A Shifting Land

Chapter 24

Firestorm settled herself in the pre dawn light, her shoulders squarely set as her tongue drew across her little sister's head. "Snow."

The little husky patterned wolf tilted her head back, leaning her back against Firestorm's chest. "Mm?"

"We should go look for those kits again. I- I'm worried. I had coated my claws with venom to go deal with rogues. Not deal with kits. And I cut them. Over my children's own idiocy."

"You weren't thinking clearly. How much sleep have you gotten since that storm?" Snowlily asked, her voice soft.

Firestorm let her head drop down. "An hour? Maybe 2 a night. I- I can't just give up."

"Youll never find a body now." She pointed out softly.

Firestorm closed her eyes, her head tilted back. "I don't think there was ever a body to find."

Snowlily stepped away, her body spinning to look Firestorm in the eye. "You can't seriously expect a 2 month old kit to live through that kind of a storm! There's no way. We lost adults to it, let alone kits. Stormy, please. Be serious."

Firestorm blinked hard, trying to hide her emotions. "It broke before the wave hit Snow. The link. Something happened before she got swept away."

"Maybe Frost killed her, threw her away." She suggested, trying to appease. "Or, let's just for one minute say that she is alive. Why couldn't she be one of those kits you attacked?"

"They were too old, and with no training..." Firestorm shook her head.

"We are already talking about the impossible! What's the difference?" Snowlily snapped.

Firestorm raised a lip in warning. "I couldn't do it until I was 5, and I had the years of pack training behind me."

"What about Frost? With how hard his mother pushed him."

Firestorm thought back, "I think he partially just looked older, but I want to say 3? But he could only look a couple years older."

They shared a look, "How old exactly did those kits looked?"

"2, maybe 3."

Snowlily stretched, shifting into a beautiful shimmering black and white magpie. "Come on then, I do believe it's time to go searching."

~~~~~

Shadows whirled around them, thickening with each swirl as the pair stepped back through to their land.

Kiri leapt down, his feet sinking into soft muddy soil. He yawned, "A 5 minute nap is not adequate sleep you know. You think we can go home yet?"

Swift paused, perched up high in the cave. "Wait, 5 minutes? But... It was 2, almost 3 weeks back through the other side of things."

Kiri shrugged, "Time is weird?"

She hopped down with a wince. "That explains why it was taking forever to heal then. It wasn't, not really. It just... Felt much longer then it would here."

"It also explains why you were so tired." Bladen points out. "You were just taking short naps."

Swift stared out across the water, "I don't want to use my abilities. I just want to sleep for days. Is that allowed?"

"Swift, I have an odd idea. Why don't you go let yourself sink into the sea." Bladen suggests.

She stepped out, her eyes drifting closed. She sank beneath the waves with each step, embracing the chill. The lapping waves, soothing each burning pain.