Life has not slowed down for the young Andy since she returned from the Hallows. Things have changed, for better or worse, and the pup finds often finds herself alone in an endless ocean of faces. Wolves come and go and she knows that there are responsibilities that her father must tend to but, even when he is around, she feels often feels alone. There seems to be an unspoken rule that they do not talk about Zee and that, more than anything, hurts. It is as if her father wants them to pretend she never existed, as if, in the first few months of their lives, she had not held them, loved them, and cooed sweet words at them. Anger festers underneath the girl’s sadness and she finds it is beginning to morph into something new; resentment.

Andromeda tries to shove away the emotion fearful of the implications that it has but, the more he ignores the topic of their mother, the more that scary, unbridled feeling grows. As the pups gather around their father to sleep, the girl hangs toward the back, on the outer edges of the pile so that she can lay slip away easily once they are all in dreamland. The family settles and Andy closes her eyes, feigning sleep while listening as the breathing of her siblings and father even out and deepen. Only when she is absolutely certain they are truly asleep, the pup’s pale blue eyes blink open and a small, soft sigh rolls past her lavender lips. Silently, she stands and, because of her placement, isn’t difficult to detach from the pile and the girl is soon making her way swiftly and quietly down into the col.

The roaring fire calls to her and Andy moves to it, laying as close to the warmth as she can physically stand. Pale eyes search the dancing flames as she thinks back to a night on the plains, when the loss had been so fresh and the pain almost unbearable. She had sought her mother in her dreams, trying to bring her back so that they could talk one last time. But, she not found her and, instead of the wolf who had given birth to her, the young girl had brought with her someone else’s mother. Despite not knowing the woman, the ghostly apparition had comforted her, held her, and made her feel loved in those tender, sad moments that they spent together.

Her mind latches onto the woman as her eyelids grow heavy, the weight of sleep settling like a warm, heavy blanket across her body. Andromeda falls asleep with a name, unspoken, on her lips.

-in Somnium-

Warmth touches the young pup’s face, causing her to blink open sleepy eyes. A single word is breathed out as she lifts her head to groggily look around, “Zuriel?” Thick fog swirls around Andromeda or, at least, she thinks it is fog. Eyes blink rapidly to try and rid her sight of any remnants of sleep that might be lingering in them and a flicker of movement catches her attention. The girl stands, uncertainty rooting her legs in place as she waits to see who or what will appear.


"Andromeda Fatalis"

The feeling of a presence in this endless world of mist was no longer an unfamiliar feeling to her. Between the visits from her son and her sudden, if brief, visit to the world of the living, the small breaks from the timeless world she found herself in had become more expected. That was why there was no surprise on her features as her continual stroll through the soft field of grasses and fragrant lavender was interrupted by a small voice calling her name. Her ears perked and she turned toward the sound, the necklace hanging around her neck swaying against her chest with the movement. The voice strikes a fond memory in her mind and she moves toward it eagerly, the ever present fog and mist swirling around her as she moves. Within a couple of moments the lavender-hued girl she had held out on the starry plains comes into view and her smile grows with a comfort and relief of getting to see this sweet pup again. She never knew how much time had passed between her sporadic connections with the living world, but she could see the girl's growth since the last time they spoke and it made her heart ache. Pups always grew so fast.

"Andromeda," she said fondly as she trotted over to greet her guest, hardly having to lean her head down to affectionately nuzzle the girl's cheek. Her touch was less distinct than it had been the first time they met, feeling almost like the memory of what a touch should feel like, but the presence was there all the same. She settled back onto her haunches and lifted her foreleg in the offer of a hug if Andromeda should want it, giving her a warm, motherly smile. "How have you been, darling? I've been thinking about you. How is your family?" She remembered vividly the heartache and the pain she had tried her very best to comfort her through in their surprise meeting, but she was blind to what had happened in that time and she could only hope that time had been kind to her in her absence.

"Speech"

The mist swirls, its thick tendrils obscuring her vison and forcing the lavender girl to squint against the darkness in the hopes of seeing anything. Suddenly, her heart lifts as the mist lightens until it pulls away to reveal the gray form of the woman she had met on the plains. A large, loving smile blooms across dark purple lips as the woman says her name and she moves without hesitation, closing the gap to where Zuriel stands. Andy’s tail wags happily at the fact that she gets to see the sweet mother who had held her on the plains when her heart was breaking.

As sweet Zuriel nuzzles against her check, Andy gives the ghost a gentle, loving lick, not noticing that it feels off. While it feels like a long-lost memory of what the touch should feel like the young Andromeda pays it no mind. To her, the nuzzle feels just like the night they were in the plains when she swore the ghost was as real as she was. Zuriel folds her haunches and sits, lifting a foreleg and Andy immediately moves to press herself into the woman’s chest. A content sigh rolls past her lips and she closes her eyes, lifting her slender legs to snake underneath her arms and wrap around the gray woman.

For a long moment, she doesn’t say anything, happy to stay pressed into the woman while imagining the warmth that the hug offers. Humming a sigh of contentment, she opens her pale blue eyes and shifts backward slightly so she can look up into the dead woman’s eyes. A warm, loving smile pulls at her lips but, at her question about her family, Andy’s smile falters a moment. Another, sad sigh is exhaled as emotions war behind her eyes and the girl softly begins, “I am doing well Zuriel. Oh, I met this really nice lady named Isa! She gave a pillow and we are becoming great friends.”

At the talk of the older blue wolf, the smile grows, the love she has for Isa evident in her tone and features. There is so much good and happiness entering her life and yet… “Dad is… dad. He is still struggling with the loss of mom and I know he thinks I am trying to replace her with Isa but I’m not! I… I… don’t know how to explain it but I swear I’m not replacing her. I swear.” As she speaks, the distress that the situation is causing her leaks into her tone, raising her voice and causing her to gaze imploring at the gray woman. Surely, Zuriel will understand since she was alive for a long time and saw a lot… right?


"Andromeda Fatalis"