The Endless Forest discussion

((This is a river that flows straight through the forest. Freshwater, with some brackish and saltwater sections.))

Raimy sat alongside the river in her wolf form, waiting for Enna. She flicked her ear when a gust of wind tickled it, and then gently set to work pawing at the sand. Why was Enna taking so long?

Her breath coming in gasps, Enna ran along the tree limb in her fox form, hoping she hadn't missed her sister.

Her ears flicked in the direction from which she smelled her sister coming from. In a tree, as usual.

Catching Raimy's scent on the wind Enna slowed and dropped lightly to the ground next to her twin.

She growled softly before standing. She turned around and raced into the trees, gesturing for Enna to follow.

Ugh. More running. Has Raimy ever noticed that my legs are shorter? Does she know how long I've been running? Enna thinks before turning and, with a sigh, taking off after her Raimy.

((you guys seem pretty well established))

She panted as she ran, and then stopped suddenly in front of a tree, shifting into her witch form.

((Thanks))

Following her twin's lead Enna shifts and leans against the tree, rebraiding strands of her hair.

"I spotted a human near our home yesterday," she said as she opened the door on the tree and entered, going down the stairs that it lead to.

"ARE YOU SERIOUS?!" Enna bursts out. "You had me run who knows how far so that you could tell me something that happened YESTERDAY?" She continues ranting as she follows Raimy into the dark passage under the tree.

"That's not what I called you here for, Enna. Mother is dying," she said, lighting a torch as they went deeper.

Enna stiffened and focused on Raimy. "How long?" She managed to choke out.

"A few weeks, but she knows it's her time," she replied.

She pushes back a curtain of beads and steps into a brightly lit room. Bookshelves line the far left side, a large desk is off to the right, and a fire is lit in a hearth by it. An arch-door is in the middle of the wall on the opposite of the one they just came out of, and she heads over towards it.

Still trailing Raimy she asks, "What happened?"

"She claims she's just dying because it's her time, but I tested her blood when she was sleeping. She was poisoned, and it was to late for me to help. I'm just the witch of animal spirit, not life, like you. Maybe you can save her."

"Animal life. I can try, but I don't think there's anything I can do." Enna responds.

"Humans are animals too," she replies, and then stops in front of the arch-door, gesturing for Enna to go in. "Mother is in there."

Sighing when she considers her twin's logic Enna enters the room and walks over to kneel beside her mother's bed.

Taking a deep breath she clears her mind and weaves her magic through her mother's soul, willing her to stay alive.

She stands by the door, watching Enna work her magic. Mother might fight back, she thought. Maybe she doesn't want to be saved.

Enna gasps as an invisible force pushes against her magic, breaking her concentration. "No!" She screams. The sudden resistance forced to much of her power into her mother, causing her life source to collapse. Enna watches her mother takes her last breath before she is still.

Raimy watches their mother take her last breath, and then she sinks to the floor, a sob welling in the back of her throat.

Enna slowly turns to face her sister, tears welling in her eyes. "I didn't mean..." she chokes out, her tears streaming down her cheeks

"I know. I know," she says, shaking as the tears flow. "Father will want to know, won't he?" she asked, wiping the tears away.

Enna foesn't respond immediately. Instead, she stares numbly into the distance as reality hits. I killed my mother, she thinks. More tears spill over as she meets her twin's gaze and whispers, "I killed her." Unable to hold back her sobs she lets out a strangled sound and crumples to the ground.

"No... Enna, no...you didn't kill her, she fought back! It wasn't your fault!"

Yes, I did, Enna thinks. She stands and brushes past her sister, heading for the door. When she gets outside she jumps onto her horse and urges it forward into the trees, tears still running down her cheeks.

"ENNA!" She screams and runs after her, shifting into her wolf form and then running after the horse.

Enna doesn't turn around when her sister calls her name. Instead, she leans over her horses neck and pushes it faster, knowing that her sister will not be able to keep up after running so much earlier.

Pumping her legs, she runs faster until she's at the horses hind legs. She's panting, and she knows she won't be able to stay with them.

As soon as her sister starts to fall behind, Enna pushes her horse faster until she feels like she is flying through the trees.

She howls at her sister, telling her to come back.

Ignoring her sister Enna leaps across the ravine on her horse and disappears from her sister's view.

Panting, she turns around and races home. She'll deal with Enna later. Right now she needs to go talk to her mother's spirit.

She gets to the tree and transforms, flinging the door open and running down the cold stairs.

'Mother!' Raimy calls from her mind. 'Mother, talk to me!'.

Enna gasps and nearly falls from her tree when she hears her sister's voice. Clinging to the bark she realizes that Raimy is trying to reach their mother's spirit. I shouldn't be able to hear this, she thinks. But instead of blocking Raimy's voice she curls up in a hole in the tree and quietly listens to her sister talk to her mother.

'I'm right here sweetie' their mother says. 'Enna didn't kill you, correct?' Raimy asks her. 'Oh no. I pushed her away. I had to go. I made a deal, and my time was up.'

Enna tunes out the voices of her mother and sister and wills herself to sleep.

'What do you mean you made a deal?' She asks, confused. 'Someone came to me and said if I died, they would keep you and Enna safe. If I lived, they would harm you. It had something to do with the changelings. Go talk to them', and with that, her mother's spirit moved on.

The next morning Enna left her tree and continued north, away from her sister.

Raimy turned into her wolf form and went east, toward the changeling den. She stopped and howled, hoping her sister understood what she was saying. 'I'm going to the changelings, don't follow, and don't worry.'

Enna heard a distant howl, and she instinctively knew it was Raimy. Enna ignored the howl and continued north towards the mountains.

When she heard no answer she snarled softly to herself and kept running. Enna was just being stubborn and annoying as hell.