Giving the Academy a Rain-Check

Some days were easier than others and today had been a difficult one. It was always the days where she struggled to find something to occupy her time that were the hardest since there was nothing to distract her from her own thoughts and today had been quiet around the pack so it was easy to slip into that state of mind. She found herself sitting at the edge of the lake near the small dock that jutted out into the water, letting the cold breeze that blew over the surface of the lake ruffle her fur. It had snowed that morning so a dusting of snow covered the ground. Her gaze was tipped up toward the gray, cloudy sky, watching as a half dozen ravens swooped back and forth above her. It certainly wasn't uncommon for her own ravens and her mother's to hone their arial skills together, but their little training sessions had been even more common and frequent since she had requested for Domina to begin getting one of her chicks ready for her sister.

As if the thought of her youngest sister could summon her, a bit of movement out of the corner of her eye pulled her attention and she glanced down to see Mariah approaching her side. She smiled gently, greeting her warmly with a simple, "Mariah." Even though all of the grief and heartache she had experienced as of late, she never forgot about the request her sister had made and the preparations that would undoubtedly need to be made for it. She wished she had been able to spend more time with Mariah leading up to her departure to make sure everything was in order, but life did have other plans. She nodded as Mariah shared that Malico had agreed to go with her. She certainly hadn't expected her younger brother to refuse the request, but it was good to know that Mariah would have a companion for her trip. When she asked if there was any other preparations that needed to be done before she left Avacyn glanced back up at the ravens that were still swooping past one another in the sky above them. "Well, I do think there's someone who's ready to meet you."

She gave a short whistle to get the birds' attention and then called up to them, "Fina!" After a moment one of the ink-black birds separated out from the rest of the flock and began to drift down to them in circling spirals on the breeze. Eventually the young avian landed on the ground in front of them, making a few hops as she drew closer and shuffled her wings back into place at her sides. She was noticeably a bit smaller than the other ravens, but only because of her age. "This is Fina. She's been training with my ravens to be ready for your trip. She was the fastest and brightest of Domina's last clutch so I hope she serves you well." The raven bobbed her head in greeting to Mariah, speaking in their unique, avian croak, "I'm glad to finally meet you."

"Avacyn Mendacium"