curiosity killed the.... wolf?

The boy was curious, wanting to learn as much as he could about.. well, everything. Not only did he want to learn about his new mamas but the new land was ripe with smells and places that he didn't understand. As he moved through the land though, he saw the beautiful water, seeming to hold so many interesting secrets that he was dying to learn! However, the boy forgot that he didn't exactly know how to swim. Should that stop him? Probably. Did it? Not in the slightest.

So, the boy began bounding through the water, playing in the shallows and giggling loudly. However, he didn't realize how deep the water got suddenly. One moment he was pouncing on his reflection, and the next he was underwater, tiny legs kicking hard in an attempt to push himself up. He was panicking, unable to right himself enough to swim back to the safe shallows. However, his head broke the surface long enough for him to yell out, hoping that someone would be around to hear him.

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Ironically, Valeska was in the middle of a deep religious meditation not too far from the lake, eyes closed and still as a statue, prayerfully asking the Five for their continued blessings and safekeeping. The spring festival was long overdue, Sylvanus forgive her, but they could still hold it before Rhys came to take his place at the head of summer - but in the meantime, she prayed. She had lapsed heavily in her seasonal tributes toward the Pentacle and had no excuse to offer them but her own negligence, and she hoped they would forgive her many errors as she strove to move forward within their comforting light.

"О Сильванус, великий Повелитель Весны, даруй нам свою щедрость и..." — O Sylvanus, great Lord of Spring, grant us your bounty and...

A splash.

A yelp.

Her brow furrowed, and she tried to concentrate.

"Услышь мою молитву и пусть наша земля будет богата пищей-" — Hear my prayer and let our land run rich with prey-

More splashing interrupted her, forcing her to open her eyes as she rose impatiently to give Akira a stern lecture about the importance of her meditations. She whirled around in the closest thing to a Mood that she'd experienced in a while, tail raised and ears pricked forward in a sit down and shut up sort of way when she realized that the pup was nowhere to be seen.

Distantly, the lake rippled.

She squinted.

It rippled a lot.

“Oh, shit,” she exclaimed (quietly muttering a prayer of forgiveness as she did so), and without a second thought, dove headlong into the water. It was clear enough to be able to make out shapes beneath the surface, and though she wasn't as strong of a swimmer as her sister Harper, she made a valiant effort and reached for something - anything - she could catch hold of to try and drag him back to the surface, but he was wiggling so much...

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before her leave to northfall ~

---

There was always a period of silence in which Valeska liked to speak to the Five; this, to Harper, was known as Valeska’s Holy Hour. During such time, Harper was usually conducting an inventory count or making sure that her garden was well tended to; making sure her lavender had plenty of water to avoid underwatering and therefore causing the plant to gray out -

Making sure that she hadn’t accidentally planted the vines too close to the other trees, as to avoid the vines from choking out the trees, and other plants as they were climbers and would choke anything nearby like a vicious snake. Sometimes, even, she’d plant seeds, or go looking for seeds to plant.

All good things to do while Valeska spoke to the Five, despite that Harper was not and would never be a woman of faith, she respected that her sister was, and that’s what was important. So when the splashing started, Harper lifted her head and muttered: Hm, that’s odd.

A splash was a splash, nothing to be concerned about - but then the splashing continued - and she chalked it up to perhaps Lani and Halo spending time in the lake, but when was the last time she’d seen them, or the pup?

Her nose twitched, heading over there so that Valeska wouldn’t have to - but her heart sank when she came upon the scene of Valeska already there, jumping into the water, causing more ripples; too many ripples for Harper to see what was going on.

Her eyes narrowed and she paced a bit, decided that her sister was taking too long, and she knew she was the better swimmer - so she jumped in after Valeska, in case her sister wasn’t enough and needed her to be there.

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Everything was happening way too fast and he couldn't keep up. The boy was frantic, unsure of what to do and scared that he was going to die in such a stupid way. If he died, would be go back to his last home? No, he didn't want to test that theory, not after he started to feel save with his new moms. For now, he needed to fight and hope that someone would come to save him.

He heard the splash, sounds muted with his head under water. Through the clear liquid, he saw Snow Mama and at first, he was worried that she would be mad at him, but then figured that surviving this was more important. Even as she went to grab him, he continued to thrash around, trying to grab onto her as his breaths were starting to struggle. 

Slowly though, his body stopped moving as franticly, though he wasn't sure if it was because he was exhausted or because he trusted his mamas. Probably a little of both. He thought he heard the sound of another coming in after then, but by then he had stopped fighting. Thankfully, he felt teeth grip his scruff, though he wasn't entirely sure who grabbed him. He just hoped that they wouldn't be mad at him...

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The further they went, the darker the waters became.

She could only see a hazy form writhing ahead, and the harder she swam, the further away it seemed to get. She was running out of air with the effort of trying to both keep up and grab hold of one of his violently flailing limbs, and she thought she'd managed to grip his tail, but it jerked away before her jaws could close.
'Дерьмо! — Shit! she thought, frustrated and frightened. Gods forgive her if he drowned during his first week in their care; she would never be able to live with herself.

Her lungs burned (she could only imagine how Akira felt) and she made one last push forward to try and grab hold of him, but he slipped away once again. Valeska had to go up for air soon, but she couldn't leave him behind either - and as she struggled with this decision, something else suddenly plunged into the water above them, a dark wolf-shape swimming with all the ease and efficiency of a natural-born fish. It could only be Harper, and if she had any oxygen left to spare, she would have sighed in relief; but now that a more competent savior had arrived, the pale wolf thought it safe to rise back to the surface.

She broke through, gasping and sucking in the warm spring air as she shook the water from her eyes. Paddling back to shore, she waited anxiously in the shallows, her normally luxurious coat hanging limp and long like a sagging dress from her frame - but she didn't care. Her eyes were wide, frantically searching the surface, hoping and praying Harper would emerge victorious with their charge.

"Всематушка, услышь мольбу мою - верни их," — All-Mother, hear my prayer - bring them back, she prayed aloud, unblinking and unmoving. If she tore her eyes away, she feared they might not return at all. "Пожалуйста - не дайте им утонуть - Хоуту, Сильванусу, Рису, Эфиру, Нивии - я буду поститься неделю, если вы их спасете!" — Please - do not let them drown - Houtu, Sylvanus, Rhys, Aether, Nivia - I will fast for a week if you save them!

The Five had to be listening - they had to.

Harper would not fail. She couldn't. She was invincible, and she would save Akira.

“Sacred Wolf Mother,” Valeska whispered.

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^^In all of her time here or anywhere, Harper had never had the experience of saving someone. It was something that her simple little mind did not fathom, as big as masculine as she was. She had been born this way; always very large from the start, and had never noticed the striking differences between herself and her sister until Dimas had questioned everything, which was the beginning of his madness and the downfall of his pack, unraveling as he had striked judgment into all of their hearts.

Now, in the real world, many would have assumed that the large, manly she-wolf might have taken something up in regards to fighting or protecting, maybe even killing, but her heart was soft and her passion was with nature.

And now Harper found herself in the water with Akira and Valeska, but not for Akira; she had always done everything and anything for Valeska - even once going as far as almost joining a pack of rude, brute men who very obviously needed a woman’s touch in their lives -

There was cursing, swearing, and a lot of words spoken that Harper’s ears did not and would not catch over the splashing of water and growling; growling from Valeska and Harper as they tried to save this poor babe, and terrified squealing from the boy himself as he struggled to survive.

Valeska had often called Harper a fish in the water for how well she could swim, but now it seemed that title had transferred to Akira, who’s little body was as slick and slippery as a fish; each time Harper thought she had him, he slipped through her canines, sinking deeper, and deeper still.. Valeska had failed to grab him, and thankfully had the mind not to put her life on the line to save him -

But now that left Harper and the question remained if she wanted to put her life on the line to save a child who was not hers by blood nor marriage.

For Valeska, Harper would have moved the world and died trying. For Valeska, Harper plunged deeper without bothering to come back up for a quick grab of air, because every moment, they fought against the clock - and now with Crux gone, Harper no longer feared death.

If the end should come, Harper would accept this choice and walk the heavens with her husband by her side, once more.

^^
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The teeth that gripped his scruff faltered and he found himself falling deeper into the pool of nothing. At least that's what it began to feel like to the boy who was beginning to get very sleepy. He couldn't tell how many attempts were made at grabbing him, or what exactly they attached themselves to. His whole body felt sore but he wasn't sure if it was from the teeth marks on most of his limbs, or from the water dragging him down and slowly crushing him to death. The last time he took a breath was too long ago... long enough that he could no longer hold his breath anymore.

His mouth opened in a silent scream as his eyes began to flutter slightly, his mind going somewhere that wasn't here. He saw the large dark wolf coming towards him and for a moment, he wondered if it was his father, a brute of a grey wolf. Was that why he liked Dirt Mama so much? She had a striking resemblance to his father, in a way that he hadn't noticed at first. She was much darker then daddy was, though their builds were similar. He had always felt protected when around his father, and that same feeling grew in his heart when he cuddled up into Dirt Mama's side, though he could do without the heavy grooming. It he could have, that would have made him chuckle, though sadness found its way into his heart. As much as he didn't want to be in this new world at first, he had quickly grown to trust his new family and the thought of leaving them so soon made him sad. 

More than anything though, he was sad that he had worried the two of them, and hoped that they wouldn't be mad at him for long. Even if he were doomed to sink to the bottom to become nothing more than nourishment for the aqua life, then he hoped that they at least got out of the water and back to safety. He wouldn't be able to die peacefully if he knew that they had given their lives to try and protect him. 

All of this... and he had just wanted to play in the water.

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The bubbles were slowing. Fewer and fewer rose to the surface now, an unsettling sign that they were both running out of air and time - it had already been too long. Akira had no doubt already fallen unconscious, sinking ever farther toward the bottom, and although Harper had the greatest lung capacity of any wolf she'd ever met, she couldn't hold out forever. Valeska's expression was haggard with worry, pacing back and forth in the shallows as she fretfully watched the small ripples left by their air bubbles grow weaker and fewer.

She couldn't lose Akira. He was young, lost, hopeful - he needed a home, a family to live out his second chance with. It wasn't fair to him that he should die like this.

And Harper... she didn't want to think about it. She bit her lip so hard, a thin trickle of blood ran down her chin.

Another minute went by.

They still had not surfaced.

“AKIRA!” she screamed, mouth inches away from the water's surface.

“HARPER!”

Tears streamed down her face as she sniffed angrily, ears flattened and nose scrunched. It wasn't her most beautiful moment, but she was also living out her worst nightmare. Collectively, the pair had already lost two of their siblings in childhood; Hatchet, born dark like his immediate sister Harper, and Miko, Valeska's own full-blooded brother. Cruel happenstance had ripped them away from their family far too young, leaving the sisters with only each other - before fate separated them, too.
It had been over a year before they ever saw each other again, and though their reunion had not been pleasant, the two quickly realized they were all they had left in the world and had been together ever since.

All that to say - Valeska would not lose her, too.

“FINE!” she screamed, “IF YOU THINK YOU CAN JUST GO, I WILL MAKE YOU STAY!”

She may not have been the strongest swimmer, but today, she was going to learn.

Plunging back into the lake, she dove down as quickly as she could toward where she had remembered them last - and could distantly make out their shapes. They were too far to reach, too far to try and bring them back without risking all of their lives; but sound could still travel underwater, and she used the last of her expendable air to scream so ferociously it nearly tore her lungs apart.

“HARPER!”

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pp'd okay by Roslyn

---

The bubbles were slowing as the savior and the damned were running out of time; the Five closing in to reap two more souls, one of those being Harper who had never prayed or spoken a word to them in all of her time on earth.

They had been cruel to Harper from the beginning, allowing Dimas to cast his ugly, hideous judgment all too soon, and tainting Harper’s dark coat three shades too dark with the shadow of doubt and hatred that Harper had always thought had touched her heart -

Her heart that now felt like it was on fucking fire, as her chest burned from the lack of air; her eyes, too, burned; she felt like she could hear the last drums of her heartbeat in her ears as they rang, ringing in the sounds of Valeska’s voice.

Wait. That’s not right. The stubborn woman of a sister, Valeska’s voice was heard beneath the water, which could only mean one thing: she was screaming under water.

Harper had finally managed to grab onto something flesh; grabbing the fat of Akira’s belly as she plunged upwards, but the force from the water weighing them down and pulling the boy’s body out of her reach - her grip tighter as canines pierced flesh - turning the water red with blood - as his body literally rolled out of her mouth.

“NO.” Harper snarled; using the very last ounce of air and energy she literally had to lunge forward and wrap her canines around his delicate neck, holding him like a god damned prized trophy, as Harper could feel her vision turning dark.

Her clock was ticking, and she was running out of time. Tick, tick, tick, tick..

Turning to the surface, swimming as fast as she could, though it took much longer than she had anticipated; with the dead weight of the boy’s limp, and now bleeding body, Harper threw him to the surface the moment that she made contact with the surface, as she collapsed in the water.

^^
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The boy was fading quickly, now unable to see anything, his vision dark and he could have sworn he had his eyes open. Or maybe they closed at some point, who could really tell. The sounds around him were fuzzy, though he could have sworn he heard someone call Harper's name. Was that Snow Mama? He wasn't entirely sure. Maybe it was an angel ready to take him from this land. If it was an angel though, they were here to save him. He could feel teeth grip his stomach, ripping skin but at this point, he couldn't really feel it anymore. It just tingled slightly where she bit down to grab him. However, the water wanted to keep him, pulling him away and he was sure he was a goner. 

Dirt Mama had other ideas though as he once again felt teeth wrap around him, gripping his neck tightly. At this point though, air wasn't something he had so it didn't do any more damage than what had already been done. He didn't know what happened between the teeth around his neck and the wet thud of his body on the ground, but suddenly all the water in his lungs was coming up, and it was doing so aggressively. His eyes rolled as he coughed, laying on his side. The amount of water that escaped his mouth shouldn't have fit in his small body. "Mama?" He looked around, eyes still not working very well. Was it father who saved him? What that mother standing at the water's edge? "I'm... sorry." 

He whimpered softly before his small head his the ground, his bloodied and wet body crumpling against the weight of almost dying. Thankfully, he was breathing now, though he would cough every now and then. He was alive, unconscious, but alive.

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She couldn't see what happened next. All she knew was that the sound of her voice had reached its target and something stirred violently in the waters further below as two figures coiled and snaked around each other like ancient sea serpents of old. There was little else she could do but watch from her current depth, her own lungs aching since she had expelled most of her oxygen moments ago, but only when a large figure shot up past her in a fury with something in tow did she herself finally struggle back toward the surface.

Thank the gods, she thought as waves of relief washed over her, quickly replacing the adrenaline that had fueled her body but seconds before. Harper was not a religious woman, but the force that had brought her taxed body back to life and still allowed the child to be saved was no doubt the work of Houtu herself. Valeska had not the more direct connection that her mate shared, but the Five had still listened to her prayers after all - and had saved them both.

Breaking the surface, she sucked in air with a ragged gasp and paddled as quickly as she could toward where Harper and Akira lay in the shallows. Her sister remained utterly motionless while gentle waves lapped at her flanks, as Akira only managed to lift his head up long enough to utter a weak apology before collapsing with a little splash next to his dark savior. The water surrounding them slowly turned red as tendrils of blood flowed out from his body, evidently where Harper had sought for a firm hold to try and bring him back; the boy's wounds no doubt hurt him, but they were a small price to pay in exchange for his very life.

Valeska, meanwhile, crawled toward the pair and laid down between them in a frenzied panic, alternating between licking the side of Harper's face and turning to clean Akira's injuries. She whined, a long, high-pitched sound that almost never escaped her lips, and tears flowed freely down her cheeks as she struggled to wake them both - but they remained motionless.
With a hard determination she grabbed Harper's significant scruff within her jaws, locking them in place with a ferocity that surprised even her, and slowly - one strong, hard step at a time backwards - she dragged her sister's heavy, waterlogged body back onto dry land, trickles of fresh blood staining her lips. She then returned to do the same for Akira, though his age and size made him much less difficult to move.

“Please - please, Houtu - wake her up,” she whispered, looking up toward the sky pleadingly. “Thank you for lending my sister your strength - the child is saved, but-”

She choked back a sob, falling next to her sibling and their charge in a miserable heap.

“Houtu, I beg you,” Valeska wept. “I have been devoted, everything I do is in your sacred name - please, let her wake.”

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Small time skip, Akira has been unconscious for a few minutes.

He didn't know how long he had been asleep, his weak body drenched and cold. In his unconsciousness, he shook slightly, his body starting to get cold from the water that soaked his fur. Thankfully though, it didn't take him long to finally wake, his eyes fluttering ever so slightly as he groaned. His head felt like it was splitting open, pain radiating through his whole body. His wounds had momentarily stopped bleeding, though they were still open and raw, causing him to whimper every time he moved. So, he chose to stay on his side, letting out a weak whimper as the light flooded his eyes. 

"Mama?" He spoke softly, still dazed as he wasn't really sure where he was or what was going on, momentarily forgetting the near death experience he just had. It was a coping mechanism though it didn't take long for the memories to come flooding back and in doing so, he began to panic again, his sides rising and falling rapidly as he found himself hyperventilating.

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'A few minutes' felt like days. Valeska, exhausted from weeping, lay sprawled helplessly between them with sodden paws and pelt. Her eyes were puffy and dry, and she would jerk upright suddenly to check on the pair - if something had changed, if they had shifted at all - but they remained motionless, breathing so shallowly she could not see the rise and fall of their ribs. There was nothing she could do; she had no knowledge of rescucitating the drowned, only how to heal minor wounds and stomachaches.

Time passed, and she felt hopelessness sink in. They should have stirred by now. No amount of licking, prodding, or scruff-tugging would see them wake, and the silver wolf at last rose up on her forepaws and somehow managed to conjure up more tears and watched them splash onto the muddy earth. It was cruel. She should have been the one to die - why hadn't she at least had the courage to drown with them? Harper had always been the better sister between them, unwavering in her loyalty and strength. And Akira... it didn't seem fair.

Then a weak sound stirred her from her grief.

“Thank Houtu!” she cried, moving quickly to his side. He was still too weak to do much but raise his head, and she hushed him with a frenzied series of kisses. Akira suddenly began to shake, and Valeska stepped back in horror - was it a seizure? Were these death throes? Panicked, and having absolutely no idea what to do in this scenario either, Valeska wrapped her warm body as tightly around his quivering form as she could, tucking his head into her chest-fur as she curled her tail up as if to seal him in. She held him firmly, uttering prayers as she did.

“Sacred Wolf Mother, ease his spirit - calm his tremors - please, do not take him from me now,” she whispered, holding him closer still. “In your goodness you have brought him back, but still he suffers. Houtu, Great Goddess, hold him in your arms as I do now. Do not let darkness take him. Let him be well. Let him be well...”

And as he continued to shake, so gently did she, thinking of Harper who lay silent next to them.

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The boy didn't understand why he was freaking out, why it was difficult for him to breath. He heard Snow Mother saying something, but he couldn't hear it, drowned out by the beating of his heart in his ears. Why wasn't Dirt Mother waking up? Did he kill her? 

He continued to panic, though as Valeska wrapped herself around him, he found himself calming down slightly. He cried into her side, his voice loud and wailing. "Did I kill her?" He cried out, not knowing why Harper hadn't woken up yet. 

"I didn't mean to do any of this! I just wanted to play! Please don't tell me I killed her! I should have just died instead." He cried into Snow Mother, unsure of what he did and why this was all happening.

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She felt herself instinctively curl tighter around him in a bid to quell his tremors, hoping to soothe his cries as he now openly wept for the dark wolf who saved him. Valeska closed her eyes, trying to keep her own tears at bay - it couldn't be true. She couldn't be dead. Harper was her rock, her steadying force, and the thought of her absence left a hollow hole in her chest.

Valeska had been without her before, in the year they had been apart after Harper's banishment from their homeland. That year had been the loneliest of her life; sleepless nights spent staring up at the ceiling of her den, turning to watchful nights roaming the mountainside in search of... anything. Her father had passed, and with him, all of the bitterness in his heart. The silver wolf had no choice but to try and find her again.

She had - but to lose her once more? Akira wailed next to her, screaming that he should have died, how it wasn't just, wasn't fair, and if Valeska had been anyone else, a dark part of her soul might have agreed.

But it wasn't his fault. He was a child; he could not accept the responsibility for another's life.

“She... she may be on her way to H-Houtu, now-” Valeska started tremulously, trying to steady her shaking breaths. “But it is not a thing of s-sorrow. The gods will t-take care of her, and one d-day - one day we will be with her again - with them. We will p-play in the fields and live forever, al-w-ways.”

She took in a slow, calming breath, counting for seven seconds as she had been taught - held it for another seven - and instead of a soft exhale, what erupted from her chest was a gut-wrenching, grief-laden howl.

The Five gave great gifts - and just as easily took them away.

It was the way of things, and Valeska was only mortal.

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^^You know, had Crux still been alive and living — Harper would have been a mother; Valeska, an aunt. Harper would have had more of a reason to live, aside from her sister being the only mortal tether that was keeping Harper here; keeping her sane, and for the most part, alive.

If there was anyone to blame, it was in the death of Crux, and any devout monstrosity would say that death was the doing of god. Just more of a reason for Harper to turn away from religion, as though she had any reason to turn towards them to begin with. In fact, Harper had more darkness in her now than she'd been born with; more of a reason to hurt towards the darkness of a cult and witchcraft, and being already familiar with herbs... oh but that's another plotline for another day.

The gods would take care of her —Valeska would whisper a lie; a lie so bold, that even if Harper had gone to be with her beloved, she was returned to the mortal realm with such force and such vengeance that she began to, quite violently, choke up water, choking until her throat was raw and dry — choking until she was vomiting water (with a very annoyed growl) and when that was over, Harper huffed.

Her voice, so raw, that she couldn't even speak; couldn't even join her sister's howling, and merely just walked over to her sister, collapsing onto her, and using her like a giant, Valeska-sized pillow. Her head on Valeska's flank; her large body curling around (read: trapping Valeska there) her sister, as she'd nuzzle her, getting comfortable and closing her eyes. Zzzz.

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Valeska's cries filled the air with her own soul-tearing grief, digging deep within the well of her heart for the ugly sound it produced. A life without her sister was unfathomable. She could be prickly at times, admittedly, and suffered from cripplingly low self-esteem, but it was because - not in spite - of her quirks that Valeska saw Harper to be a perfect creature. She would miss everything about her - the snoring, the name-calling, the physical altercations, the way she would storm off in a huff or stubbornly dig in her heels about something trivial.

She would miss her laugh - her scent - her beautiful songs.

The little wolf paused, catching her breath in racking sobs, preparing to let loose another gut-wrenching howl when-

She heard a cough.

A lot of coughing, peppered with some gurgling, and then outright choking. Valeska turned her head to stare, eyes wide as saucers, as Harper seemingly rose from the dead and lurched over toward the pair. Her eyes were glassy and heavy-lidded, and her steps were faltering, and Valeska feared the worst when she suddenly collapsed at her side, the dark wolf wrapping her damp body around both herself and the child that lay sandwiched between them.

And fucking fell asleep.

“Well,” Valeska started, sniffling. “I do not think that the gods... wanted her today. Perhaps she complained too much at the gate.”

Glancing awkwardly back down at Akira, trapped within the great furry wall of her sister's snoring form, she pursed her lips.

“I am sorry for all of the crying. As you can see, she is not dead, so it seems we have no choice but to nap here until she wishes to release me. It might be good for you to do the same, and then she can help patch you up.”

With that, the silver wolf laid down her head, and sighed.

 

{Exit Valeska via nap}

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