¹ˣ¹: ʳᵉʸ ⁺ ᵉᵖ — 𝘼 𝙉𝙀𝙒 𝙅𝙊𝙐𝙍𝙉𝙀𝙔

[baby tantor]

x

━ 𝐤𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐢 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━




xxxxxxx staring thoughtlessly into the darkness, kenai tried to focus on his breathing. every exhale revealed a breath of smoke into the air. the freezing weather was much different than the heat of the flames he felt only days ago. he looked to his right and eyed his older sister, seven. he knew he wasn’t alone, but he felt alone. kenai laid on the cold ground and stretched out his legs and paws. the pads of his feet were still slightly burned from the fire. so he didn’t mind the coldness.

xxxxxxx he closed his eyes for a moment but was immediately greeted by an image of his twin brother, totem. he squeezed his eyes shut tight, hoping to erase the picture, but the scene continued as he watched his brother take off towards the flames again and again. every time kenai closed his eyes, he replays the worst moment of his life over and over. he opened his eyes and looked over again at his sister and just stared. he didn’t know what to say, or if he even wanted to say anything. he was overwhelmed by the feeling of sadness and there was no way around it. not only was totem gone, but their entire pack had succumbed to the flames or took off in an unknown direction.

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[rey skywalker]

Seven

The flames brushing across the evergreen pines was swift and suffocating. The burning of amber blazes rushed around the wolf, her fur alight with heat from the fire. Howls of the pack fill the air as billowing black smoke fills the space around her. The harsh scent was the only thing she could smell.

Formerly at Kenai’s side, Seven pursued her brother only to meet a blaze of heat that separates them. There was no following Totem into the fire, chasing after the howls of the pack as they fought to navigate in the chaos.

“We have to go!” She cries to her brother, her dark fur a streak as she heads in the opposite direction towards the bank of water where the flames cannot reach. As every fast paw step takes her further, her heart sinks into the depths of her chest.

After achieving some distance away, Seven hangs her head low as her lungs tremble in effort. “I think,” she pants with a glance behind them, “I think we may be ok. Are you alright?” The wolf quickly sniffs over her brothers figure, scenting for any injury.

[baby tantor]

x

━ 𝐤𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐢 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━




xxxxxxx his body twitches under the sniffs from his sister. “i .. i think so,” he says with a tremble. he flipped over his front paws to see the burnt pads. he pressed his nose to one of them and in return he feels a sting on his paw. kenai looks up at seven and breathes deeply. he rises to his feet and slowly looks back at the direction they came from.

xxxxxxx“seven…. i don’t think totem is coming back,” he chokes out. he continues to stare into the distance hoping to see the silhouette of his brother, but it never comes. kenai closes his eyes tightly to stop the tears from falling. he leans up against his sister and he’s not sure if he is doing it for support or to reassure himself that he hadn’t lost his sister as well. “what are we going to do?” his ears perked, listening for the sound of howls from the pack, but they are only met with silence.

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[rey skywalker]

seven watches the flames grow higher around them, unable to move her pastels much further from the edge of the water bank. having sniffed over kenais coat for injury, a rush of relief ripples through her dark fur. “thank goodness you’re ok.” she whispers into his shoulder, breathing in his scent so deeply it’s the only thing she can fathom. as she draws in her kins scent of home and safety, the feeling is ripped apart when she realizes her brother is right.

totem.

the billowing black smoke does not part to reveal him, and seven can only look after the scenery to get a sense of him. in the silence, seven lifts her muzzle and gives a long soulful howl to say ‘I’m here, where are you?’ the sound echos around them and is met with the quietest harmony of silence. her fur chills at the realization. no one survived.

“we.we have to move on…” in the face of their uncertainty, sevens desire to lead was weakened. she trusted her alphas to make the right decisions and her aloha, was not there. she couldn’t even turn to the beta because the beta was gone as well.

only seven and Keani seemed to survive. “maybe they’ll find us kenai.”

turning on her paws, the wolf glances towards the range of their beautiful territory now covered in faint smoke trails. “the mountains…maybe they escaped to the mountains. come, we have to get somewhere safely brother.” gently tugging at kenai’s scruff, seven strides along the riverbank.

[baby tantor]

x

━ 𝐤𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐢 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━




xxxxxxx kenai stares blankly at his sister. move on? he doesn’t feel like he can breathe without his twin, let alone move anywhere. his ears twitch at the sound of his sister’s howl. listening intently, kenai waits to hear a response but hears nothing instead. suddenly, he feels a pull on his scruff and instinctively follows his sister.

xxxxxxxquietly, kenai trails behind seven, his paw stinging with every step. he looks into the riverbank and sees his reflection, covered in soot and ash. he places his right paw, testing the deepness of the water, before fully submersing all four of his paws. he walked calmly next to his sister, swooshing in the water. the coolness felt good against his burnt paws. he can see the mountains shortly ahead.

xxxxxxx“i’m thankful you’re here,” kenai says softly. “i think if you didn’t come for me, i would be laying back there with everyone else.” he brushes up against her and matches her strides. he didn’t know what was coming for the two of them, but at least he had his sister.

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