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Seeing the little boat floating on the ice felt wrong. Tayui, Attila, and Aurèle should have been here with him, Ocèane, and Dawali. It should not have been there or it should have been floating gently on the water. It was so cold and frigid now and he didn’t even have any flowers to Noir. He felt horribly sad and empty to be pushing this little boat full of sadness onto the ice. He didn’t want to go and dig up the bones and put them on the frozen boat, but it felt odd to simply fill it with Noir’s things. He didn’t want to lose her – or what was left of her – but this was the tradition and how she would achieve peace. Claudius hated to think that she would not be resting properly because they hadn’t done everything right.

As Claudius stood beside the Chief and his sister, he reached out with his Optime hand to grand at their hands and hold them in his own. He just needed it to know they were still there, that he would not have to send them off on a boat in the ice too soon, either. He didn’t want to think that one day either of them would die (he was not ready for that) but he knew one day he would have to acknowledge it. Until then, he wanted to stand there and take comfort in his family’s warmth, sharing their sadness so that one day they might overcome it and be happy again.

Even though Claudius still had a miserable knot tightening in his chest, he knew this was for the best. He trusted his sister and his chief and was glad they were there with him. He felt his tears begin to freeze in the cold January wind, saturating his fur with little ice drops. A particularly large gust of wind set his fur on edge and whisked off the still-liquid tears. Claudius was glad to see them go.

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Claudius could feel his sister tense at one point, but didn’t look over. He felt as though she was probably seizing up trying not to cry, so he didn’t want to know. He knew if he looked over at her sad, stricken expression, his tears would continue to flow. He sniffled and tried not to cry anymore and took quiet gulps of air. After a few seconds, he swallowed too much air and coughed three times before he was able to breathe again. He finally glanced over to his sister in time to see her stroking blue feathers with her free hand. He stroked her hand with his own, hoping he might offer her some comfort (even though his hands were shaking very badly).

He was startled when she spoke. He wasn’t sure if they had to be quiet for the entire ceremony, but he hoped Dawali would warn them if they were doing something they should not be doing. He had a great deal of trust for the older man. Even though Tayui told him once that she was older than Dawali, he was still very wise. Claudius respected him a great deal and was very glad he had agreed to do this with them. He knew it meant a lot to Ocèane and it meant a lot to Claudius, too. He was so lucky to have such an involved leader. He didn’t know what he would have done without Dawali after his mother left.

“Y-y-yes,” he stuttered. “Th-th-th…” he began, but couldn’t get the words out. He tried not to cry. “Th-th-ha-hank… y-you…” He lapsed into embarrassed silence when he realized how long it had taken him to say such a simple thing. He wished he were like the other wolves who could speak normally and weren’t so afraid. It hurt to think that Noir would only ever know him as the embarrassing, stuttering brother and not the wolf he would one day become.

That is fine~ I love short posts. c: (317)

Claudius was surprised at his sister: both for ingenuity and her strength. He had always known Oce and Attila were the most adventurous of his group, perhaps Oce more so sometimes, but certainly had not expected this. He liked the idea, but was baffled by how quickly she had thought of this. It was perfect and Claudius felt himself turning green with envy, wishing he had good ideas like this. Even though he loved his sister very much, he always wished he could be the strong one here.

He managed a feeble smile and a nod of his head. He reached up with his free hand to wipe the wetness from his fur. He peered at his sister from his lowered head, looking up from his slightly shorter position. Of course he liked the idea and of course Dawali would agree! It was only fair. Even if there wasn’t an AniWayan tradition for this sort of thing, they could easily make their own new tradition, or perhaps, a special one for Noir.

Dawali gave his permission and Claudius felt his smile widen just a little.

“W-what do we… want to… m-make?” he asked. His stutter had disappeared as he quickly replaced it with some sort of happiness, glad to be doing something useful. He would honour his sister and show her how much he loved her even when he couldn’t do it when he was alive. If he could protect this little memento, perhaps that would start to make up for all his past failures.

“M-maybe…” he began. He thought he might actually have an answer to his own question. “A totem o-of s-s-s-orts. W-w-we could… carve something. I read about it in a b-book. The water people of the W-west made totems of a-animals. Maybe we could… too…” Maybe a totem of Toefur, of Noir, or of things she liked, such as baby duck and flowers.

Marit, you can reply if you want! If not, I left it vague so you can say Dawali joined them or not. (592)

As Dawali drifted away, Claudius’ mind was sharp and focused. He pondered the different possibilities for the totems, trying to think of the many things Noir had liked as a child. Baby Duck had been a close confidante and Toefur had been Noir’s most cherished possession. Claudius didn’t know if he could carve a duck, a bird, and an octopus; but he could certainly try.

When Dawali spoke up and offered his con

sent, Claudius found himself grinning in the first time in months. With his one sister back home helping him create an homage to the sister he had lost, it felt like he was really a part of a family again. Perhaps with Dawali, they could make even more of a family like they had been in the older days.

“Th-a-a-at’s gre-e-ea-t-t,” Claudius replied, stuttering so badly because he was so relieved. “You-o-ou’re great, Daw-wa-wali,” he added with a small blush. With that said, he turned to Oce to begin planning the totem. She suggested the addition of flowers and Claudius asked if maybe they could paint flowers on the totem. Ocèane responded enthusiastically, sealing the deal. They would create a totem of sorts, with whatever they could find, representing Noir’s favourite things: a duck, a bird, an octopus, flowers, and her family. Within the flowers would be little hearts to represent her family members, whom Tayui assured them a long time ago was large and loving.

After the boat finally drifted off into the distance, the group returned to the town hall to scavenge for supplies. Claudius had dyes for colour, but no wood to carve. He had to borrow another AniWayan’s knife for the carving, but only after receiving a lesson in knife-handling and knife-safety. Despite this, Claudius managed to nick his finger just holding it! Ocèane had, of course, tut-tutted when she saw this, and the two burst out laughing together. They bandaged Claudius’ wound and treated it with the sap of a leaf he couldn’t quite identify, but knew was good for cuts.

With that, Ocèane and Claudius set to designing the totem. They worked as they went along and Claudius found some wire to fashion into octopus legs. He asked Ocèane if they were really called legs, but since she didn’t know and he didn’t know, they stuck with the name.

After two days of working, their totem was finally finished. It was a lopsided, colourful mish-mash of animals and colour.

Before they returned to the boat launch, they dropped by Dawali’s home to see if he would like to tag along. Claudius, who still bore a small mark from the knife, hesitantly lingered at the threshold before looking to see if Dawali was home.

Once their visit was over, they returned to the boat launch. Claudius and Ocèane set the totem by a tree and used a remaining piece of wire to lash it to the tree. They wired it so that the wires would not be obvious, but were connected to the back of the totem. They cleared away some of the nearby bushes and shrubs to make sure it wasn’t lost in the forest. With that done, they stood back to admire the totem. They were proud of what they had made for their sister and Claudius felt himself begin to tear up. He missed her so much, but this had helped him realize she was gone and that the times they had shared had been precious, invaluable, and impossible to replicate exactly. But they could at least dedicate something to her memory.