simple and clean

her song lifted to the air, a sweeter tone than her words could ever be. these days found her incapable of such things, the honey gone from the hive, the warmth sapped out by the cold. and yet, there was the smallest kindling, though only for certain others. @Tove was one of those, and this song was specifically for her, seeking to draw her out before the sun truly set.

savan had a promise to fulfill, afterall.
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When a song broke danced on through the painted sky, sweet and familiar, Tove wasted no time in leaving her plants behind and exiting her den.

She knew that song.

So soft, so melancholic. She could only hope everything was okay.

Her steps were hurried, long legs carrying her quickly to her desired destination within minutes. She hadn't ventured far today and she was glad - she may have missed Savan's call. As she neared her packmate, Tove's hazel gaze lingered upon the new scars that littered across her delicate face, heart aching with sorrow. Regret. Guilt. She would never truly forgive herself for not having done more.

For not having saved her.

"Greetings, Savan," she murmured, her voice quiet and soothing, quick to rub her head into the starkissed woman's neck. The musky, forest scent that engulfed her was a comfort and she chuffed, a gentle whisper. For as much as she'd done since they'd settled, Tove had not spent enough time with Savan.

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An ear would flicker backwards moments before her head turned to find Tove in her approach. Savan was pleased to find that her sister-by-choice had come alone, sure that she would have anyway, but at the same time sure that Tove and Faust had been nigh inseperable. While Savan enjoyed time with her brother, she preferred to have her closest friend next to her in this moment.

“So formal, Tove.” Her tone was amused, her tail sweeping the ground once or twice, though the expression did not reach her face. The muscles felt stiff tonight, as if she had trouble controlling them. Perhaps it was the colder temperature. “When did you start saying hello to me like that?”

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The starkissed woman's words had Tove faltering, brows furrowing as she pulled away. Had she been formal? Unnecessarily polite? She hadn't meant too and she found herself frowning now, a wisp of shame dancing around her.

"Oh hush," she grumbled, shaking her head lazily. Her nose wrinkled and she stuck her tongue out, playful and at ease despite the shame that prickled at her skin. She wasted little time in finding a spot beside her sister and settled down on her haunches, nudging her with her shoulder. "I blame it on the newcomers, the changes. I feel stuck in a role; stuck being so formal." She wouldn't admit that part of it was the time passed, the shock that still lingered from Savan being alive and back where she belonged.

She would not admit that. Would never admit how much it taunted at her sense of sanity or wracked her with guilt. Certainly not aloud.

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“Is it that?” Her eyes moved from Tove to the stars above, watching them twinkle, watching them shine. She wondered how many had been snuffed out. How many had been smothered. Her wonder stretched to the Star Mother, wondering what the purpose was, of bringing her back. Simply to strike a hearth along side her brother? To support his claim to a better world, a better peace, a better home?

Or was she destined for something more?

“Or is it that you don’t know how to talk to a ghost?” her words were thought aloud, whispered almost, as if the wind would snatch them from her lips and carry them away. “Truth be told, I am not so sure I know how to be anything else, at the moment.” For how was she supposed to mourn herself at the same time as she was to learn to live again? The woman she had been before was not the woman that sat beside Tove now, and never would be again.
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Tove frowned.

'Or is it that you don’t know how to talk to a ghost?' Savan's words cut through her as if she were paper-thin and her heart panged with a dull ache that she had grown accustomed to the last few weeks. Amongst the joy, the blessed beginnings, there was a pain and grief that none of them could avoid. It clung to them, poisoning the air around them.

She could only imagine how Savan felt, how overwhelming all this must be for her after… everything.

"If you are a ghost then we all are." Her words were whispered back, her own voice quiet and full of nostalgia and melancholy. She looked at Savan instead of the stars above, her gaze full of emotion she wished to let go. She looked to her sister, wishing none of what they said was true.

“And that’s okay,” she continued, joining Savan in her stargazing with a small huff, her ears flicking. "You can be a ghost Savy but just remember, I see you. We all see you.A ghost cannot stay hidden forever, not when others are looking." With that, Tove leaned into her sister, thankful for the warmth and musky scent that engulfed her, and the presence she had missed for far too long.

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Tove's words brought her gaze down to look at her sister, a small and gentle smile upon her face. “You always know what to say.” And she had. No matter what they had been through, Tove somehow always knew the words that made it better, softer, easier for Savan to process and take in. The talent her soft featured friend had always wielded was one that few had, and fewer still that actually had the ability to reach the now distant star-blessed girl.

Where Savan would pull away with other wolves, with Tove she mirrored the movement; the pressure their shoulders shared then was comforting, a boon to the woman who shuttered everyone else out. Her head turned to nuzzle her friend's cheek, a murmured “Nyke ūndegon ao, mandia. — I see you, sister”

It was there that the pair would sit together, wrapped in each other's warmth and comfort while they watched the stars, basking in the twinkle of the Star Mother's presence.

---

Fade!

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