The darkness crept slowly. She’d slunk away from Cade earlier that night. She was tired of being under his constant watch, to be honest. He was her big brother, so she loved him, but goddamn she was irritated now. She wanted space. She was four for god sake. She needed some space, she was not a little child, not anymore. Part of her yearned to be a mother, like her momma, to be a healer and caretaker of all of those. But she wanted a love like no other, a love that was all consuming and all encompassing. One that would fill all the empty voids within her soul. She wanted a soul-love. She was a little naïve, yes, but she needed something that made everything worth wild.

Her white coat was like a beacon in the darkness of the night, so gentle, so pure. She slunk around the grotto with ease, the light brown on her back looked like she had brushed up against the rocks while she was walking, causing the dust and grime to fall on her, though, it was how she already looked. She sighed, pink eyes bright and curious as she moved about. She wandered deeper and deeper into the twisted hollow caves, her dainty paws pressing into the cold ground. She stretched, her nose high in the sky as she tried to figure out where it was. She was looking to develop her medicinal stash, which, she knew she would include a poison of some kind, just to be safe. You never know when you’ll need it. She wanted a deathly conocybe mushroom. Something small, dark and easily hidden into another’s meal. She huffed then, lowering her nose to the ground as she came upon a particularly mossy patch in the back, she looked up, spying the hole in the rocks, and she knew she was close.

The water and moss led her deeper, finding a patch of open light, she grinned as she spotted the patch of mushrooms. She was right! She grinned, turning back to grab a patch of moss to put the mushrooms on, not wanting to ingest them on accident. She was getting what she needed, and soon, she’d make a name for herself as a healer, caregiver, and she’d make momma proud.