Grief

The mournful wailing call filled the night, leaving all that heard it heavy hearted.

Solvieg had passed.

The dark half mane that remained by his side tilted her nose to the sky and let out another desperate call before nudging the limp form. Tuaq tried to reach out to comfort her, but Kaniq turned away with a silent curl of her lip. She was desperate, and this time his affection would not sooth her. No, she craved something that she would never get again. She wanted her mate to rise to his feet; to wag his tail and invite her to play like he had done for so many years, but Solv was gone.

The old boy had been showing his age over the last year, and although Kaniq was still physically in good condition, the curly had become stiffer and quieter. It had been the oncoming chill of winter that had held his doom. The cold nights had brought on a sudden cough and weakness, and over the space of a few days he faded fast. They had done their best to nurse him through, and those few days had been filled with love and attention from the whole family.

It had been that night that he had finally struggled outside with his remaining strength and settled down under the fading light. Unable to convince him to come back inside all three kids had cuddled him, and the twins had helped tuck him in under Aujaq’s blanket with their favourite toys. The kids had begged to stay up to keep him company, but Tuaq had for once been stern and settled them inside before returning to where Kaniq and Anna had kept their vigil.

His throat tightened at the thought that it had been Solvieg and Anna that had discovered him and Kaniq roaming the tundra all those years ago. He owed a lot of his happiness to the big male, and it was going to be heart breaking to go without his boundless joy in their lives. Anna would be devastated, in the same way he knew he would be when Kaniq eventually passed.

It took a lot of convincing before he finally managed to get Anna inside and tucked into a warm bed, but nothing would move Kaniq. She had settled beside the body and refused to budge. She would stay that way for the entire night, the following day. Tuaq and Anna were the only ones able to approach Solvieg; any other would be met with bared teeth and fierce snarls. The mournful crying had stopped, but she refused food and water and any attempt to move her away failed badly.

The delay in burying him weighed on Anna, Tuaq could see it growing in her the longer Kaniq’s grief continued. Luckily the weather was cool enough to avoid any more distressing problems, but they needed some closure, all of them did. The kids had picked up on Anna’s distress and had been clingier and more prone to outbursts than normal, and Tuaq was starting to feel the strain as well.

It was the next night in bed that Tuaq had mentioned sedating her to allow them to separate her form the body. Deciding to talk about it more in the morning they had tried to get what little sleep they could, but when they woke in the morning Kaniq seemed to have accepted things. Barely moving she drank a little and lay huddled by the tree line, eyes following every movement until the body was covered by dirt. No one saw exactly when she left, but by the time the small ceremony had concluded she was gone.

No one saw her the entire day, and quickly days turned into a week without any sight of her. Tuaq held hope that she just needed space; she had always come back before. But the longer it went, the more it seemed that Kaniq was gone. 

• #12 - Your Tokota must learn to cope with the loss of something close to them; be it a prized possession or a friend/loved one.