4/25/2025, 1:21 AM
the cold was very different here. it was no mere breeze nor chill. it was bone-deep and sinking, creeping into her fur and clung to her flesh. a mere babe when she'd been dropped into this new life, fa’liya did not know how to manage it. she ran on instinct, instinct to keep moving. to keep warm by way of will, when her thin coat and smaller frame did not.
she could feel it, that something important was near. a tug in her chest. not the pull of hunger, or the cold, or even the ache behind her ribs she hadn’t yet learned to name. this was different. it led her through moss and bramble, through frozen fern and pine-scented hush. following, following the breeze.
she didn’t call out—her voice wasn’t much, and she'd startled when she'd first heard it. her ears perked as she stumbled into a clearing, clumsy paws skidding on slick bark. Her breath came out in white puffs. blue eyes—bright, too large for her face still—latched onto the figure ahead.
she stood, chest heaving, little body quivering like a reed in the gale, watching the shadow of a wolf approach. closer, closer. they have her mother's star, her mother's eyes, her color. the scent hits her like whiplash, and suddenly she's awestruck.
her feet carried her faster than she'd gone in days, maybe ever, all to the woman she'd come from. “m'mma!” her tail gave a that shook her entire body.
she could feel it, that something important was near. a tug in her chest. not the pull of hunger, or the cold, or even the ache behind her ribs she hadn’t yet learned to name. this was different. it led her through moss and bramble, through frozen fern and pine-scented hush. following, following the breeze.
she didn’t call out—her voice wasn’t much, and she'd startled when she'd first heard it. her ears perked as she stumbled into a clearing, clumsy paws skidding on slick bark. Her breath came out in white puffs. blue eyes—bright, too large for her face still—latched onto the figure ahead.
she stood, chest heaving, little body quivering like a reed in the gale, watching the shadow of a wolf approach. closer, closer. they have her mother's star, her mother's eyes, her color. the scent hits her like whiplash, and suddenly she's awestruck.
her feet carried her faster than she'd gone in days, maybe ever, all to the woman she'd come from. “m'mma!” her tail gave a that shook her entire body.