the storm passes

^^

R.I.P Nimueh 1.0, your time with VFW was good and i wasted a lot of your young youth </3

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Her narcolepsy had always held an air of danger, especially with how easily it was forgotten once it was done and how reckless the young wolf was in her traipsing across the earth. Today it had proven to be the day it became fatal. It had been painless once she had fallen mid-stride, mid-climb, succumbing to the sudden sleep as her body dropped. Nimueh's body crashed against the rocks, ricocheting from ledge to ledge as she descended.

Descended until her body hit the ground with one last THUD! 

Nimueh's mouth was open, blood pooling from her lips and similar lacerations across her speckled body. Mangled from broken bones and force, the nature-wolf lay, too young to have been there in the first place but life was cruel and she was no exception. ^^

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A sickening sound caught her attention as the sound of something or someone falling near the Pass caught her attention. Dropping the herbs she held and had hoped to bring back to the den to help with any restless pups, she was quick to follow where the sound came from. Lithe paws barely touched the ground as she flew up the rocks, toward Vanderfell and followed where the flutter of birds had indicated where this sound had come from.

“@Quicksilver! @Ira!” She shrieked. Echoing through the canopies and across rocks as she rushed to the side of the one laying still at the bottom of a precarious drop. Blood flowed as limbs twisted unnaturally. She was so young, roughly the same age as Hotaru. No no no no. Things were going so well for so long, what had happened to this young Vanderfell civilian? Tears collected at the corners of her eyes as she checked for any vitals...

There was none.

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There was a thud in the distance, something sickening that had the guardian raise her head and frow.. Then the short sound of shrieking in the distance, that had the warrior bound through what little distance there was, and see the scene before her. The Empress of Shiroshika by the feet of one of Vanderfells, and Orlaith's face crossed as she approached, sniffing cautiously to nothing but.. Lifelessness.

She didn't know Nimueh that well, but it was always heartbreaking for when someone young had fallen. There was a silence, a knowing, and an awaiting — for a funeral was to be waited. Crest-fallen her ears fell, regret that she didn't forge a bond enough to truly mourn a friendship, as the former was.. A stranger, but nonetheless, one of them.

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Residing with her children higher along the summit, Ira had not heard the initial commotion as one of her own tumbled down the mountain. It wouldn't be until Reiko's summoning cry that she moved with urgency. She'd ensure @Petra @Andor and @Olivier stayed put by moving the large branch @Hieronymous had salvaged in front of the den mouth to act as a baby gate before retreating from the location. They were old enough to ignore her parental demands and she would take no chances with an unknown situation on her hands.

She would smell the blood before coming along the scene. Nimueh lay broken, her limbs sprawled in unnatural ways as blood stained the earth beneath her. Ira would slow her steps as she advanced having no need to check the body. Reiko wouldn't be standing still if there was something she could do and it wouldn't take a medic to pronounce her dead. A frown tugged her lips, though at the very least she smelled no scents other than her own and Shiroshika. What happened was tragic, but it had not been a murder.

“Orlaith, go to the Run and prepare a grave.” There was no use waiting. They would need to take care of the body before scavengers came and preferably before the scene attracted any of the Drang. They were old enough to witness death of course, but it was gruesome all the same and perhaps humiliating to the one who had fallen. Nimueh would rest amongst the bodies of Vanderfell. Ira's gaze would scan up the rocky slopes taking note of broken branches and glistening splatters on the darkened rock. “Thank you for calling.”

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It wasn't fair. Didn't they have enough tragedies this past year to last them a while? It was as though the ethereal beings wanted to remind the mortals, remind the Empress that with happiness, tragedy lurked just around the corner. It weighed her down as others joined the call, as Ira took the lead on the death of her own member - all the while the Empress hung her head and mourned someone she barely knew.

And would never get the chance to now.

Did Quicksilver know of the young Vanderfell girl and would it wound him to know of her passing? He hadn't arrived yet, and she was uncertain if he would or had heard the cry. “My condolences High Queen.” I'm sorry I couldn't save her. Only the truly naive would think wounds like these could be healed and the girl could live a normal life. It was mercy for her to perish seeing the outcome.

“Perhaps... Quicksilver and I could gather flowers and place them on the graves.” The freshly buried one of these recently lost, as well as some of the older ones to commemorate. They didn't belong to Shiroshika, their lost ones were left in Tsukiishi after all but after everything Vanderfell had done for Shiroshika, it only felt right to mourn their lost ones equally as their own.

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Orlaith nodded at the High Queen, and would be swift to her command. A shame to lose one so young, perhaps she would offer some honey upon her grave ; but in the meanwhile in due haste would the warrior be sent to the graveyard. An appropriate grave to be dug for a fallen packmate.

short, sweet, skippable

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“No need to concern yourself further, you have done enough. Vanderfell will handle the rest and see to it her spirit rests.” She may not have been one of their honored, but she was Vanderfell all the same. Nimueh would receive a proper burial befitting of her time alive. “I am sure you and yours have more pressing matters to attend to than those who no longer walk among us. If Quicksilver feels it is his place to partake in her departure, then he may find her amongst our graves in Ullarcraig.” Without more to say, she would offer a dip of her head before moving to retrieve the body and follow Orlaith's trail.

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can wrap up here

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