there it is

Hydra did not go too far from home this day. With Osiris and Leta searching beyond, the matriarch was not too hard pressed to distance herself from her claim. Hydra had resolved herself that after this search, she would let what was lost find her—though she would never give up on those she knew must live still.

The matriarch threw her head up and called loudly for her wayward family. And her mind was filled with their faces. @Antares, @Nysa and the rest. At least they all were capable of surviving independent of their family now, and this gave her peace. But let them hear her voice, and know that she had not forgotten them. Would never forget them.

Soon, the afternoon sun was obscured by clouds and a gentle rain began to fall. She looked to the horizon, her ears on a swivel. Would any hear her, after all this time?

the staff team luvs u

Something pulled at her, called to her in the deep, inky blackness. Eyes open, the valkyrie couldn't see. Mouth widened, she couldn't speak. Muscles straining, she couldn't move. She tried though, desperately so.

That call, that voice...

She could hear it. She wanted to yell, to scream in response.

And then, as if by some magic reckoning, she could.

A strike of lightning struck down in front of the Queen of the Mountain, a blaze of fire left in it's wake. And there, in its center, lay a quicksilver creature, eyes flashing open with a start.

the staff team luvs u

The tips of her fur began to lift; instinct told her to find cover, and swiftly. And so she did; she turned on her heel to evade nature, knowing she had but seconds to do so. Fortunately the matriarch evaded the strike itself, but it tore into the pit of the earth that she had just stood before with an ugly crack. Hydra did not think it wise to stay any longer here, she prepared to return home—it felt like tempting fate, to stand where lightning had struck but seconds ago. True that it might not strike in the same place, though...

Hydra looked to the sky, the gentle drizzle and the clouds seeming to promise no further sort of strike. And she darted near to sniff at the earth from afar, recalling the scent of charred earth that Ara had come across. But now in the pit lay something familiar, and Hydra stared into the yawning chasm at what she had missed but moments ago. True, though, that she had not thought to look down into this places divets.

The matriarch did her utmost to maintain the composure she had almost lost in the seeing of her. Part of her was not so sure she believed it!, but the scent of Keres did not lie. “Sister,” she spoke in a voice that even nature seemed to quiet to hear; the rains abated, as though it held its own breath along with her to better hear what might be said! Sister, yes—but as her eyes scoured the dark crevice she was tucked away in, there was no Dirge with her. Nature had given her something, and the gift was great.

But as the curtain of rain came down again, she knew that nature had surely taken from her too. Even as her heart felt full to see this face again, she swore she heard that ugly crack again—or perhaps felt it, deep within, perhaps from the knowing of it. Still her eyes did not leave Keres again, having no desire to lose her again.

the staff team luvs u

There was confusion, at first. Chaos. In her mind, in her memories, around her...

The acrid smell of smoke, of burning, and the valkyrie came to, evergreen eyes blinking rapidly as she tried to piece together what was happening. The dirt beneath her paws was warm, almost uncomfortably so as the fire around her burned. Fire? You could almost call it that, as the rain that poured down soaked into her fur began to suffocate and dampen the fire.

A voice. So familiar, pulling at her heart, her soul. There was only one that that voice could belong to, and though Keres did not hear what she said over the rain and fire, she knew the word that had slipped past the woman's lips all the same.

Now was not the time to sort herself out, it seemed. Carefully picking her way through the fire and the flames, over the burnt and yet sodden ground, heading straight for the Queen of the Mountain to put herself cheek to cheek with her sister-in-law (though she knew they both felt they could have been sisters by blood) and sag against her with a tired sigh.

“Sister.”

the staff team luvs u

SPREEEEE

---

Down from below did her sister come, over newly scorched earth. The rains caused them to steam, but had cooled it enough to not deter the path of the woman. Hydra now moved to close the distance between them, to press her head against that of the quicksilver she wolf.

She did not want to withdraw, but she was made wary by the unpredictable storm; Hydra moved to guide the woman with a soft nudge to her shoulder. “Let us go home,” she decided, looking skywards. The clouds lingered, but none that promised another strike of lightning.

Hydra looked back to her sister (in love), and asked, firstly, “are you alright?” it seemed most important to see to her well-being, given the state she had been found in—Hydra had smelled no wounds or signs of hurt upon her, at least.

the staff team luvs u

She nodded, exhaustion settling deep within her bones. Home sounded like exactly what she needed right then. What she had been doing, where she had been, how long she'd been there, Keres could not have said. It was all black, an inky black that threatened to invade and overcome her again. It was Hydra's warmth that held her steady, Hydra's voice that kept her grounded.

They took the first step, arguably the hardest, and the others followed easily enough. Her weight leaning against the Queen's as they walked for the moment, Keres nodded, her ears not quite as pert and perky as normal. That was okay though, because she was alive and here.

“I will be.” Voice was hoarse, as if it was impossibly dry and too long unused. “The mountain?” She managed to ask, meaning not the natural structure itself but their family who lived there.

the staff team luvs u

“Somewhat fractured,” she admitted, thinking of those still lost to them. But she continued on, “but coming together again, as we always have,” here Hydra looked to Keres, herself an example! But there was plenty yet left to find.

Now, though, the hardest to share. “Your brother… he had gone to search for our cubs, some time ago. And he has not yet returned, or been seen in the time between. I do not know that he will,” the pain in her voice revealed the pain that she felt, which she could not hide from Keres then. Though she was glad to have found her, that Dirge was not with her…

She did not know if she would find him. But… perhaps… “Have your paths crossed?” Perhaps he still searched and lived. To find Keres provided her with a kernel of hope, though it would be too easily lost should she not have seen hide nor hair of him.

the staff team luvs u

Their family had always managed to find each other and reunite themselves, even when disaster had stricken them down. It was the way of their people, of their blood. Ostregas, and any of those that came into their family, be it by blood or love or happenstance, proved themselves time and time again to be a hardy group. One that weathered the storm, even in the most trying of times.

That Dirge was not there, though, was... concerning. Dirge was the most steadfast of their litter and he had long called Hydra wife-and-home. Even if he had not found their young, wouldn't he have returned to her? Had something happened to him? Her mouth stretched to a thin line, a tug on her heart telling her to go find him. To do this for Hydra, as the woman and her happiness was impossibly important to the valkyrie.

Alas, Keres was in no shape to run off on such an adventure. A slow, sad shake of her head was Hydra's answer. “I... remember only darkness. There was nothing and it was...” She searched for the word, the feeling... At last, she whispered, “terrifying”.

the staff team luvs u

Hydra would ask no more. She could hear how Keres could not bear to relive it, and she was a wolf whom the matriarch cared for. Anyone else she might probe for details, but Keres had provided her with all that she could bear to of it. And it was enough.

More than that, Hydra related in different ways; was it darkness that she herself remembered, or chasing dreams?

It had been jarring, to say the least. Hydra could imagine the terror Keres faced.

“You are here now,” Hydra comforted, pressing against her as she hummed, “safe. Osiris, Leta, and others seek him beyond Empyrean. If he can be found, he will be,” but Hydras voice was grave as she admitted, “but I know that nothing but death could keep him from us.”

The same could be said of Hydra.

Perhaps it was not the time to share such with Keres, so quickly upon her return—but she must know, too; to not tell this then, and to have Keres seek him upon Empyrean and note his absence for herself… she would not torture her so.

the staff team luvs u

“I know,” She answered the Queen, her voice sad and yet resolute. Nothing would keep Dirge away except that which was eternal. And yet, the eternal, the lost, was not necessarily so in these lands. Perhaps he would reappear as she had; wishful thinking, of course, but she thought it nonetheless. Silently, the woman turned her head to nose the dark woman's cheek, a silent gesture to say "I understand" and "I'm here". She would let nothing part them, not again.

“He will be found.” One way or another, he would be found. The two women knew this, in their heart of hearts.

Slowly, she could feel at least some strength return to her, able to walk on her own now at least. There, in the not-too-far distance, she could see their mountain, easily the highest peak in the land, and pride -- tired and gentle, but still pride -- swelled in her heart. “Home,” She uttered quietly, a slight smile pulling at the muscles of her mouth. “Who is yet with us?” She asked, wanting to know more of their family.

the staff team luvs u

Hydra looked to the majestic peaks and echoed, “home,” in a knowing voice. Empyrean was a beacon unto itself. As for the other question? “Many,” she hummed, but most important for Keres herself, perhaps. She did not want to spoil any reunions that Keres would surely have, and so she did not spoil anything further. That had been a bright spot in this—that fortunately, many were still among them. And most important, those who Keres would likely seek were still present. Her sister, Nyx, she might be most eager to come across. Hydra did not linger on the conversation about Dirge; in all the span of time without, it had been this that occupied her mind.

She must move on, she recognized, as best as she could. With or without these answers, she could not herself be lost—she still had a pack to lead, and a family to take care of. It would grow. And this news she shared openly, “I believe I am to be a grandmother this year,” a little lighter for thinking on the bright future ahead. Hydra might always feel the lack, but it would ever remind her of the important spaces occupied by those that she had truly loved, with all of her heart. How could she regret that?

The matriarch only hoped that each had known and understood the breadth of her own love for them.

A love that Keres harbored, too. Hydra had never imagined that the Ostrega had abandoned home, not for a moment. Nor would she think the same of Dirge, especially knowing the reason that he had gone. The trust shared there was implicit—until the very end, it seemed. Her mind fell back to him, but only because she wished that he too would know of the things that she did. That he would become a grandfather; that although she had believed and hoped of dreamed of the days of growing old with him, ...they had, had they not? That she did not feel abandoned, and that she did not feel left alone... but loneliness, that was a different matter. Still, it was no fault of his own. Hydra would have gone with him, and might have gone in his stead—but they had both agreed it would be better if she remained, to be the North star for their family to head to. And he would have a grand adventure, perhaps the last of them; a journey for his spirit, as he had always been a wanderer.

Perhaps the last of them indeed.

Hydra looked to her sister, gazing at the lines of her face. Changed now by age, by experience, by so many things... but no less lovely. Perhaps even lovelier. Dirge had given her these gifts too, other than their children together. And gratitude shone through her gaze that Keres would continue on this journey with her, even still—one way or the other. “Do you think you can handle being friends with a grandmother?” Because even beyond being her sister, Keres was also the dearest of friends to her. She would not ever let the woman forget her importance to her.

the staff team luvs u

There was so much she could have said, then. So much that had always been left unsaid between the two women. Cut from the same cloth, surely born to the same litter despite not even having the same parents, the pair had a way about them that had never truly needed words, never needed... anything, really. Just each other. Perhaps in another life time, they would have been more than sisters, intimate in a way that family did not, should not involve themselves in. That was not this lifetime, however, and the thought would never even cross the Ostrega's mind.

“A grandmother,” She repeated with a laugh and a smile. “Tell me we are not that old, Hydra.” She knew they were, knew that time had moved forward without her. There were so many she wished she could see again, and really never knew if she would. “Who else would grow old with you, hm?” She nudged the dark woman's shoulder in a friendly and affectionate way, the mountain looming before them in a way that made her heart swell. “I want to meet them,” She would say, referring to her youngest family members, a motherly yearn tugging at her.

the staff team luvs u

“We are not!” she said to Keres, to the world. For her own part, she still felt spry—but the matriarch was in the prime years of her own life. And time moved strangely here; it was as though, in her time of sleep, many aches and pains had faded. That had been a rest she needed, for now she had none at all except for the ones within her heart. Those, though, she would let herself feel. Hydra smiled gratefully to Keres, the words hitting home. That she could, and would stay with her despite their missing piece...

Well, it spoke volumes of their own independent bond forged.

“I do too,” she drawls, “but they are not here yet. Leta and Osiris will ask once more if they can conceive, when the time is right, and I will say yes,” she drawled. Dirge would live on in this way; so too would she. “I want hundreds of them. Grandchildren. I know I should be happy if I get just one, but, I would not be satisfied.” A roguish grin here.

And then there was the fact that she herself yearned for more cubs—her body with her! She wondered if Keres would ever again wish it for herself, or if she was satisfied with the way that things now were. Happy, too. That mattered most to the matriarch. “Nyx will be glad to see you,” she revealed, tail twitching behind her. This tidbit she discovered she could not keep to herself; if she could provide Keres any relief, she would.

the staff team luvs u

This seemed like a natural end so I'm gonna archive and we can have a new one!

---

Hydra's fierce statement of rebuttal brought another tired laugh from the valkyrie. Plain as day, the woman was happy to be home -- truly home -- despite experiencing an exhaustion that ran bone deep. Though her brother was not here, Keres knew that his wanderlust would reverse and what had taken him away would bring him back as well. It was the will of whatever fickle god above that had brought her home this day and perhaps, they would do the same for Dirge at some point too.

Her tail wagged at the news of Nyx's presence and while she could not muster much more energy than she already had, the Ostrega woman would reunite with her sister soon. For now, she would tuck herself into the den that Hydra had escorted her to, giving the Mountain Queen one last, firm lick to her chin before letting herself drift into a deep sleep, as she had not had in a long, long time.

the staff team luvs u