Although she didn't wish to admit it to herself, China found it a relief when Sage stopped. She sucked deep lungfuls of air into her lungs - The silvery songbird felt peculiarly feint, as though her chest was held in the fist of a giant. A menacing wind whipped between her and her tawny sister, causing the other girl's darker waves to leap about her face, caught like tiny banners in the cool fingers of the zephyr that bellowed down from the mountain. The miserable weather did nothing but darken her sister's miserable voice. "Oh, Sage..." Don't give up hope, she wanted to say, but the sentiment caught in her constricted throat.
Her sister seemed to sense that their path was faltering, and so she changed it. On an angle to their original direction, the two coyote girls trudged on, their bodies bent like hapless twigs against the relentless weather. When a familiar scent reached Sage, China was oblivious - The pain in her chest had now inflamed a dull ache in her brain, a strange feeling that made black dots dance tauntingly at the corners of her vision. However, her mind did not settle on this disturbing physical impairment for long, as she heard the name that pulled from her sister's maw, and excitedly looked up to see the new girl approaching.
Clover's gold hair and lavender tapestry made her clearly visible against the blistering snow. Following in the deep sockets of Sage's footsteps, China was nearing to Clover when Sage fell.
It was in slow-motion. The black dots at the edge of her eyes danced menacingly, seemingly excited by the imminent danger that the tawny girl was in. A sharp shriek echoed across the landscape - It took a moment for China to realize that it had been torn from her own throat. "SAGE!" The snow hindered her footsteps - Earthmother, be damned! Be DAMNED! There would be no Razekiel in this blasted desolation, and now her Sage had come to harm.
Finally, she floundered the distance between herself and the wounded girl, her silvery body flopping into the snow beside Sage's curled form. She was too breathless for another scream of alarm, but looked to Clover with wide, scared eyes of softest eggshell blue.
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