7/24/2025, 4:05 AM
Morning came, but it was growing difficult to tell the difference.
These days Aurelia tried to remain strong for her packmates, stoically going about her duties as she stifled the ever-present tickle that threatened to overtake her with yet another bout of coughing. It was important - no, imperative - to maintain routine and stay the course.
They would not lose the Vale again; more than that, they would not lose any more of their packmates.
Not like Solvi.
No one knew what had happened to her. One day she was here, and the next... gone. Vanished. A building sense of terror gripped her chest like a vice and she clung desperately to her patrols and her hunting to distract herself from the knowledge that this was just like what happened to Father. Augustus. Wren. All those who had been among the ranks of what was then Duskguard, laughing and smiling and loving until -
They weren't.
It was the same.
As they all searched for her, perplexed by the sylph's absence, they thought first to check at her den and could only catch the faintest remnant of her scent leading nowhere. She had gone to sleep and somehow, in the same manner that Tiberius and part of Aurelia's own family had been snatched away, disappeared. There was no trail to follow, no signs of disturbance, nothing to lead Solvi outside her den.
Nothing at all.
Aurelia had taken it much harder than she thought she might. Grief seemed to be a familiar friend by her third year, having experienced so much loss in so little time, but this one felt... pointed. Intentional. As if the gods or fate or whatever asshole watched them all from on high thought it would be funny to catch her off-guard, wait until she had recovered and settled and then pull out the rug from under her for a final laugh.
Solvi had been irritating. Foolish. Overly enthusiastic. Oppressive.
But she had also been kind and nurturing; she had put her all into the wolves of Dawnbreak and embraced her role as a healer with a vibrant enthusiasm that eclipsed them all.
As she finished her patrol, a familiar shadow sat, stone-like, a short distance away.
Aurelia said naught a word and only padded up next to her, taking a seat beside the Black Sun in profound silence. They watched the world together for several moments this way, quiet and solemn, each wolf festering in their own thoughts as the reality of the situation fully sank in.
It came out as a whisper, but it was not sickness that felt her throat tighten.
These days Aurelia tried to remain strong for her packmates, stoically going about her duties as she stifled the ever-present tickle that threatened to overtake her with yet another bout of coughing. It was important - no, imperative - to maintain routine and stay the course.
They would not lose the Vale again; more than that, they would not lose any more of their packmates.
Not like Solvi.
No one knew what had happened to her. One day she was here, and the next... gone. Vanished. A building sense of terror gripped her chest like a vice and she clung desperately to her patrols and her hunting to distract herself from the knowledge that this was just like what happened to Father. Augustus. Wren. All those who had been among the ranks of what was then Duskguard, laughing and smiling and loving until -
They weren't.
It was the same.
As they all searched for her, perplexed by the sylph's absence, they thought first to check at her den and could only catch the faintest remnant of her scent leading nowhere. She had gone to sleep and somehow, in the same manner that Tiberius and part of Aurelia's own family had been snatched away, disappeared. There was no trail to follow, no signs of disturbance, nothing to lead Solvi outside her den.
Nothing at all.
Aurelia had taken it much harder than she thought she might. Grief seemed to be a familiar friend by her third year, having experienced so much loss in so little time, but this one felt... pointed. Intentional. As if the gods or fate or whatever asshole watched them all from on high thought it would be funny to catch her off-guard, wait until she had recovered and settled and then pull out the rug from under her for a final laugh.
Solvi had been irritating. Foolish. Overly enthusiastic. Oppressive.
But she had also been kind and nurturing; she had put her all into the wolves of Dawnbreak and embraced her role as a healer with a vibrant enthusiasm that eclipsed them all.
As she finished her patrol, a familiar shadow sat, stone-like, a short distance away.
Aurelia said naught a word and only padded up next to her, taking a seat beside the Black Sun in profound silence. They watched the world together for several moments this way, quiet and solemn, each wolf festering in their own thoughts as the reality of the situation fully sank in.
I miss her too.
It came out as a whisper, but it was not sickness that felt her throat tighten.
![[Image: AureliaSignature.gif]](https://sig.grumpybumpers.com/host/AureliaSignature.gif)
