"But the dream, the echo, slips from him as quickly as he had found it and as consciousness comes to him (a slap and not the gentle waves of oceanic tides), it dissolves entirely. His muscles relax as the cold claims him again, as the numbness sets in, and when his grey eyes open, there’s nothing but the faint after burn of a dream often trod and never remembered." --Brigade, written by Laura
Sickle is left near the border of Tephra by a white dragon. She receives a gentle nudge as a farewell and then she is left alone in the darkness of the night - the soft rise and fall of her chest and the blue-green glow surrounding her proving that she is alive despite the drying blood on her neck from a wound that no longer exists.
Her companion wakes from a fitful slumber as soon as Sickle connects to the ground in the jungle and he rises out of his nest and goes to find Wishbone. He would collide with the mare if he could, would pull on her mane and burn her with the blue flames on his body. He cannot touch her so he flutters in front of her face, shrill noises coming from him, and he does whatever it took to get her to move, to follow him.
So he can lead her to where Sickle is waking, where she opens her mismatched eyes for the briefest of moments - enough to see that her father and the white mare are no longer there, enough to see that she is somewhere else, and then she closes them again.
She shifts into a blue wolf pup so that she can more easily curl in on herself as she cries - not knowing what else to do with the tidal wave of emotions that are rolling through her young mind.
we have a greed with which we have agreed. you think you have to want more than you need; until you have it all you won't be free. and when you think more than you want, your thoughts begin to bleed.
When twilight comes and Sickle does not return with it, Wishbone’s worry intensifies. The glowing, jagged scar across her chest prickles uneasily, a physical reminder of Gale’s presence. He had known to look in Tephra, had seemingly understood that the twins could be somewhere under the watchful eyes of the volcano, and Wishbone’s anxiety has only increased since his visit.
She has tried to watch them more carefully, tried to convince them to stay close to her — if not her, then at least Tephra. But Sickle and Malik are adventurous, daredevil children, and Wishbone finds it difficult to keep track of them. The twins often disappear for the day, even with Malou’s help watching them, and Wishbone feels as though her heart might stop at any moment in the hours where she doesn’t see them.
They’ve almost always returned back to her at night, as she’s asked. Wishbone knows that the Curse controls Gale whenever it wants now, and keeping them close at night means very little when they could easily be hurt during the day. And when only Malik returns, confusion blossoming on his little face, Wishbone feels her chest tighten as her worst fear begins to come true.
She’s only an hour into her search when Sickle’s blue companion streaks through the trees to reach her. It doesn’t take Wishbone long to follow the phoenix and the pair hurry to where Sickle’s wolf pup body curls on the ground. “Oh, sweetheart,” the purple mare croons, seeing the way her daughter’s shoulders rise and fall. At the same moment, she recognizes the bitter tang of blood in the air, and the streaks of it dried on Sickle’s skin. Wishbone lets out a gasp and begins nosing the girl all over, inspecting where the blood might be coming from.
When she doesn’t find a wound, the purple mare kneels at Sickle’s side and pulls the girl closer. “You’re okay, Sickle. You’re safe. I’m here,” she hums, running her muzzle across Sickle’s flat wolf head to comfort her.
When Sickle hears someone approach, she curls tighter around herself and a small whimper escapes her. She feels her companion nuzzle into the scruff of her neck before fluttering off to the side. Making way for… “Mom.” Her voice cracks around the word through her sobbing. She uncurls to meet this source of undeniable comfort, pressing herself into the mare and letting the comforting words wash over her.
She cries into Wishbone’s skin, trying and failing a few times to get words out before she resorts back to her filly self. Exhausted. The blood is more noticeable now, but she’s forgotten it and doesn’t remember how it had dripped down her neck while she lay unconscious.
Finally, she manages to speak - not lifting her face away from where it is pressed into her mom’s shoulder. Her voice is creaky, worn thin from her crying and exhaustion. “I met my dad. He came here… and then we went to Hyaline. He’s…” She doesn’t have words to explain the blue stallion. Friendly and scary all at once, how he had whispered things to that white mare that made those orange eyes widen and shine while they both looked at Sickle. How the pair had fought each other in front of her and the last thing she remembers is the sad-looking Mazikeen tearing into her father’s legs like she was stopping him from getting to her.
Her eyes are squeezed shut as if that will keep out these memories she doesn’t understand.
She wants to ask why Wishbone didn’t tell them about him, but she feels like she’s already gotten that answer.
So instead the question that comes out is a quiet “Was he always like that?” Because though her mom is fierce, she is kind and Sickle had never before seen anything like what she witnessed in Hyaline. She hadn’t thought about having a dad but when she did, when the idea had presented itself through Gale, she had thought they all (she, Malik, and Wishbone) deserved for him to be nice. Like how he had been in Tephra before they had gone away.
we have a greed with which we have agreed. you think you have to want more than you need; until you have it all you won't be free. and when you think more than you want, your thoughts begin to bleed.
Wishbone aches to know what happened to Sickle, but she thinks she might know the answer and it’s more important that she comfort the girl first. Clearly the experience was traumatizing, Wishbone can see that just by the way Sickle curls into her side and soaks her shoulder with tears. She remains patient and quiet, running her nose back and forth across Sickle’s head and whispering soothing words until her daughter has spent her tears.
As Sickle begins speaking, Wishbone feels heat flash across her skin. For a moment, there are too many emotions for her to name. Anger is the first one she can put down, mainly because it is the one that glows the brightest. She is so incredibly angry — at the Curse for threatening and harming children, at Mazikeen and Gale for bringing children into a dangerous relationship, at the world for the seemingly unrelenting darkness — but she is most angry with herself. It is her job to protect Malik and Sickle, and she had promised Mazikeen just that when they’d arrived in Tephra.
Whether the blood stained on Sickle’s blue skin is the girl’s or not, Wishbone can clearly see that she’s failed. She hasn’t protected the twins like she swore to do, and now they are getting caught in the crossfire of their parents’ love. There is one thing Wishbone’s proud of: she has loved Sickle and Malik as her own children. The sorrow that washes over her anger is evidence of that undying love.
Wishbone curls her neck around to hold Sickle close, her glowing eyes closing as her heart tightens in her chest. The twins are innocent in all this chaos, and the blue girl doesn’t deserve to experience the confusion and fear she must feel now. Wishbone contemplates telling Sickle the whole truth, but she quickly decides against it. For the girl to learn that her father is not all she expected and that Wishbone isn’t her blood mother would certainly be the final crack into whatever’s holding Sickle together.
So she answers her daughter’s question with as much honesty as she can muster. “No, he wasn’t. He used to be kind and friendly. But there is a curse that has been in his family for a long time, and your dad has that curse now. It turned him into someone mean and dangerous.” Wishbone opens her eyes again and moves her head to look down at Sickle. “You and Malik came to Tephra with me so I could protect you from him. I’m so sorry I failed you.” Wishbone’s never been one to cry, but she finds tears are softly trickling down her cheeks now. “I’m going to try even harder to keep you and your brother safe.” Her rough, honey-whiskey voice cracks at this promise, and Wishbone is quiet for a moment before saying, “Are you hurt, sweet girl?”
Sickle feels guilt, finally, when her mom apologizes for failing them - when she didn’t. Wishbone hadn’t failed at all, and even Sickle knows that. She had walked right up to Gale and had barely even hesitated to go with him because he said he was a friend of her mom’s. “I’m sorry I went with him, mom. He said…” But her voice cracks and she decides it doesn’t matter. It bothers her to see her mom cry, and she reaches up with her small blue muzzle to brush Wishbone’s cheek, thinking about shifting into something with long arms that she can wrap around and give a proper hug with but she doesn’t want to move.
She likes this shape the best, the one where she matches her mom and her brother and the rest of their family.
So she just tries to return the comfort she’s learned from this very mare, staying close and feeling her phoenix companion press gently into her hip, letting her know he’s there too.
At the question, she is quick to shake her head. “No, no mom, I'm okay.” Just tired, just feeling like her young mind is pulled in so many different directions. But Sickle doesn’t know how to explain that. She can see the blood now, when she looks down, but she feels no hurt so she does not believe it is hers - so she offers quietly, by way of explanation. “They fought, Gale and… and the white mare.” She doesn’t remember what had happened after she had been knocked out, doesn’t know that her throat had been torn open. Or that she had gone through worse in an alternate future.
She’s still thinking about what her mom said about the curse in his family, and she is thinking about her brother too. And so it’s with a voice filled with fear and wide, mismatched eyes that she asks very quietly “Will the Curse get us next since we’re his kids?” As scared as Sickle is of that happening, of turning into someone mean, she wants to protect Malik more. He’s the best, most kindest brother in the whole world and he needs to stay that way.
we have a greed with which we have agreed. you think you have to want more than you need; until you have it all you won't be free. and when you think more than you want, your thoughts begin to bleed.
Relief floods her when Sickle admits she isn’t hurt, and Wishbone presses a kiss to the top of the girl’s head. “I’m glad you’re safe,” she says quietly into the girl’s soft mane. At least there is this one small thing that might bring her peace tonight. Although she thinks she’s failed the twins by letting Gale into Tephra so easily, there is some comfort in knowing that Sickle is uninjured in the process.
And there is more relief when her daughter mentions Gale and Mazikeen fighting. Although Sabal hadn’t brought the best news, Wishbone feels a tendril of happiness knowing that her friend is still alive and well enough to fight Gale. The purple mare thinks the drive to protect her children hasn’t left Mazikeen (though she doesn’t know of what happened past their fighting, of the bloodshed and manipulation that occurred after), and Wishbone wonders if there will be a day when her friend might have the family she’s wanted.
At Sickle’s question, Wishbone’s heart tightens and her stomach drops simultaneously. The ways of the Curse seem to shift with each generation, and the question in her daughter’s mind has been in hers as well. It has been passed from father to son, but there’s been no way to predict who receives the Curse next. Wishbone recalls the numerous sons Wolfbane had with Lepis, and she’s pretty sure Gale is not their firstborn. So the Curse could land on Malik, or it could change and fall upon Sickle. Or if, heaven forbid, Gale and Mazikeen had more children, the Curse could attach itself to them.
She decides that there’s no good way to answer her daughter’s question. She knows Sickle needs reassurance and comfort at this moment, but Wishbone would have to lie to give her those things. She’s keeping a secret from them already, and she’s unwilling to tell any others needlessly. Besides, Sickle has just gotten a taste of the real world, which isn’t very friendly to soft-hearted individuals, and Wishbone knows she won’t be able to protect them from harsh realities forever. “I don’t know. The Curse doesn’t do everything the same way. But it’s best that you and Malik know, and we can all work together to make sure it doesn’t happen.”
It’s not comforting exactly, what Wishbone tells her, but one day she’ll appreciate the honesty. When she can understand a little better what is happening. When she’s older is a phrase that she typically finds annoying but it seems perfectly fitting now. On that day she’ll appreciate that she knows what might happen to either her or Malik, and that Wishbone will be there with them the whole way.
For now, she is secure in her belief that their mom will do whatever she can to keep them safe - and Sickle knows she needs to be smarter about who she wanders off with. Figuring out which smiles are fake and which are true isn’t something she knows how to do just yet. But, she reasons with herself - if she's ever unsure in the future, she knows who she should ask.
She just nods now, not sure what else to say, and rests her head against Wishbone’s skin and lets the scent of her mom soothe away her worries with each breath. They’ll come back soon but for now they do not matter and she can forget they exist. She is still small enough that it is an easy thing to do.
@Wishbone just a little baby closer for this little baby thread <33
