a distant look in his eyes. He fought to hold back tears. 'I have never cried before, and I don't plan to start now,' he thought. He hadn't even cried when rejecting his own mother, or when his father had died. So why was it so hard to keep from sobbing like a lost pup now?
Diana let her head slip for a split second. It plunged into the water then shot back up. She caught a glance of Eska's eight pointed star. She stared at her for a moment, then laid her head back down.
[hr:2f90e69a][/hr:2f90e69a]
Somewhere miles to the East: Chicago panted hard, but kept up her three-legged jog. She had faced death many times, but never had she found it harder than to do the deed herself. She had jumped out of the way at the last second, then slipped away while everybody else was stunned by the wide lightning bolt. Her chickening out had left her with a badly burned leg, a wound she didn't plan on letting heal. She was planning on running herself to death.
Diana turned her head sideways and laid it in the water. The water rushed past her right ear and reminded her of her lost feather, her only posession. It was gone, as if it's being there was for only as long as Chicago was also there. She blinked her left eye and kept it closed. He nose still lay above water.
Chicago gave up trying to die the hard, slow way and stopped at a stream for a drink. The river slowly trickled around rocks, giving it a peaceful appearance. "Exile it is, then,"she decided, then saw something caught in a rock, some peice of debris from some distant accident. Chicago slipped closer to look, then fresh tears rolled to her eyes. "Di- Diana's feather," She sobbed.
Dianas ears twitched again. She opened her eyes to find Eska leaning over her. She nudged Eskas paw with the tip of her nose and closed her eyes again.
Chicago leaned in to the feather, clutching it in her teeth. As long as she still carried this, this remnant of her friend, she would always have a connection to home. Chicago limped on, following the river.
Diana fell asleep as time passed. Eska scooted under her mothers nose to keep it above the water.
Chicago wandered further and further east, often walking straight through towns and settlements, getting shot at, nearly hit several times. She didn't care, and she barely noticed. She had figured out how to place the feather as Diana had worn it, and now wore the feather, the only thing about her that Chicago bothered to groom. She felt that, now that she was wearing it, she could see through Diana's eyes. With a start, she realized she could. She was fairly certain that it worked both ways, too.
Diana opened her eyes again and looked at Eska. "Let me be," she told her. Eska looked up at her and stayed still.
Chicago sat and watched through her best friend's eyes. One of Diana's pups, Eska, was supporting her chin. Diana tried to shoo her away, but the pup defiantly stayed there. Chicago felt a pang, a sence of loss for her own pups. Looking back through the eyes of her former best friend, Chicago saw that she lay partially submerged in water. Chicago decided to try to contact her through this strange link.
Diana nudged Eska again. She stopped shooing her as she felt something. "What is that? Whos there?"
Instead of "speaking" to Diana, Chicago simply sent memories. The river, finding the feather, exile, wandering, and seeing through Diana's eyes. Chicago didn't want Diana to look for her. Exile was exile.
Diana saw the memories. 'You exiled yourself? Chicago you need to come back!' she whined trying to tell her.
Chicago looked through the link. "Diana, I can't come back. Even if I knew where to go, it was custum in my pack growing up to either kill or banish anyone who even thought about eating another wolf. I actually tried to EAT you, Diana. I... I can't." She terminated the connection the best she could and broke down, sobbing for her lost lifestyle.
Diana lifted her head off Eska. 'Chicago, I dont care, come back! I need you!' she screamed in her head. She stood up shaking a bit. She stood there. Eska looked up at her.
Chicago heard Diana faintly. She sighed, and held her breath to help stop the uncontrollable sobs. She raised her burned paw and sent the emotion from that through the link, helping Diana to feel what she had done, in her last-minute escape from herself.
Diana twitched and fell down into the ground. She cried out for anyone. Her best friend hadnt killed herself, Though she still felt ripped apart.
Chicago cried out with Diana, her own pain forgotten in the pain that came from Diana's mind. It was not a physical pain, but far worse; this pain was the kind that didn't heal, not in a million years, not in a thousand lifetimes. Diana was so sad, it bled through the connection and still radiated from Chicago.
Diana cringed and locked her feet. She didnt feel like moving. She rolled to her side and pressed her ear to the ground. Eska stayed to the river.
Chicago looked up. The sky was dark, tiny stars pointed in to the ground. "Diana, I'm coming home." She said this not through the link, but out loud. She started to run.
Diana cringed again and coughed. The sobby breathes flew out uncontroled. Eska watched her mother. She crept up to her.
The clouds gently funneled down and surrounded Chicago. She jumped, and they came under her, solid as stone. Not really knowing what she was doing, Chicago told the clouds to carry her home, wherever "home" was. She then remembered something that Diana had once told her she wanted to do. Chicago gently pulled Diana's eyes through the connection, and let Diana fly.
Diana twitched again Not knowing what was happening. She jolted her eyes open to reveal she was flying. "Whoa..." she looked around. "How am I doing this?" she asked herself. She then remembered something. She smiled to herself.
Chicago eventually nodded off, but the clouds didn't drop her. They healed her leg, and, since she was connected, Diana's pads as well. Some time before dawn, the clouds dropped Chicago off in Diana's land, just outside Diana's den.
Diana felt her feet heal. "She's home," she whispered. She started to move towards the middle of her land.
Chicago slept soundly through the night. She didn't even stir when Diana approached her.
Diana sat down and waited for morning. Her eyes still filled with tear. Not bitter tears of sorrow. They were tears of joy.
A pair of eyes watched hapily from the shadows. The body it was attatched to had been here through all the events in passing, but had remained undetected. Little dark grey spots sat atop the forehead, while the majority of the body was brown.
Diana yawned and layed down. Her eyes stared out of the den. Fixed on the moon, it was moving down. making room for the sun.
Chicago opened one eye. The other. Saw Diana. Smiled. Simply watched her, without a word. It was good to be home. Chicago's eyes rested on the blank spot just behind Diana's ear, where normally there would be a feather. The same feather that Chicago now wore.
Diana flicked her ear. She rested her head on her paws and watched Eska move in. Eska curled up on Dianas arm.
A slow wind rose. It stirred Chicago's fur, removing Diana's feather. She felt the connection go, not a pleasant experience at all. The feather floated on the breeze and landed on the end of Diana's muzzle, comically balancing there.
Diana took her feather off her nose. She smiled and stuck it to her ear. 'all is well,' she thought to herself. Eska rubbed up against Dianas paw.
Chicago still felt a remaining bit of Diana. "Yes, all is well," she thought, not really knowing why. A thick fog rolled in, and the hilltop from the incident the day before was washed of ash, revealing an almost unburned undershell of greenery.
Diana fell asleep. She whacked her tail on the ground as she did. Eska turned over and rolled off Dianas paw.
As the fog rolled out, Chicago walked with it. "As much as I love you, Diana, I can't stay here. I have to go back to my own lands, my own family." Her voice seemed to echo over the land.
Dianas eyes opened slightly. "Go on, go home," she spoke tiredly. She picked Eska off the ground and back to her paw.
Chicago nodded and ran. She ran over miles, passing deer, elk, moose and caribou, all freshly returned to the land. She ran. There was no time for sorrow, no time for regrets. There was only time for joy, time for new adventures. It was a happy ending, and a joyful beginning.