he took off from the border, and didn't stop. wanted to run until his legs gave out. everything had happened all at once. engel was gone, and he would not have children this season. the latter fact he knew already, but it had been drilled into his head today. the former. . .

aditya had scrabbled over the mountains and now looked out over a ridge comprised of many fragmented boulders that had once been united. the smell of the sea, so calming and familiar, hit him, a gust of cold salt, and he sobbed with relief at the smell of it, gulping huge breaths of air.

he thought of engel again, and flew into a rage. "kaminey!" he roared, words echoing over the waves. "chutiya! ja apna bajaa!" aditya hung his head, gasping, and struck the rock below with a paw, a few times until it began to hurt. scarlet blood oozed from a small cut in the pad, a dull stain on the dark surface.

he had lost nando, his best friend in the world, to the sea. the tawny wolf was almost certainly dead. engel had began to fill the gaping hole in his heart that nando had left, but now. . . now it was open again, gaping, bleeding, hollow.

this was almost worse. he had lost nando to the sea. he couldn't have prevented it.

but engel. . .engel was a fucking idiot. no more, no less.

a voice from below caught his ear, and he looked down to find a girl, perhaps around pema's age, staring up at him. the meaning of her words took a moment to sink in, but when they finally did, he shook his head, looking rueful.

"what demons were there are surely gone, now," aditya called back. "i almost drowned, this past autumn."

he peered to get a closer look at her, face incredulous. who was this girl, to interrupt his mourning? it certainly wasn't anyone he had seen before. perhaps one of the ravensblood group. . .no, she didn't carry the scent of that bleeding-sap forest. "who are you?" he asked, his voice fairly unfriendly but not altogether unkind.

he raised his eyebrows at her response, not saying anything more until she had shut her mouth for the time being. "no one can be sure of that," aditya said cryptically. he thought of the spirits in the woods down south. how was he to know one of them hadn't followed him here, stayed by his side?

"as for what i sounded like, it is my mother's tongue, not demonic gibberish," he informed her coolly. "maine apna mann nahin kholaa hai. yet," he amended, with a small sigh.

he thought of what she had said, though--the price of one rabbit leg. "for going to the trouble of a leg, i might as well give you a whole rabbit," he chuckled. after a beat, though, his face grew serious. "are you hungry?" she had no pack-scent attached; perhaps this shtick was a way to earn attention and food.

aditya chuckled, to hear her stomach growl despite her assurances she was well-fed by her, er, loyal clients, though the sympathy remained. he picked his way carefully down the face of the rocks to meet her, finally scrabbling to a halt next to her.

"legs that aren't big enough, it would seem," he said, his tone dry with a hint of kindness. aditya smiled. "an ocean witch shouldn't go hungry." his nose pointed to the waves. "the sea's your domain. the waters your bounty."

he looked at her once more, tail swaying in the wind. "do you have family nearby?" he asked gently. aditya had taken a liking to this girl, despite her brash nature. she reminded of him dawn in a way, though less refined. while dawn was the wild, cool mountain breeze, this girl was rough and coarse as the salt sea.

she maybe thought herself an enigma, but adi knew he had her figured out. he had once been like this, as a boy. orphaned and alone, wandering the shore, he had adopted a larger-than-life nature, becoming a weaver of tall tales, building himself up to be bigger than he was. it helped him survive. . .but more importantly, it distracted him from what that reality truly was for him--empty.

"i had no family for most of my life," aditya said softly. he pointed his nose out to the horizon, the soft gray sky nestled above the dark line of the sea. "was alone, traveling up and down the coast, with no purpose." his eyes rested on her once more. "i care because i know."

his mouth curved in a half-smile. "but you're destined for greatness. i see the spirit in you," he said. sometimes he had said variations of this phrase, merely to placate the one he was with. this time, though, he did not lie, and he hoped it showed on his face. "who are your brothers? i live nearby. i can keep my eyes and ears open for signs of them."

what had he expected? for her to agree, to find comfort in his words? perhaps his life had grown too idyllic on the plateau, for it stung when she threw words like barbs at him. the girl was lashing out, blanketing whatever pain or loneliness she held in her heart with fire. he understood. . .and he knew he couldn't reason with her, at this point.

adi called out a weak farewell, heaving a sigh as he fell silent once more, once again in solitude. the anger at engel's depravity still simmered beneath the surface, this time tinged with sorrow for the wiry girl padding along the beach.

the names she had given him rang in his head like the calls of songbirds. ingram. lichen. he hoped she'd find them, eventually. if he saw them, he'd point them in the right direction. for her sake, for theirs. . .and, in a small part, for his, to sleep peacefully at night knowing the girl had found her brothers.

no one should be alone. no one should feel abandoned.

after several minutes more of quietly looking at the sea, aditya rose, climbing back over the rocks toward the plateau. trying to figure out how to move on.