they were three, they were one . a moment had passed -- just one -- since he'd parted company with the one who'd welcomed him.

brief, and fleeting but it filled him with an overwhelming sense of anxiety. his flesh burned, and the mealy surface of his mouth had grown dry. his teeth gave a gentle clack as he'd strode into the vale. his mind, of course, forced onto the thoughts of those he'd abandoned. and then, subtle thoughts of those he'd found. his features had grown sullen, their expressionless frown drowned in the subtleties of sorrow: remorse, guilt. lethe's words haunted him, echoing softly in the far more darker recesses of his consciousness. he'd left her band of wolves, but it hadn't been for the reason she'd proposed. lethe deserved better -- the wolves of her creek, deserved better by him. "You will leave us when the right she-wolf comes by,” she had predicted. “But until then, you will be of our family.”

"I should have told her," his words were soft, an near inaudible murmur as he took pause. It wasn't a family he'd sought. Had it been what the stranger sought he'd never left his homelands. No -- he wanted adventure, he wanted to be worldly, and filled with the same essence his father had carried.

he wanted to reflect the aged and sagacious titan that was their grandfather. he'd abandoned his kin out of selfish want. but having been one of three for so long, it seemed little for him to ask to be an individual. "Damn it." But he hadn't count on them. He did not factor in that they would follow. Having abandoned the creek, he then sought them out there: the vale. it was enough. his siblings had come, he'd put them at risk. they shouldn't have, but they did. and it was then, hearing they were so near: they always would.