[ P ] To The Rescue

Summit Hiram Eithne
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Summit had been here before, long ago when he was still a child. His memories of this place were different from what he found today. Gone were the wolves who had studied there as nature reclaimed the Arboretum. The healer who had saved his life when he was born, Nephele – ‘Aunty Nel,’ he had called her – had lived near, but her family cabin appeared empty. Aryth, the wolf that did school better than anyone else, was missing as well. Summit didn’t know that both were now dead and buried. Though he was already cold from the merciless winter, he could feel a shiver running up his spine. It was too quiet. Eerie.

”Soraya!” To yell was a risk he had to take, the fear of losing another sister outweighing his need for safety. He had followed her errant scent all morning and into the afternoon, beyond the Highlands, with anxiety that intensified with every snowy step. A splotch of mahogany in the distance familiar in hue caught his eye. ”Soraya?” Fear filled his heart – what if she was trapped? Or injured? Or…

His voice heightened with anxiety as the muscular legs beneath him carried him quickly through the snow. ”Raya! Over here! I’m on my way, hold on!” He couldn't tell what she was doing or if she even needed rescuing, but panic swelled within his rib cage regardless. He was the big brother. It was his duty to protect.



@Soraya

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The idea that there was something so big to come to the lands and she was not allowed to participate was something that did not sit right with the fiery young female. She wanted to see the devastation for herself. She wanted to see just the horrid things that war could do to somewhere. She knew her family would not agree to her obsession with fighting and learning. But she wanted it. She needed it. If she was going to learn about how to save her family, she needed to start somewhere. Father was not going to just start teaching her to fight. Firefly flew close overhead, staying nearest the wolf to make sure she was safe. He was always nearby, and often used as an alarm to make sure the child would be safe. Soraya often forgot about the owl when she was immersed in her education furthering at her own accord. She moved through the snow, her nose close to the ground. It had been a long while since the fighting had ended, and it was clear there was so much distress in the lands. She could feel the sadness here, the immense amounts of emotions that flooded these lands. No longer did others freely live here, learn here, grow here. All that was left were horrid memories. Soraya found herself looking through all she could find, and some places seemed to have that stale smell of old blood. Then she heard her brother's voice. She lifted her head and paused where she stood. There was no danger here, so why was he shouting so loudly? "Summit, I'm okay... it's fine..." With her stopped, Firefly rested his talons gently on her shoulder, waiting to see the older wolf come towards her. "Dream a little dream of me..." @Summit

The deep snow could not stop him as he hurried through it. Soraya’s expression lacked any semblance of fear or concern, despite their dreadful surroundings. "Summit, I'm okay... it's fine..." His pace slowed with her reassurance as he drew nearer to his misplaced sister. An owl very familiar to Summit rest on the girl’s shoulder, and he dipped his head in greeting. ”Hi Owly– er, I mean, Firefly.” He grinned, finding the new name to be a bit more thoughtful than what their father had called their feathered friend.

His mismatched stare return to his auburn-hued sibling as he fretted: ”It’s just such a long way to go on your own, Raya…” The scars of war all around them… Soraya had never known this place before the war, and could only see the destruction left in its wake. Summit felt a simmering anxiety that his sister seemed to lack entirely. He stopped when he stood before her, the youngest of his siblings, at least for now. She resembled their father the most out of all them, and was the only one destined to reach the same behemoth size as Summit and their sire.

His lips pursed tightly until he was satisfied that Soraya was unharmed. After a silent beat, he inquired in a voice that had grown very deep with age. ”Why are you out here, anyway?” Strange eyes were still concerned. He only hoped she would be truthful in her response, and that there was nothing amiss here.


@Soraya

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Summit came, and of course he was concerned for her. It was his job to be, it had seemed. But Summit really needed a new job. Soraya hoped that something else would come along to distract him from the advances she would be making for her future. She didn't want anyone to tell her what to do. She didn't want anyone having any control over her body, or her mind. Navigating through this area was an opportunity to discover more of what had happened here, and also teach herself some valuable things about life and maybe she could find more information about fighting here. "Summit, you should probably just go back home. I am about to tell you something that will shock you." She looked to her brother and her red eyes looked over the male. Firefly stretched its wings and started to preen its backside. "There was a great war here..." she started, even though she knew he already knew that. Everyone in the whole world knew there was a war. "I am going to be teaching myself to fight, since father cannot be bothered to do so." She looked to him with a matter-of-fact stare, almost challenging him to challenge her words. If he was not going to support her decision, she did not care, and if he tried to bring her back home or try and fetch one of their parents, he would be sure to stop him the best she could. "I want revenge for father." The way that she was speaking was unlike any other way she had ever before. She was deadly serious, and her tone had even lowered. She was nearing her first full year of life, and something about this had caused her to feel like she knew a whole realm's wealth of knowledge. "You can choose to help me, or keep it to yourself, but nothing and nobody is going to change my mind." "Dream a little dream of me..." @Summit

Each word Soraya spoke seized his heart with anxiety. Her voice was no longer the sweet, childish octaves they had been only recently. She spoke with assurance and a fierceness that caught Summit off-guard: ”I am going to be teaching myself to fight, since father cannot be bothered to do so." Father? She sounded so grown-up, but she was still so young.

He opened his mouth to interject, but his sister continued: "I want revenge for father." Revenge… It was a far cry from the days of playing hide-and-seek together in the Fae Forest. ”Have you ever asked Papa?” He couldn’t hide the worry in his mismatched eyes . His thoughts were a whirlwind, but he tried to be calm. “Everyone has their reason for doing what they do, Raya.” Summit didn’t know the details of their father’s life, but it was more than Soraya knew. Still, it wasn’t his place to reveal their father’s secrets.

"You can choose to help me, or keep it to yourself, but nothing and nobody is going to change my mind." He was silent for a second, sights turned upward to the unending sky before returning to his oversized little sister. Their mother had taught her children to follow their hearts… Was this Soraya’s true calling? But war was the opposite of love. War was hatred in action. ”I can’t stop you from doing what you want, Raya. And I won’t tell them. But I hope that you’ll reconsider, not because I said so, but because you deserve more. After the war, after all the suffering…” A shudder. ”I don’t want to see you dead for no good reason.”

There was a big world out there with big problems that didn’t involve the Eithne clan. Summit didn’t understand why Soraya would jump into something so dangerous and unnecessary when they had everything they needed near by: family. Somehow, however, Summit guessed that his words would fall on deaf ears. It wasn’t his choice to make.


@Soraya

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Her brother did not understand the dangers they were facing - it had seemed. To her, at least. "You think he would approve?" she asked him a rhetorical question. He would never, they both knew that. Neither of their parents would be "cool" with a statement like that, not to mention the intensity of how much she really wanted to go through with her plan. Revenge was not something that was saved for the young, but here she was - yearning for it. She knew it would be impossible to get it now, or within a few months, but if she trained herself quickly, and took the time to grow - she could do it. She knew she could. "Deserve more? There is nothing we deserve more than to be free!" She looked to her brother. "It would be for a good reason. To protect my family from a terrible fate. I would do that. Wouldn't you?" She was not going to just give this up, not because he said to or even claimed that he wanted a better life for her. "Hiding is not living, it is surviving. I don't want to just survive anymore. I want to live. I want to be strong and I want my family to know I can protect them. Is that so wrong?" "Dream a little dream of me..." @Summit

Her expression, her tone were defiance and righteousness, and Summit took in each word with a visible wince. ”Raya…” But the mammoth youth knew he couldn’t stop his youngest sibling, and no amount of reasoning would be enough to dissuade her from this fool’s errand. He looked at his sister for another lingering moment with a sad expression before shaking his large head. ”Talk to Papa. There’s a lot about him that you don’t know yet. He won’t want to talk about it, but…” He paused. Their father would certainly be angry if he heard Summit’s words — some things were meant to be secret, according to Cian. But Summit didn’t agree. ”Maybe you’re old enough to know, Raya.”

Mismatched eyes turned away from the scarlet sights of his sibling, gazing toward the north where the rest of the family waited, unaware of the possibility of losing one of their own. But Summit would forever stay loyal to his clan, no matter what choices were made — including ones that he vehemently disagreed with. ”I’m heading back now. Will you —“ He stopped himself from asking if she would return with him, instead feigning a smile and turning away to find the family again… with or without Soraya.

[exit]


@Soraya

coding: gutz