WC: 515 – Read only.

Vitalia’s hooves thudded quietly as they approached the border of her former home. She needed to see her mother. All the bitterness she felt towards her was eating her up. She didn’t know why she felt the way she did about her- but she needed to clear things up. Various feelings were eating her up, in fact. Mixed ones about Naniko and Harlowe, along with her sisters as well. Rio was a troubled girl with troubled feelings and a troubled past. She couldn’t escape trouble.

”Whoaa… Whoaaa…” Rio mumbled and Vitalia slowed to an amble stride. She steered her away from the Anathema borders to walk along them so that they would be able to pin point exactly where her mother would be. She needed to track her down in order to have her hear her howl. Rio used her nose with this one. Naniko’s scent was weak throughout their border patrol, but at one point she thought she sensed it become stronger. That’s when Rio threw her head back and howled.

The horse stood quietly, lowering her head to chew some grass. By now, she was used to sudden wolf howls echoing around everywhere. This no longer frightened her as she grew up in this era. Rio waited atop her horse for a sign or a reply or something. But nothing ever came – nothing and no one. She used her nose again, but this time found what she thought was Naniko’s scent, was just those of old territory markings – as well as Alaki’s. This made Rio frantic – she continued sniffing the air and heeled Vitalia to move along the border – but still nothing.

Rio searched for the scent of her mother for about an hour and only came up with old ones – there was nothing there of Naniko’s. Where did she go? A whimper welled in her throat as she realized her mother left her, as well as her father. She had no siblings left – Caprica went missing as well. And Lucia never showed her face to her again. What was going on? She whimpered quietly to herself, and turned her horse away from the borders. She frantically sniffed the air as they slowly trotted away – but still nothing. Then she lightly kicked Vitalia and they galloped towards home.

Rio felt alone. Everyone had left her, and she felt that everyone didn’t care. She was the only one left – who still was there and available. Here she was looking for them, and no one would answer. Despite knowing how fucked up her family had been to each other, she still needed closure. Her mother just leaving like that? Not too much closure – in fact, it sickened her. Sickened her to know that she wasn’t important enough to know that she was loved no matter where her mother went, and sickened to know that she wasn’t worth it for her mother to let her know she was leaving. Rio rode home with a rock in her stomach, and when she reached her house about 12 hours later, she went straight upstairs and went to sleep.