Happiness is

Sedna was in a foul mood.

After her meeting with the healers she was only left wondering, hadn’t she done enough? What was so great about Mojito that as, effectively a child, he had been promoted above her? The only thing she could put it down to was that he had fucked the leaders kid, just like Hanako. There was less bitterness towards the speckled woman because hey, at least Sedna had seen her work, and she had taken the time to get to know her, but the more she looked around, the more strange faces she came across and it left a bad taste in her mouth. She was starting to wonder if the Armada was worth hanging around in anymore. She could be so much more, if only they fucking opened their eyes to see how much she had done.

Although she did acknowledge a large part of that was on herself, sequestering herself away and focusing on her garden and her plants. It was important work and if nobody was interested, then why would she go out of her way to explain? A pack full of fighters had needed someone on hand to patch them up, and now she had been replaced. She wasn’t going to go back to warrior work.

It wasn’t really in her to fight anymore, her talents were better spent elsewhere, but clearly with a lead healer appointed, they weren’t talents the Armada needed anymore… Although it would seem the all knowledgeable had some blind spots… like goddamn birth control. The silver wolf smirked to herself as she continued to lope across the hills, pulling her makeshift sled behind her. Usually she would drag it back laden with branches for the fire or plants to populate her garden, but today, she was out here to blow off a little steam.

Otis was perched atop the sled, lowly grumbling at her as she hit avoidable bumps. She gave her companion a sidelong glance and smirked, “Yer could walk yer know…?” she offered, a snigger already leaving her lips as the possum stretched his jaws wide and hissed at her. Who needed the Armada when she had her opossum, huh?

She began the ascent, dipping her head and throwing her shoulders into it as she hauled the sled up the nearest hill, there were higher ones around, but it was the first time she had thought to send herself barrelling down a snow covered hill, on a bit of bark, with no controls, and she didn’t want to start the exercise by breaking her damn neck. When she reached the summit, she stopped and breathed deeply, her breath coming out in billowing clouds about her, whipped away by the wind she was forced to squint against, the icy air making her eyes water and her nose go numb.

She carefully checked that there were no obvious obstacles in her path. The area was known for hidden caves, and they would be impossible to spot under the snowfall, but the monochrome wolf no longer cared. If she happened to go missing, she doubted anyone would come looking and so why should she worry? With reckless abandon, she put her front paws half way along the sled, Otis holding the rope she had used to haul it up here and she pushed with her back legs, jumping once the timber picked up momentum. As the world tilted down she found herself going faster, and faster, adrenalin coursing through her veins as manic laughter was ripped from her chest. Her opossum was screaming along with her.

As they reached the bottom of the hill, the sled skidded out sideways from beneath her. Her eyes were wide and her breath was coming in gasps. It had been too long since she had felt so alive. Without waiting for her companions agreement, she snatched up the rope and charged up the next highest hill, this one with some ancient, dead trunks scattered up its side. She was sure if she shifted her weight one way or the other she would be able to avoid them, but she wanted to put her theory to the test in person. She barely paused at the summit, ignoring Otis’s grumbles of protest as she sent them launching down the hill again. She had picked a reasonably clear path, but there would be some adjustments needed. As they neared the first tree she shifted her weight on the back of the sled and the bark sled shifted, directing her straight into the path of another tree. She adjusted again, reaching out to use a paw like a rudder narrowly avoiding disaster again. She shrieked happily as the bark gained air and she was sent flying from its surface, tumbling down the snow covered hillside in disappearing from sight as she found one of those hidden caves. Her laughter could be heard echoing from beneath the ground, reassuring her companions that she was doing just fine.

“Speech”