knotted when she thought about it. How? And why? Why had they let it happen? After Ulric had called the meeting to let them know he was taking over the pack, the girl had begun to slip out more and more, until she just stopped going back altogether. Bo was missing, and it didn’t seem like anyone was worried about trying to find her, not even their own brothers… in such a short timeframe her heart had been shattered into a million tiny pieces and to think… The Hallows had been meant as a place of healing. She was too numb to feel happiness anymore… most of the time she just felt tired, but sleeping was a struggle. She was often plagued by nightmares.

As the days grew shorter and the wind cut colder, there was only one place the dark girl could think to go. If she didn’t find somewhere warm to stay, she wasn’t sure she would last the winter. It was just like she remembered it, though not enough joy remained in her to show it. Her paws dragged through the shallow stream that flowed off the hot springs proper and rather than wander into the abandoned healers hut, she simply flopped, a small splash going up around her, though the sulphurous water barely came half way up her ribs across the deepest part of the stream. She remembered playing here with Bowen, trading a pretty green stone for bugs for Pandora. Her long suffering raccoon was waddling up behind her now. Trying to shoo her out of the water before she caught her death with the sun going down. But the only reply the giant girl could give was a sigh. She was too tired to take another step, and the water was so warm.

"speech".