Deviation Actions
Description
As for me,
it's a bit too much to say...
A strange numbness crept over her, and cold began to seep into her fur until she was shivering slightly. It wasn’t the frigidity of the air that was making her paws tremble and her whiskers quiver. It was the twisted russet body, somehow smaller in death, stretched out in the clearing. Even the starlight that bathed her spotted back could not distract from the aching fact that the Orange-Earth was dead.
”Akida,” Sylvani whispered, her paws jerkily carrying her forwards. She stumbled and sank down to her belly, unable to believe that this was her, that this was real. Akida couldn’t be dead. Akida was still so young, so fierce…she still had so much life yet to live. Her kits were barely apprentices. Sylvani lowered her chin to her paws, her face so close that her breath stirred the Orange-Earth’s whiskers, waiting for the red she-cat to open her eyes and laugh and tell them all that it was just a scratch, she was fine. But Akida didn’t move.
Suddenly it hit her, that her mentor’s mate and Alcina’s former mentor and Spirit and Boulder’s mother was gone, and though Sylvani hadn’t known her as well as she’d have liked to she felt her eye start to sting. Akida was the last cat Sylvani would have expected to die like this- but there she was, right in front of her. The Pink-Orange-Earth slowly inched her forepaw forward, touching Akida’s. It didn’t move. Gently, she pushed her paw over the Orange-Earth’s and lightly squeezed it, feeling a tear run down her cheek. She’d never seen a dead cat before. It wasn’t terrifying, or disgusting…it was so, heartbreakingly sad.
Sylvani’s eyelid fluttered and shut, pressed against memories. Akida watching her like a hawk as she carefully taught Spirit and Boulder how to play moss-ball. Nervously meeting the Orange-Earth after hearing so much about her from Weiland. How she’d always thought the russet queen was so beautiful. How horrible Weiland and the kits must feel.
”I’ll take care of them,” she promised, her eye opening slowly to stare at Akida’s face. ”I promise. You didn’t die for nothing; Spirit’s going to live a long, happy life, and so is Weiland and Boulder, I’ll make sure, okay?” Sylvani took a deep, shuddering breath and blinked furiously until Akida’s muzzle came back into focus. ”And Alcina will be alright, too. Be proud of what you’ve done for all of them, and so many more cats. I wish I could’ve done more for you.”
And though she did not know Akida nearly as well as so many others did, Sylvani swallowed against the grief that burned in her throat and touched her nose to the Orange-Earth’s cheek. A star twinkled directly overhead as she slowly stood and let the moonlight take her.
466 words; points to Earth Tribe.
RIP, Akida.
Akida belongs to Treaimas
Sylvani belongs to me.
She didn't want to watch Freya lie beside her body all night. Every now and then, the apprentice's body would shake, and a few sobs would escape her maw. Yet, she wouldn't move. She wouldn't move from the spot, and it wasn't until another Light-Triber, out on a late night walk, that she even looked away from the she-cat. The Orange-Light hurried back to camp, woke up a few of her tribemates, and brought a patrol into the woods to gather the body.
Her body.
It was such a long process. Akida supposed that she had been so full of energy, so intent on just getting out of camp that she hadn't realized how fast she was navigating the great distance. She wasn't full of the same energy, now. There was energy, but it wasn't the same restless adrenaline that had been urging her onward earlier that same night. It wasn't the same protective surge that had sent her barreling at the fox when it had lunged for her daughter. It was... normal. Normal energy. She didn't feel tired, but she didn't feel quite awake, either. It was lazy, and it was peaceful. It was a nice change.
When at last the patrol made it back home, Sylvani was the first cat to appear.
Oh, Sylvani. She was always such a sweet cat. Shy and timid as anything, but kind nonetheless. She was about as old as the grey she-cat was now when she was born. Shasta and Farox's kit. Before Akida had forgiven the Green-Air, she had always tried to avoid the kits. Alasse had even gone as calling the kits 'Demon-spawn'. And, silently, the russet she-cat had agreed.
It was different now. She had forgiven the kits' father, even considered him a friendly acquaintance. When Akida's own kits were born, the grey apprentice had been so keen on playing with them, watching them when she wanted to get out of camp. She'd always been so beautiful. Her grey fur was long and shiny, and her eyes were so clear. Even after she'd been attacked by that hawk, she was gorgeous. And now, her she was, lying beside her body, bloodying her paws with the blood on her own. A tear trickled down her cheek, and she began speaking in hushed tones.
Stepping forward, she laid down beside the Pink-Orange, laying her tail over her back and her paw on top of hers. Of course she couldn't see or feel her, but Akida supposed it was the sentiment that counted.