broken crown.

How long had she been gone? Days had quickly faded into weeks -- storms had ravaged the lands, forcing her into solitude as she frantically searched for shelter. Her memories grew as hazy as the grey skies above, her husband little more than a dull memory. His betrayal had cut her deeply, forcing her to entirely re-think what she thought of as loyalty. Her children were all she had left now; her sister was nowhere to be found, and her brother's fate was still uncertain. The lands she had once known as home, for so many seasons, stunk with the scent of an unfamiliar pack and she had quickly traveled East, feeling a nostalgia that was far too painful to bear in these central lands.

Epiphron was the embodiment of grace even now as she walked, emerging from the dense thicket to see the cliff's sharp drop. Somehow, it reminded her of the ravine where she'd met Maverick, the day her life had changed forever. She couldn't help but wonder how things might be different if she had stayed in Valhalla. Would such a pack still exist? Or was its demise inevitable? She had never been one to believe in fate, but it was easier to pretend that it was something nobody could've prevented. A sigh escaped her pursed lips as her paws carried her further up the slope of the cliff. Her posture was guarded as she moved, glancing cautiously behind her every few minutes, as though half-expecting someone to leap from the shadows. But alas, she was alone, as she had been for so long.


The one thing she needed, that she craved was the presence of her children. Warily she would rest, reclining to her belly, letting her paws dangle over the cliff's edge. Perhaps it was dangerous to be so close to the edge -- what if the land caved in, sending her crashing to the rocks and the water below? Death was something she hadn't been afraid of for some time. After resting for some time, until the sun set well below the horizon and the stars begin to glimmer brilliantly overhead, she would raise her muzzle to the sky and let loose a call. For her children, and for her kin -- any who might happen to be within earshot, who hadn't lost hope in her or in their family.