Discovery

She walked behind while they ran ahead.  Even as small as they were, they could outrun her, out pace her, and just plain wear her out.  Still, she smiled to see their enthusiasm.  Squirrels, beavers, this odd plant and this neat mushroom, everything that a child's fancy could catch on, theirs did.  Her heart swelled with joy.  The Gods might enjoy toying with her, breaking her down every chance they got, but in those two small, mischievous children she could find no fault.


She paced slowly along, letting the blossoming springtime fill her senses.  Perhaps that's why she didn't notice the absence of other voices for some time.  She'd never really worried too much about her children.  They were raised to know right from wrong and safety from danger, and among the Tir she was more than content to let them roam and play.  Now, suddenly they were missing...

In a heartbeat, everything she knew and believed was called into question...  What would she do if... what could she do?  She'd do what she had to.  She'd do anything.  Those babies were her life.  Her head tilted to one side and keen eyes searched carefully through the undergrowth, the bushes, and even high into the branches of the trees.  Nothing.  There was no sign of footprints in this pristine corner of the world.   Panic swelled in her chest... 

~*~

"I have her, and if you want to see her again, you'll cooperate, bitch."  The man's eyes were hard and cold, and there wasn't an inch of give in his entire body.  His long, white hair looked almost angelic, but he was cold, and he held all the cards.  Oh, she snarled, she bit, she fought back but it earned her nothing but a split lip and a set of manacles in a dank, dark cell.

"If you don't, I'll throw you both in with the most violent of my prisoners..."

She'd caved, eventually.  She'd given them what they wanted.  They'd left her no choice...

~*~

Reason settled over her, cool and clear, calming her instantly.  She could find them just the same way she'd always found them when they'd wandered too far.  She was their mother, after all, and nobody would chain her ever again.


She turned in a circle, letting the soft breeze drift past her face and then, yes!


At a brisk run, she moved over the narrow, stony, broken trail until she found herself face to face with a mess of brambles along a cliff face.  There, like a little flag, hung a torn fragment of her daughter's dress.  Playful, childish laughter echoed through the bushes and across the cliffs, teasing and taunting and driving away her fear.  


Determined, she pushed forward, ignoring the scratching of thorns across her bare arms as she hurried to catch up with the twins that wreaked such havoc on her heart.


What she found waiting beyond the hedge of brambles left her breathless.

Renewal

The sensation of homecoming was bittersweet.  The long grass tickled her belly and stroked her legs and made her feel as if there was nowhere else she wanted to be.  The scents were familiar, the sights just the same.  Everything was the way she'd left it and she embraced the sensation with everything in her.  She ran through the night, beneath the stars, until her lungs felt as if they were going to collapse.

She'd had to leave, she'd been forced to return... she had found a way to be happy anyway.

The demons fell before her strength; no longer was she weak, no longer did she struggle.  Through the tribulations of her life, she'd found the strength within her and brought it to the surface.  Now there was nothing she feared.  Nothing.

With the last barbed wolf fallen, she turned towards the trees and stopped, immediately.

Him.

The one she'd never forget looked back at her.  The meeting she'd been avoiding, dreading - the one thing she still feared, though she denied it - was at hand.  The hair on the back of her neck bristled.  Her lips pulled back into a blatant snarl.

He whined.
~*~


The young woman napped by the lake shore, alone and content to be that way.  The argument had been bitter, and her friends had left her behind.

Some friends...

Scowling, she'd turned her eyes to the nearby cliffs and tensed abruptly.  Shaggy, mottled fur in browns and blacks left him almost entirely invisible, but she knew him anyway.  She'd know him anywhere, even if she couldn't remember why.  Her wolf.

Her heart soared and she extended a hand, inviting... hoping that he'd come nearer.  His low whine filled the air and for the first time she could ever remember, he let her bury her face in his fur.

~*~

The shock of memory brought about by that lonely sound sent a shiver through her and chased away more rage than she'd known she had.

Settling onto her haunches in the grass, she waited.