We can never leave her behind

Dad is home. The fact reverberates through the small purple girl like a hollow drum, pounding painfully as it tells her soul that her mother is gone. Andy had seen them leave, watched from the shadows in the grove as her father and mother left the Hallowed lands. And she had been there when he had returned. Pale blue eyes watch him, sadness tugging at her heart as she reads the grief etched into his features. Her mind does not know what has happened to her mother, no one has told her anything; yet, deep down in her soul, the pup knows that Zee is gone.

His voice reaches her ears as the wind carries it her way and they slick back against her skull, head lowering to rest on the ground as she lays under a bush that has been perfect for cover. He stands, moving into the lands beyond but she stays, hidden from view and away from the sadness of the world. His call rings out for them to gather and Andy considers ignoring it, her puppy mind foolishly latching onto the hope that their mother is okay and, that if she stays here, underneath this berry bush, nothing bad will touch her.

Even as she thinks it, Andromeda knows how silly a hope that is and silently crawls out from hiding spot. She shakes out the legs and twigs that had gotten stuck in her lavender coat before making the journey to the castle. She slips quietly into the room, shrinking back toward the furthest wall to take a seat. Vanta and Charlie search for their missing mother, thinking that she is playing a game while Stratum, much more subdued, pokes his head out the door. Andy does not move from her place against the back wall, nor does her pale blue gaze leave her father’s form.

A part of her knows what is coming, yet she is wholly unprepared for the news itself and the ripples it will cast across her life. Yet, she waits, a stoic expression on her features as she at attention against the wall furthest from Sirius, awaiting the news she dreads the most.


"Andromeda Fatalis"