This House Is Falling Apart

Kali always thought of each night as a song. Or each moment as a song. But now she was seeing that life didn't live in a single song. It moved from song to song, from lyric to lyric, from chord to chord. There was no ending here. It was an infinite playlist, an infinite playlist she was determined to sing until the last chord was struck. The right song could turn an emperor into a laughing stock, could bring down dynasties, soothe a weary soul, or bring a smile to a pup's face. The world was indeed full of peril and in it there were many dark places, but there was still a glimmer of hope- a candle in the dark. That candle being the song of one's heart.

A harmony seemed to pierce the veil of sadness around her. Even though it had been many months since she had last seen her siblings, it brought peace, serenity, and hope to her heart. It carressed the sleeping fawn, serenaded the tired owl, and wrapped the morning glorys in a warm cacoon until morning. Gifted by her mother, she had used song one too few times to bring a light into a darkened room. Often she searched for her voice when she felt alone or frightened; and she had felt very much alone in her recent adventures. Many, in their old pack, had called her the Archangel of Hope, the one they named Auriel. While others preffered to call her the Earth Mother herself. She had heard it all in her travels, yet she condemned herself to the equivalent of a peasant. Merely here in this world to guide others and help them seek their path of righteousness, the path of forgiveness. Whatever that may have been in their eyes. Yet, there was one problem, the few she had met along her travels had not sought companionship; let alone a friendly smile. Alas, she was alone.

She was a fair maiden, with tressels of golden sunlight painting their way across her physique. The mirage stifled by almost unnoticable white freckles along her cheeks and under her chin, childish is how she viewed herself to look. Yet this child had helped raise her siblings, had been a wet nurse, or tried, for her siblings when their mother was nowhere to be found. She had been a messenger for some, a much needed sister to others, and the bane of few. Her goals were simple, eloquently laid out before her as if someone were offering to hunt down her meals for the next five years. A present from the Maker, her mother, her friend. She had two mothers. Her birth mother, who she loved, adored, admired, and respected- and then the Earth Mother. Her maker, their maker. Maybe the Earth Mother wasn't a mother, maybe a father; but mother had always felt right in her mind and so mother it was.

Her adventure had brought her to quite the curious place tonight. A set of caverns wide. They reminded her of the castles she had been told about in fairytales as a pup, someone was always trying to put silly fantasies in her head. Kalispell had never had time for any of the normal games and ploys that other children believed. A grown up never had time for that, more pressing matters always needed attending to and she had never been able to let loose. The thought struck a fresh chord in her heart as she slowly padded into one of the daunting structures; paws playfully dancing between the cracks. Don't step on a crack, or you break your mother's back! What a silly notion they had as young things, why would anyone have wanted to play a game that would have harmed the very one who let you suckle from their teet well into the night? The thought had always been preposterous and yet she couldn't help but chuckle as she skipped between the cracks, her steps soon turning into something like a skip.

And then something unexpected happened, a lingering foot cause the very edge of a jutting rock and-- 'crash!' Down the poor vixen went, the very epitome of acceptance, colliding with the cold stone floor. An audible yelp echoed about the cavern as she fell forward into a boulder, her right shoulder taking the brunt of the impact. The bottom of her paws slick from the moisture within the cave, her body crumbled in a small heap. Well, if anyone had seen this, it would have been more than an embarrassing sight. The frau scrambled to her feet, visibly shaken in the waning moonlight. What if there had been a hunter in the cave? A bear? Or a coyote? The thought jolted her ears to attention, eyes adjusting to the change in light. She needed to keep moving, she hadn't finished what she had set out to do.