[Oriana]

---

There was no turning back now.

She’d left her home, one that was never going to be the same again. Her biggest regrets were the youth she’d left behind, panic in the moment to leave behind them all for one. She knew they’d always find her and haunt her, Oriana was eventually going to fear them more than Saboro itself. A new home would come, a new path; but she’d promised to always be a mother to those children and all she gave them was a lie and failure. Perhaps love wasn’t the strongest emotion.

But, you knew that, silly little girl. Love is what brought you here.

Loyalty is what will keep you going.

And so it did, step by step by step; at one point the lost Queen looked over her shoulder to see her sisters and close friend following dutifully behind her. They’d given her the support she only wished she’d had as consistently in her birth place. Instead, it seems she needed to cut some ties to bring alive those who support her properly. They’d be rewarded in time, when she had the power to do so again.

In the distance she could see the peak of the volcano. Light seemed to fade in the direction behind, like the universe was painting her a picture of success, and Saboro was in the gray. The past. The lost.

Never forgotten, though. By god, she’ll never be able to forget.

Closing her eyes, she turned her head back and proceeded forward. In a moment of peace, she let it go.

That is what the world was waiting for.

Her reward? Hope.

Oriana could smell before she could see, just as she’d been as a squabbling newborn against the embrace of a Queen mother. Helpless, frail, vulnerable— but full of hope. What more could a youthful creature bring but hope in the world? It was the same when she was the Queen mother, embracing the small splotches of blue, red, creams and golds. That was the happiest day of her life.

No, today was. For in the distance that same, striking blue fur stood in front of her. Like an gift from above.

Oriana only prayed she wasn’t seeing things.

Weakly, she called out.

“Hircine?”

---

[rapture [sleep-p]]

[[Yoooo so I forgot ids existed. Uhm. . .totally up to you if you wanna take another swing at this. Won't be mad if you say no.]]

[Arkana]

Yes !!! I’d love to!

[Hircine]

[[I'm so out of touch with this character cause it's been like LITERALLY OVER A YEAR so like please forgive me this is probably gonna be short and dumb.]]



It had taken him a long time to forget Saboro. No, scratch that. He would have liked to have forgotten the place, to have pushed it to the back of his mind like sweeping dirt under a rug and then wiping your hands clean of it. But so long as he remembered his mother, he remembered Saboro. Many times Hircine had questioned whether or not he had made the right decision. He had tried to be good. He had followed the laws that were laid out to him to a T. Perhaps he wasn't the poster child of Saboran ferocity, but he was a paragon of loyalty and obedience. He had direction. He had purpose. Keanu was training him to be Peregrine one day, and with her guidance he was on the fast track to making his parents proud of him. More then anything he had wanted to make his mother as proud of him as he was of her.

But after just a few short words spoken in haste - in anger - soon there was nothing there for him. Word somehow spread like wildfire. How that was he never figured out. But suddenly it was as though everything he had done no longer mattered to anyone and he became divided from his brothers. He knew that Cassie still loved him, and Oriana of course. He had missed them ever since he had left. The lanky, awkward teenager had grown in to a still somewhat lanky young adult. Blame it on his fathers genes.

Despite his physical growth, there was an air of listlessness around him. In leaving Saboro, Hircine had lost not only his family, but his sense of purpose as well. There was no more Keanu to give him direction. No more Oriana to listen to his fears and comfort him as his mother rather than his queen. And the gray child who had stuck to him like glue. What was her name? And the boy. He couldn't remember any of the names of the royal children that his mother and Crenate had selected. There was a lot he couldn't remember any more.

One thing he would never be able to forget, of course, was Ori. He could still picture her face. He could imagine her scent when he had curled up next to her at night. He could even still hear her voice.

“Hircine?”

Yes, just like that. He felt her presence so strongly now that it made missing her hurt all the more. His stubby tail gave an instinctive wag as he imagined her calling his name. His head turned slightly, lifting just ever so much from it's usual lowered stance. Someone had approached him. Pale, pink paws led quickly up to spotted legs and a shoulder with familiar scars. His chest tightened. Quickly he rose to his feet, like a child that had just been caught doing something they shouldn't have. This was it. He had finally gone mad. All this time of wasting away in the woods with no direction and no sense or order had finally gotten to him. But that was alright. She looked so real standing there in front of him and if he was to be haunted by the image of her then he could live with that.

"Mama?"

[Oriana]

---

Time felt like it had stopped the very moment she laid eyes on that familiar blue coat. Oriana fought hard in that moment to decipher if this truly was real. For months, she had been dragging herself and her family across the endless lands of the world trying to find him. She’d eventually abandon everything for him; her children, her home, her throne. It was scary, all in one to have the end of her struggles, her searching, her heartache all end in one moment.

But it was worth it all.

Oriana steadily took another step forward, watching the small stub of a tail wag in reaction to her words. He had to be real. She saw his tail, she saw the blood, if this was a fake or a dream or an image in her head he would still have that long flowing tail. Oriana felt a rattled, weak choking noise exhale for her chest as she waited, for what felt like an eternity, to see if he’d say anything back. Doe-eyes tried to frantically blink to see if the endless days and nights of a broken hope were playing tricks on her.

"Mama?"

Her chest tightened and her heart swelled, taking a chance and loosening her weight from her legs as she proceeded forward, faster now, just barely halting in time to not knock the boy over. Her head swung down and collided with fierce affection to his own, sliding her cheek against his and nuzzling her head under his chin. His scent was so distant but so familiar, it was him. He was alive. He was standing here.

Oriana was far too much in shock to cry.

“Hircine! Hircine my baby boy…” She murmured shakily through her embrace, pressing herself as close to him as he’d allow. Making up for lost time, smothering him as if this were the last time she would ever see him again. “You’re alive! You’re here… you’re… you’re…. “ Oriana’s stoic and royal demeanour shattered the moment she was sure he was really here.

She was just a mother with her son, reunited.

“I thought I’d lost you forever, my beautiful boy…” One of the few of her family that always believed in her.

---

@Hircine