The air around the camp was very somber that afternoon, after the frenzy of the morning.
It had started with a wail from Husa, who’d gone to wake up Phesniza, her adopted mother, as she did every morning.
Except when she brushed into the small bush that Phesniza had her den in, Husa had immediately known something was wrong, which had been confirmed at the first touch the her mother’s nose, her skin ice cold, and no matter how much she shook her, she wouldn’t wake up.
Abaise had been expecting it. Phesniza was far from young, but the loss still hit the pack hard. While it wasn’t their first death, Chasmu having passed about a year before, Phesniza had been in the pack since the beginning, and many of the pups that had grown up in the pack she had watched.
Abaise watched Husa from her spot on the rock she used for announcements, the young herbalist sitting in front of her den, staring towards the entrance to the camp, near where they’d buried Phesniza, near the spot Chasmu had been buried.
She knew it was hitting Husa hard, as Phesniza had found her on the river bank, abandoned and nearly dead, and brought her into the pack, defending her right to be there, and raising her.
Abaise just sighed, laying her head down on the rock, hoping this would be the last tragedy for a time.
Abaise’s hope seemed to go unheard, however, as the next day, when she got up to go speak to Pihyaa about what her three pups would be best at doing, Abaise came to a halt outside the goldens pupsitter’s den. She could smell the faint smell of death, but at first brushed it off as lingering from the day before, until she walked in and nudged Pihyaa.
The she-wolf was cold and stiff, probably having passed early the night before.
Abaise sighed heavily, laying her muzzle on top of Pihyaa’s head. The only thing she could feel thankful for, was that both she-wolves had passed in their sleep peacefully.
She still remembered Chasmu’s panicked expression as he’d laid dying, Abaise having decided to sit with him that night, as she had been able to tell he was not going to last the night. He’d woken up, and had obviously been slipping away when he did. The look of fear in his eyes would stay with her for the rest of her days.
But now... now she’d have to tell Pihyaa’s pups. The poor darlings had only just become adults, had just had their ceremony to welcome them into the pack the day before.
Abaise’s tail drooped slightly at that thought. She’d noticed that Pihyaa had been less energetic and much weaker lately, but hadn’t thought anything of it. Now, she realized she had just been holding on to see her pup’s ceremony.
Abaise whined softly. She wasn’t looking forward to this, but she knew she had to tell Cardinal Flight, Swaying Oak, and Forest Shadow before anyone else knew.
So, she gave Pihyaa’s ear one last lick, before she turned and walked out of her den, heading to find the three young wolves, and break the worst news she could to them.
