Cold, it was bitter cold and she lay on the hard earth of the den, her nose twitched as she tried to burrow up against the other warm bodies. Hunger made her stomach clench and soft whimpers escaped her before they became too hard to manage. With a soft sigh she felt hot jaws clamp around her and carry her away, away from her mother. She wriggled and squirmed, she didn't want to leave her mother, she didn't care about the cold or her hunger she just wanted to be with her mother.
Days passed and her hunger faded away until she couldn't even remember it, the cold was gone too replaced with soft warm bodies and loving licks...but not her mothers. Her heart ached, and ached it wasn't simply because she had no mother anymore. Frail legs were the last to stand, frail lungs kept her from running, leaping, learning to hunt. She tried but always she failed her chest exploding with pain and her body relenting and locking her limbs in place.
Seasons passed yet she waited for the day her mother would return, would tell her she was loved, for the day their family could be together again. Papa promised her someday...someday she'd come back...someday.
The rain came down, down, down beating at the earth while life struggled to emerge. Somehow life broke through and Moranna smiled at the soft small pink and ebony pups, her cousins, part of her family. Her head turned and she frowned in confusion as her father appeared at the den entrance. His muzzle was soaking wet and he placed down a bundle revealing wriggling pups...his pups...her-NO!
Without her mother there could be no family, and now her father had tried to replace her mother! She left the den, her words were like thorns, barbs of pain she had held inside for so long that when she unleashed them she could see her father recoil. Good, he deserved to hurt for giving up on her mother, for giving up on their family. She ran, she never wanted to see those pups, she didn't care if they lived or died. If she had stopped to look a little closer she might have seen that the pups were her siblings through and through.
How she ran she hardly knew, her lungs were on fire, her chest burned and tightened. Her paws flew out over and past the boundaries of her pack, away from her home. Finally her legs trembled and buckled taking her down as she felt something inside her burst. She lay on the cold wet ground, the rain came down soaking her, cooling the internal burn until her chest numbed. Her eyes rolled as she heard paws moving close. She tried to inhale to scream as her captor approached, but breathing was just too hard. She quivered her eyes rolling back as her world went dark.
Darkness reigned, the cold faded, the hunger faded, but the dark of her prison never went away. She wanted to escape, but her run had left her weak, sick, so sick. Days passed with Tornado outside waiting, watching, wanting as she huddled in the dark her body barely managing to keep down the food he brought.
Light came then, after days of darkness a soft bright little male, he made her smile with his bravery. Poor nephew of Tornado, poor dear Squall, they were together in this together they made each other stronger. Moranna encouraged him as best as she could urged him to learn, to hunt, to be strong. Squall tried to help her, helping her stand again, then walk again, sneaking her extra food to rebuild her strength.
Time moved quickly even for those suffering the monotony of captivity, and soon poor dear little Squall wasn't so little anymore. Moranna looked at him differently now, she saw how his bravery had endured, how handsome he had become, and most importantly how he was still sweet and kind despite Tornado's attempts to sway him otherwise. Love blossomed inside of her giving her a strange serenity and strength she hadn't ever managed before. Together they snuck about trying to plan escape, always too afraid to quite go through with it. She wanted him to go alone, the attempt would probably be the end of her...and he should survive even if she didn't. Then one night she realized she had more then herself to think about, and she knew they had to try.
One leg infront of the other, this time anger didn't fuel her, love did, and somehow even with tornado on their tails they managed. Up the coast through sparse stunted trees until they reached the land of Squall's birth...Gomorrah.
The rain fell in steady drops and then a stream as she lay in the den, she jerked awake with a gasp and looked around for a moment disoriented. She relaxed slowly as she remembered where she was and smiled softly. Squall and his family had been so kind and welcoming, she was weak still but she was alive. Her head lifted slowly to watch the rain as it gently drizzled down. She did a quick little intake of breath as she felt a sudden low tug and then she jerked her head falling back down against the den floor.
"Squall!" She cried out, something was wrong...life was coming...but it was too early, and she was too weak for the task ahead.
