Hunter's Woods Writing Prompts

   Were you to tell Virva that she and her sister were no longer to speak to one another, well. She might have celebrated, cheered and whooped and hollered and danced until she collapsed. To never have to put up with Melia's nagging, coddling, following her around like a mother to a newborn kitten? She would tell you that she would love nothing more.
   Whether that's her honest opinion, however? Well. There might have been some truth to it, yes, but relationships are rarely ever that simple.
   Virva resented her half-sister, certainly, took offense to her overprotective nature, to the way Melia seemed to treat her, in her eyes, as little more than a squirming, mewling runt of the litter, still incapable of being left to her own devices and allowed to live her own life. And yet, a part of her did still care for her. They were family, after all, even if only half - As much as Virva might hiss and growl at Melia, snap that she was her own cat, that she was perfectly capable, that she wished her sister had never followed her through the portals on the day the goddess left them, it would be a lie to say she held no fondness for her older sister. They had grown up together, side by side, shared their meals and tended to the gardens together. And though she might resent her sister's overbearing nature, it wasn't without reason - How many times, during those gardening sessions, had Virva fainted, only to be tended to by the very cat she now claimed to loathe?
   Certainly, the lack of chastising would be wonderful! But what of the rest of their relationship? Merely being watched in silence by her older sister, judged from afar... Virva almost hated the idea of that more than the reality of their relationship in the present. Frankly, if she had it her way, Melia would still be allowed to speak with her, but not be allowed to so thoroughly interfere with every little thing that she did. That was all she really wanted. Talk away, talk both her ears off, but let her make her own choices about her own life.
   And Melia? Well, it's easy to say that she would simply refuse. She came to this world to watch over and protect her little sister, after all, and she would do whatever it took to continue her duty to Virva - Even if it meant denying her duty to the rest of the Wayfarers. Even if she were still allowed to keep watch over her, how would she step in to help her, to stop her, protect her, if she couldn't say a word? No, surely not. She could never follow such a rule.
   But that's not all that there is to it, is there? For Melia was a dutiful cat, of course, not merely to her sister but in general, having been raised beneath the branches of the goddess of life, growing up tending to and protecting the deity to the best of her ability since the day she took her first steps. And without such a responsibility now... Perhaps she would turn all her attention to Virva, but perhaps not. Perhaps she would allow herself to be pulled somewhat from her sibling for the sake of the rest of her newfound companions, especially young Beatrix, who in certain ways reminded her so much of her own sister. And perhaps that distance would do them both good! For as much as she knew that, in a very real sense, Virva wasn't physically capable of being as strong and fast as the other cats, it might have done her well to step back and allow her sister room to breathe a bit more freely (when her heart allowed), to live life as her own person, to come to terms with the idea that she doesn't need to be completely independent to exist as herself. And Melia? Maybe she would finally recognize that Virva didn't need to be watched so ceaselessly, realize that at some point, mothering becomes smothering, and allow her sister the space she needed to be herself, while still offering help when the younger cat needed it - And not, as she so often insists now, when she doesn't.
   Perhaps they would accept this ruling for a time, albeit one more reluctantly than the other. And it might even do them both good, in the long run. But ultimately, neither would be able to separate themselves from the other so wholly for too long.