Driftwood

[Modiano Urania]

Having been banished from their birth tribe, Wasp and Glade chose to make their own.

"Are you okay Glade?"

"Yes..."

"I promise I'll make them pay for what they did to us!"

"It would be fruitless, we are better off without them. With our own tribe."

"Our own tribe... I'd like that."

"Well, we need members." Glade came closer to Wasp "Shall we get to it?"

"Oh! Of course!"

And Glade was soon expecting

[Modiano Urania]

"She's gorgeous... Look at those ears!" Wasp booped his newborn daughter's nose

"Yeah... We should name her." Glade closed her eyes and rested her head on Wasp's shoulder

"What do you think of... Needle?"

"Needle, a good name."

"Welcome to the world, my little warrior."

[Modiano Urania]

Glade was resting after the birth of her yet unnamed secondborn. Needle was trying to get a peek at her tiny little sister, falling over and into the nest.

"Careful, Needle."

"Sowwy Mama." 

Glade smiled warmly and nuzzled her eldest. She saw Wasp coming back from scouting.

"MAMA!" She swiftly turned her head toward Needle. A Bearyena was threatening her oldest child, but she was too weak to take it on right now. She curled around her youngest, baring her teeth at the intruder while the first snow of the season fell.

[Modiano Urania]

Wasp looked around. There was no sign of the Bearyena after it ran off.

Needle has fallen asleep from all the stress of the situation, curled up against her mother and sister.

Wasp remained vigilant.

[Modiano Urania]

One moment. He had moved away for just one moment,

But it had been enough. Enough for the Bearyena to come back and kill his daughter.

Glade had tried to fight it off, but she was no match for the beast's size and strenght.

Filled with rage he launched himself at the bear, fueled by the wails of his mate.

 

[Modiano Urania]

"Sable, don't touch those berries!" Wasp looked sternly at his oldest living daughter.

"But I can eat them!"

"Well, guess what? You aren't going to eat them, you are going to eat normal berries and meat!"

"You are no fun!"

"Fun? Would you rather have you mother and sister starve?"

Sable glared at her father "What's your problem? It's not like I'll die."

Wasp curled his lip "Don't you dare even joke about that. DON'T YOU DARE." He let out a shuddering breath "You aren't ready to be a hunter."

Sable looked shockedly at her father

[Modiano Urania]

Wasp came back to his family carrying some food. He noticed Sable wasn't around.

"Wasp! Do you know where Sable is?"

"I thought she was with you..."

Glade gasped. "No no, not again..."

Wasp growled "I'll find her, I promise."

[Modiano Urania]

Sable shivered. It was so very cold... but at least she had hunted a rabbil, which meant she was ready to be a hunter! Her parents knew nothing.

Now she just had to... pick up the meat and get back home.

But she was so tired, surely she could just take a nap...

[Modiano Urania]

Sable was woken up by something jabbing her side. She opened her eyes to see her father.

"You are awake. Let's go."

Sable noticed Wasp was covered in snow and tiny icicles were growing on his whiskers, he was also shivering.

Wasp picked her by the scruff and walked back home.

But then he collapsed, letting Sable roll off into some grass. She groaned and saw it. 

The beast was standing over her father, towering with its height.

"S-Sable... run..." Wasp's voice was barely above a whisper.

But she couldn't run anymore, the cold had caught up to her.

[Modiano Urania]

Sable woke up in a hot spring, her mother looking at her in concern.

"How are you?" She asked softly

"Mom? What happened?"

Glade looked away for a moment, her breath hitching.

"Your father is dead."

[Modiano Urania]

"Now now, young ladies, where do you think you are going?" Cadence smiled at her sisters' antics.

"Nowhere! Absolutely nowhere!" Shouted Jangle, the youngest sister

"W-we wan-n-t-ted t-to see t-the port." Whispered Shimmer. The vixen had had a stutter since she could speak.

Cadence sighed "You could have asked, you rascals."

Jangle pulled her ears back and looked away, mumbling an apology. Shimmer shuffled her front paws and looked like she wanted to ask something. Cadence tilted her head. "Do you want to ask something?"

Shimmer gasped "N-nothin-ng."

"If you say so. We should go back home."

The teens agreed and they started making their way back home.

Jangle and Shimmer nagged each other along the way. eventually starting a racing competition between all three sisters. Shimmer won by a mile, though what she saw scared her.

A bearyena was attacking their home.

[Modiano Urania]

"I don't have long left to live, that bearyena took the life out of me."

Cadence's breath hitched, tohugh she didn't let it show "Are you certain?"

"Of course I am! You'd think I wouldn't know that?" Glade bit back at her daughter, glaring.

Cadence bowed her head "Apologies."

"Whatever it's fine. What is NOT fine is that you haven't yet cemented your position."

"It's unlikely that she would be chosen."

"You'd be amazed at what the eldest can attain, even when unwarranted..." Glade's eyes glazed over, thinking of some other time.

"I won't disappoint you mother."
"I know, remember not to kill her. She'll be useful for strenght." Glade rested her head on the hot spring's border

"What of our- your plan?"

"You are to make sure your heiress knows of my goal. And so on, until this tribe dies out."

Cadence nodded solemnly, taking her leave to realize her mother's dream

[Modiano Urania]

Jangle sobbed while Shimmer comforted her. Cadence observed everything calculatingly, ignoring her own grief. Sable, who inexplicably looked bigger, had wandered off. All in all, a great position for Cadence to convince her gullible sisters to make her the true and only leader.

"You know... She told me that Sable killed dad..."

Shimmer stared at her warningly "It was an accident."

Cadence faked biting back a sob "Mother said that Sable... did it on purpose. There was blood on her paws when she found her, fur in her claws."

Shimmer frowned "Why would she not tell us?"

"She didn't want you to be in danger. You were only children, Jangle still is."

Shimmer glanced at their youngest sister, then at Cadence and nodded.

It was so easy to decieve someone when they were raised to be naive.