Wapun Meadow I won't turn back anymore

Her fit lasted seconds, but the ghost of the tickle held to a dry area at back of her throat. She tried to rid herself of the phantom by swallowing, and when she couldn't reach the spot she turned her head with a scowl. The stream babbled not far from where she stood, and she took a hasty pace toward it. But a strange feeling passed through her spine just as she moved and she froze. With a new caution she lifted her muzzle to the air and flared her nostrils. Useless as her nose and eyes were to see through the murk of fog, she swivelled her ears in a final probe. She caught only silence, until the crunch of the frost-tipped grass sounded from behind.

A sudden burst of adrenaline forced her hackles to stand, and she leapt around just as a spectral form tumbled to the ground mere hairbreadths away. Her whole body burned to attack, but the ghostly figure spooked her into leaping backwards instead. It regained itself with a swift return and Nanook braced herself for another onslaught, head low and teeth bared. She had never heard of anyone fighting a ghost before, and didn't know if it could even be done, but she wasn't about to skitter away with her tail tucked low like a coward.

But Nanook only had to lock her gaze on him for a moment before her hackles fell and the intensity of her face shifted from anger to shock. Her voice came as a whisper. "Xan." He was an apparition, he had to be. The ice in his eyes stopped her from seeing past his shroud of neutrality. Only when he spoke did she take a step forward, her mouth no longer agape, but her fiery eyes still wide with unbelief. His tone reflected the constant war she felt herself, and that still simmered in her chest against both mother and papa for separating them.

"I - " She had been looking for Bearclaw, but her end had never been the Valley. Since the day she'd chased after mother and left Xan behind, her end had always been him. "I was looking for you." She took another pace forward with the added stress. With him being here, so close to the Maplewood, was he looking for her too? She didn't dwell on the sentiment, nor did she dare reach out to touch him, lest he truly be an apparition and he disappear from her sight once more.