Of Sea Mists and Memories

Ciara O'Callahan · 02-11-2012, 06:52 PM

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Word Count :: 700

As Soran told her eerily similar tale, Ciara took her turn to listen quietly. She pressed her smaller, mottled form in against the ebony wolfess. Soran’s body was warm beneath her fur, and while the wind did nothing to penetrate Ciara’s own thick pelt, that warmth was still a comfort. Ciara’s eyes widened as Soran spoke of her own father. Their stories were so close that the yearling felt a strange pull inside of her, a sympathy that only beings who shared a similar experience could feel. She knew that from this moment on the Beta would be so much more than her leader.

Gently, Ciara nuzzled at the sable wolf as she continued to tell her tale. Ciara’s father had been equally cruel, and psychotic, but it sounded like Ciara had actually been lucky. While Damon had tried to kill her, he had run off and left them alone that morning Ciara’s mother had caught him trying to drown her. She still remembered the feeling of those fangs on the scruff of her neck. As a pup, she was used to getting picked up and carted around, the there was a pressure in those fangs she’d never felt before. It had been an evil, painful grip. Still, the yearling was thankful that her fate had been a little different than the sable Beta’s. Soran’s father had chased her, doubtlessly tormenting her dreams and making it impossible to live in peace.

With a whimper of understanding, the young subordinate pressed closer, rubbing her head against the underside of Soran’s chin. At the offer of family, Ciara pulled away gently and once again locked eyes with her Beta. “Soran…” she began, “I would be honoured to call you family, to call all of New Dawn family. Though…I don’t know if some of the others would consider me the same.” Her eyes clouded a little and her muzzle split into a frown. “I feel like Shandom is going to hate me for getting him yelled at that day with Noah…I really hadn’t meant to go against the rules of cause trouble.” Her ears pinned back against the splotched pelt of her head in shame. “I hope he’ll forgive me someday.”

To Soran’s question about her mother, Ciara glanced out at the ocean. Subconsciously, she moved even closer to the woman, sure she was about to cause the Beta to topple over if she tried to make their wolven embrace any tighter. “She died when we got to the edge of the ice flow, right by the shore we were trying to get to. She grabbed me by the scruff and tossed me the distance to the shore, and I landed in the water, but close enough to get out of it before I got too cold.” While she was reflecting, Ciara realized that any time she’d been grabbed by the scruff had been bad. She hoped she never had to experience that again. “When mother tried to jump across, she was too tired, and when she landed on the ice her…her neck hit the edge and she just…didn’t move again.” Her nose pressed to the Beta’s fur again, gathering strength to tell this next part of her tale. “I went into the water after her, and I managed to grab her tail. The waves helped me bring her to the shore but she wouldn’t wake up. I stayed with her for a long time, but animals came and took her from me. I had to run so they wouldn’t take me, too.”

She kept her flecked eyes closed as she revealed this, bringing her bushy tail curling around her form. The yearling needed every bit of comfort she could get right now. She had always thought that others would blame her for the death of her mother. Ciara had used the last of her mother’s strength when she’d been thrown across, and she hadn’t been strong enough to save her from the ice, or the water. She couldn’t even protect her mother’s lifeless form from the multiple scavengers that eventually chased her away.

“It was my fault…” she said, her youthful and normally cheerful voice breaking with her sadness.

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