[ P ] The Sky

H

er return had brought a whole host of changes that were very overwhelming for her, even days after she'd come home to Rhiannon. She wanted to be happy, especially when joy radiated from the Matriarch of their Coven. Surely that same elation her other half felt should take hold of her as well? Why then did she feel that she needed to escape about the witching hour when all were in their slumber? Finding the escape if only to let tears fall where otherwise they would be buried beneath the happiness she tried so hard to hold onto.

It was never the same place...a hidden grove here, an abandoned burrow there. Tonight it was at the edge of the forest where she could peer across open fields and to stars above that glittered with whatever life lay beyond. Darkened streams stained her cheeks, stinging what was left of the wounds that still healed upon her face.


"I remember so clearly...the last time I saw your smiling face..." Nimue swallowed the lump in her throat, her voice trembling as she continued to speak. "I-I didn't know...I didn't know, Aryth...I didn't know that it was going to be the last time...how could I? I have so much...so, so much more that I had to say to you...and now...you're...you're gone..." With the single shimmering, deep blue orb where her vision remained, she scanned the heavens for a sign, for anything...anything from him.


@Datura

art and code by Yahtzee-Penguiduck

THREAD TITLE MUSE

Datura

The darkness of the night still felt overwhelming to the child. She would have preferred to be tucked away in a cozy den somewhere. Instead, the importance of the nighttime, of honoring the moon and the stars, was impressed upon her and she had no choice but to embrace the abyss. They worshipped in the night, and Mother hunted by the cover of darkness for the children. Often, Datura had no appetite at all, so as the other pups grew, this one scarcely seemed to change.


As her coven family expanded, finding new “sisters,” it became increasingly difficult for Mother to watch all of them at once. And perhaps because she was so small, so meek, it made sense that she was the one often overlooked in favor of one of the other girls. It was the goddess herself, the child reasoned, that really looked after her. At least, that was her understanding of this still-new concept that Mother spoke of, this Feminine Divine…


And so, this night found Datura alone again. Eyes like amber searched relentlessly, peering this way and that, always searching for dangers that lurked in the supposedly sacred night. Tiny ears swiveled about for any sound – and suddenly, she heard something. Datura weaved through the enormous trees, following the sound because something deep down told her that she should.


The girl came across a lone wolfess who seemed to be talking to herself. Though Datura couldn’t decipher her words, the emotion that stained each one was unmistakable. Datura hesitated, as she often did. Maybe it was best to go the other way and pretend she saw nothing… But her heart wouldn’t allow a retreat, and instead, she stepped tentatively closer to the weeping woman. In a tiny voice, she asked, ”Awe you okay?”



@Nimue

template by bean

S

olitude did not last long. Nimue did not hear an approach and there was no warning of anyone's arrival until a tiny little voice spoke up. She truly thought it was her mind playing tricks on her at first as she whipped around, her single eye squinting as she searched the darkness. The moonlight helped her to hone in on the tiny form of an ivory-furred child.

Nimue blinked away what tears were there and she sniffled, trying in vain to hide her grief. “Ehm, yes, I...I was...I was just..." She stammered and then fell silent, swallowing the lump in her throat as her gaze became unfocused, lowering to the ground. Her ears folded backwards and she turned away, lowering her head as she suppressed a whine in the back of her throat.

She avoided looking at the babe who had appeared from the darkness...not entirely sure which one it was. There were...so many...and she was still so overwhelmed, it was difficult to form any sort of attachment with any of them just yet. Doing her best to shield the mauled side of her face from the pup, she shook her head. “Forgive me...I did not mean to wake you..." Nimue finally uttered, biting her lip to keep it from trembling.

@Datura

art and code by Yahtzee-Penguiduck

Datura

Try as she might to disguise it, the grown-up’s sadness was palpable in the darkness. It was the same wolfess who had helped Datura when Larkspur was being a bully to the timid child. She had cleaned her face with maternal tenderness, though she was not her mother. And though they were little more than strangers, the woman’s silent tears urged Datura to inch closer still.


She hadn’t meant to introduce upon a private moment, this moment of unadulterated grief that was more than Datura could comprehend… yet the unspoken melancholy was already all too familiar to the young girl, a sadness she could not put to words. Like a shadow, this darkness was never far behind.


The she-wolf continued to look away, focus turned away from the pup, and Datura wondered if she was the problem. Maybe she was simply too pitiful for the storm-clad woman to gaze at without feeling… something. Disappointment? Disgust? Irritation?


“Forgive me...I did not mean to wake you..." Datura looked at Nimue with gentle eyes as the small ivory pup shook her head. ”Was alweady ‘wake,” she reassured the sad woman. ”Hawd to sleep.” She had stopped where she stood awkwardly, uncertain if she should move any closer to Nimue. Her tiny voice inquired, ”Why awe you ‘wake?”



@Nimue

template by bean

N

imue turned her face enough to cut her deep blue eye at the pup, trying to get a better look at her. Taking in the little one's awkward features, she realized that the moon illuminated a soft glow up on the precious wisp that she's encountered before. The wolfess sat herself up taller then, trying to adjust her posture to appear more inviting.

Her brows furrowed as the babe admitted to her difficulty sleeping. Nim's head bobbed in an understanding nod of agreement. “It is nearly impossible to sleep when everything feels so...heavy." She sympathized gently. She theb took breath in before slowly turning her face so that the moonlight outlined the fresh scarring of her face and a milky blind orb. “Here...cone and tell me what weight you carry." She patted the earth at her side, her forlorn expression holding a glimmer of hope that she would not be alone with her grief and longer


@Datura

art and code by Yahtzee-Penguiduck