Uprooted

Kaia wakes with an ache in her bones. The stars whisper in the corners of her vision and the snow flaking softly through the hole in the ceiling is tainted black. She pulls herself carefully from the puppy pile, giant paws making no noise on the stones as she steps closer to the entrance.

She dips her head to lick Sise's head as she passes the pup, wuffing quietly in response to his sleepy yip. Placated, he burrows deeper into Yamal's flank and Kaia turns to touch her nose to the other dire's. His eyes are wise when they meet hers, and she lets their breath mingle for a long moment before she pulls away, turning to an opening in the wall. His quiet rumble follows her out into the starkly moonlit landscape.

It's a long run to where her bones are leading her. The persistent itch under her skin makes her flighty, keeps her running for days and nights solid. She stalks prey across the plains, fishes in frozen streams and above all else keeps her nose pointed west. The sun dances over her head, cycles passing in the spray of snow under her paws.

The last day is the worst.  

The itch between her ribs has turned into a clawing, poison pouring from her nostrils each time she exhales, her breath ragged in the thin mountain air. The slope is nearly too steep to travel and she digs her claws into the rock, struggling ever upwards. The sky dances above her head, the sun wavering unevenly towards the horizon as it sets. Even her thick coat isn't enough to shield her from the biting wind and each step she takes leaves patches of warmth behind, her bones unraveling as she moves endlessly upwards.

She finds the top at last, dim eyes turning towards the horizon as it gives birth to the moon. She gathers the last of her strength into one deep inhale, filling every corner of her lungs with one final blessing before tipping her head back and howling.

It's a long, low, horrible thing, a feral noise that claws out into the void. She goes on, and on, and on, until she's almost empty and it's only then that the wind stirs. The sky catches her howl and echoes it back, and back, and back, until her perch is surrounded on all sides by creatures of the heavens. They scream and cry and yell, the noise battering at her but she leans into it, breathing shallowly in the frigid air.

It consumes her like cold fire as the wind strips her of everything she has, melting her down to her bones in one long, torturous burn. The stars are screaming with the voices of a hundred thousand lost brothers and sisters and she howls along with them. She clings to the mountain top and lets the sorrow of a thousand generations cleanse her until the noises they make together sing instead of screaming. She is the void and emptiness fills what was once her body and she has never been less alone.

Suddenly their upturned nose catches the rays of the rising sun and as one they turn to face Mother. Her benediction spreads over their form, bringing new growth to where old skin had been stripped away and their noise becomes a joyous rush. The fading stars harmonize with the wind as she separates, sinks back into her body, her veins humming with the light of the sun. For one long moment Mother locks eyes with her children, gold reflecting off every patch of frozen snow, and then the mirage is gone and Kaia is alone on the top of the world.

She feels strong, safe, warm to her toes even in the thin mountain air, and she howls again, just once. The sound is thin without the chorus of the heavens but far, far in the distance she catches a familiar echo. It's an easy thing now to uproot herself from the peak, to turn back down the steep cliff.

To point her nose unerringly home.