It felt like failure, moving, giving up everything she had ever worked on, leaving behind all the things she'd so painstakingly gathered and protected over her lifetime. The part that hurt the worst was leaving behind Shreyas hibernation den, empty as it may have still been; as if admitting the truest Mother she'd ever been graced with had just... vanished. It was so unlike her, and it hurt so badly to believe she was gone like so many others had left Raisa behind. Had something happened, and Raisa wasn't there to help? Had she wandered off and gotten lost?
Did she decide she didn't need the fake daughter clinging to ideas of grandeur?
But for the future of her people, of the members that had made up her home, new and hold, she had to stop stagnating. Sure, maybe they could've reformed, recruited, tried to keep Seiiki alive... but why? Why bother? Raisa was tired of people leaving. Tired of being left behind to pick up the pieces of her own shattered heart, tired of looking around for her friends or family and seeing few. Serafina had made it this far, a loyal presence at her sisters side. Was she upset the mantle and crown Raisa had forged had just been tossed into the sea and not passed on to someone else? Did she see it as an extension of Rajani, the pack Raisa finally let die?
She'd changed everything, but it'd always felt like Sem'ya to her.
The same empty, quiet place she remembered.
It was time for something new.
Barbosa didn't choose to follow, and Raisa's heart ached for it; the woman had taught her so much, and she'd been a calming, wise force in Seiiki when Raisa needed her. Some part of her hoped that in time, she'd change her mind, and follow the directions that would lead her back to them. If not, then Raisa simply wished the best for her.
This was the part that hurt worse about disbanding, but that hollow ache was gentled by the fact that everyone else followed.
Cobalt, Carnifex and his new ward(?), Serafina, they all made the trek back north with her....
To the borders of Northfall. Raisa approached, full of shame and head hanging, but still glad the rest of them were staying together. It was her one tiny blessing now, and she clung to it.
She cast her gaze around to make sure everyone was still keeping up as the smell of the borders preceded them.
Did she decide she didn't need the fake daughter clinging to ideas of grandeur?
But for the future of her people, of the members that had made up her home, new and hold, she had to stop stagnating. Sure, maybe they could've reformed, recruited, tried to keep Seiiki alive... but why? Why bother? Raisa was tired of people leaving. Tired of being left behind to pick up the pieces of her own shattered heart, tired of looking around for her friends or family and seeing few. Serafina had made it this far, a loyal presence at her sisters side. Was she upset the mantle and crown Raisa had forged had just been tossed into the sea and not passed on to someone else? Did she see it as an extension of Rajani, the pack Raisa finally let die?
She'd changed everything, but it'd always felt like Sem'ya to her.
The same empty, quiet place she remembered.
It was time for something new.
Barbosa didn't choose to follow, and Raisa's heart ached for it; the woman had taught her so much, and she'd been a calming, wise force in Seiiki when Raisa needed her. Some part of her hoped that in time, she'd change her mind, and follow the directions that would lead her back to them. If not, then Raisa simply wished the best for her.
This was the part that hurt worse about disbanding, but that hollow ache was gentled by the fact that everyone else followed.
Cobalt, Carnifex and his new ward(?), Serafina, they all made the trek back north with her....
To the borders of Northfall. Raisa approached, full of shame and head hanging, but still glad the rest of them were staying together. It was her one tiny blessing now, and she clung to it.
She cast her gaze around to make sure everyone was still keeping up as the smell of the borders preceded them.
Welcome to our new home,she sighed, but smiled, as she gestured to the peak, where somewhere soon they would meet the scent markers of the northerners and those behind them.
Speaking: English - Russian - Japanese
