[Geronimo]

g e r o n i m o //

It had not taken long for the kingdom to hear of Prince Wheatley's passing, and the news hit Geronimo like a ton of bricks.  The weakly boy did not know the prince very well, in fact he had not met him before, but he knew that Nora had been there at his passing, and though she could not see, that wouldn't make things any easier for his sister.  In fact he thought it might make things quite a bit harder for her, so, instead of staying near the den to watch over her, he took an idea into his mind, and decided to put it to work.  He would roam Inaria, the beautiful, painful, home that they inhabited, and find different things for her to smell, to touch, and to taste-  things to attempt to get her mind off of what had happened to the Prince.  

It took him a moment to find his feet, lifting his front end off the ground.  Smiling, and thinking of the great things he could find for Nora, flowers perhaps, and some smooth rocks- but for the tastes, he would have to be creative.  His back end wobbled slightly as he lifted it off the ground, his legs threatening to buckle, but he powered through it, thinking that this was more important than lying back down and resting his fragile, weak bones.  His mother and father had done what they could to try to console poor Nora, now it was his turn.  

He took a step at a time, his legs wobbling slightly underneath him with each step, but he took a breath, and focused on moving forward, and the wobbles would pass.  Step by step he made his way deeper into Inaria's territory, passing creeks, and fields of flowers, and tall, purple trees.  He'd bend his head down every once in a while to smell a flower to see if it would be a good fit for Nora, but none so far had fit the bill, until his nostrils picked up a sweet aroma.  He followed it until he found the source, it was perfect - except for the fact that it was growing out of a crack in some rock on the side of a water fall.  He sighed heavily- but this was for Nora.  She deserved this.  Narrowing his eyes, he placed himself underneath the crack with the protruding flower, crouched, and with every muscle and every ounce of strength he could, he launched himself upwards- 

-only to come crashing back down onto the wet rock, losing his grip, yelping, and slipping into the crashing water below.  

The water pushed him down, his limbs struggling to push him towards the surface.  He reached it once, enough to let out a barking breath, and a shout for help, before the water pushed him under once more.  "Aiuto.!... Help! "  His muscles burning, and feeling like jelly all at once. 

Mi dispiace, Nora, ci ho provato!

[Pawprint]

The call for help caught the female grizzly as she snacked on berries.  It sounded young and nearby.  Moonachie looked around the water and made out a flop of wet fur that went under and didn't come back up.  The bear ran toward the edge and tried finding where he went.  Nothing.  She snorted.  She wasn't going to let a cub die on her watch.  Not with her experiences of cubs, wolf and bear, slipping past her paws amd facing death. She shuffled deeper into the water, pushing debris around in an attempt to keep the child from getting further stuck underwater.

Moonachie could have dived in, but the idea of a bear going after a wolf might have him try escaping her and get himeself drowned if he saw her.  Or a wolf that did not know her may think she was threatening one of their own.  It would be Moons and Cockatrice all over again.  She wasn't the best swimmer.  She was middle aged.  There were more reasons--

--Moonachie dived in anyway.

"I'm coming cub!"

She could deal with the consequences later.

[Geronimo]

g e r o n i m o //

He could feel the weight of the water pushing him down, weighing on him as did the thoughts of leaving Leonora with yet another death to suffer through, for his parents to suffer through.  The images of Nora weeping over him gave the young adult enough of a boost for another weak push to the surface of the white water, breaking the surface, he was able to take one last breath before the current swept him under once again.  Instead of fighting it this time, he- relaxed. Which was against every law of nature that he could think of, but perhaps the current would push his limp body out of the turning water, and into calmer ones.  It was a thought.  One that would not have worked, but luckily, the young man had a savior.  

A large one.  

He wasn't sure if it was the roar of the waterfall underwater becoming more violent, or he was hearing things, but a large sound erupted right next to him, and he opened his tightly closed eyes to see his savi-  OH.  Oh no, that was a bear!  Opening his mouth, Geronimo let out an underwater scream, not that anyone would be able to hear him, but it made him feel better.  He kicked out his legs, in a very weak attempt to flee the massive beast, his limbs barely able to flutter under the pressure of the water, and his muscles freezing up from lack of oxygen.  

And when did it get so dark? Oh- it wasn't getting dark, he was just blacking out.  The last thing he saw before his vision completely left him, was the massive figure getting closer and closer.  

Maybe with the bear at least, there wouldn't be much left for Nora to mourn over...