Atonement

Before he got his wits about him Aslatiel was there, keeping him from moving or speaking. He wouldn’t have known what to say. All he could think of for a long moment was the day he last saw her. Indigo listened, trying to rid his thoughts as she told him first that Naiche was dead. She had to end his suffering herself. Arcturus no longer had his father. Everyone was plagued with death. "I’m sorry.” He muttered softly, inconsequentially, as he had no real desire to interrupt.

She left their home pack with Satira and her orphaned brother, she found release, relief, her own path brand new. All while he was here, barely able to keep himself together. Struggling every day to convince himself the fight wasn’t over, that he needed to return to the world of the living when he felt himself wishing to reunite with the dead. While he tried to overcome the loss of the only wolf he had given his heart to. As tears began to pool in Aslatiel’s eyes he realized what a husk he had become. It took too long for his heart to clench and the emotion to rouse within him as she went on.

Aslatiel was asking for his forgiveness. He’d gone cold that day, and her hatred still rang in his head. It was hard to let go, but as the tears poured from her galactic gaze she softened him. Indigo never thought that he would see her again, he did as she asked and stay away and had hardened himself to her and the memories that were so painful with her gone. For a moment he felt like he couldn’t, like the cut had just been too deep. He didn’t feel anything.

But he knew his sister better than anyone else, he could see the genuine remorse. Aslatiel asked forgiveness from no one, and here she was seeking him out to mend the burned bridge between them. He wasn’t strong-willed enough to hold a grudge, and he had craved the feel of her for so long. Indigo had needed her comfort so badly. "I never blamed you.” And he hadn’t. She wanted the blame but it belonged to him too. It all went back to his deeper mistakes. Her words hurt, but his actions had too.

Indigo stepped forward hesitantly, lifting his paw when he was close enough to his once love. He wiped away the tears from her cheek. Even more carefully Indigo lowered his lips to her scarred cheek and gently kissed them from the other side.


"Speech"