Emberwood this is our last stand

in the distance, thru the break of the budding green canopy of woodlands come to life, arius thinks he can glimpse the glacier. the riot of emotions within him quiets; yearning, enticing him home. for a few hours he contemplates ignoring the ache in his paws, the exhaustion that settles wearily into his bones, the want to just lay down and steal a few hours of rest even as a mist settles over the emberwood.

but he knows better than to ignore what his body is telling him.

i'm coming home. he murmurs low to the peek of the glacier, imagining that somewhere tzila and wintersbane were listening to and watching him. at least, temporarily. he had to return to atautsikut — though he holds onto the hope that after this trip he would have a better idea of the path he was meant to walk.

for now, he slows his pace, hesitating, again, over the thought of just pushing forward during the last stretch.

one of the boys who had met him at the border had left. dionysus only knew because he'd gone looking for him, of course. he wanted to know more about atautsikut, more about the other kids he'd met. he hadn't really been exposed to anyone close to his own age; erzulie's children were much older than he was, it felt. they certainly acted that way.

he didn't think much of arius's departure at first, figuring he was going for a quick scouting trip or something. dionysus himself enjoyed travel, despite the dire circumstances under which he'd discovered his enjoyment of it. but then the yards turned to miles, and the miles grew longer. of course he'd considered turning back; it would be rude to leave the pack that had helped him. but he wouldn't be leaving entirely, would he? not if he was with one of them.

and besides, they weren't in charge of dionysus. zephyr and hyacinth had been, and they were dead now, so dionysus figured that meant he was in charge of himself. at least until he got back to sapphique. so on he went, trailing the other boy at a limping pace and trying without much success to catch up. when he finally did, it occurred to him that he didn't really know what to say.

hey! uh - arius, right? i tried to um, catch up sooner. mind if i come with you? he tried to be nonchalant about it, but secretly he was nervous. arius had seemed pretty grumpy the first time they'd met, and dionysus had just followed him a very long way. not that he was truly aware of how weird this all was; after all, he'd made an even longer journey in search of his fathers. this didn't seem like that much comparatively.

that he had a tag along had gone widely unknown to arius ...until dionysus called out to him. for a moment, as arius turns at the sound of his name, he feels only confusion, unable to immediately place the face. it dawns a few seconds later with a twitch of his ears. you followed me the whole way here? arius' inquires, feeling a bit like captain obvious for pointing out ...well, the obvious.

for a moment, the tundrian struggles between whether he should be flattered or annoyed. so, he settles for a bit.

yeah, i'm arius. he mumbles under his breath, drawing in a heavy exhale and letting it out in a heavier exhaling sigh. if the kid ( who was likely very close to his own age ) bothered to follow him the whole way to the otherside of the wilds ( all but ), he had no choice but to let him tag along. whether there was truth to it or not, arius felt it was now up to him to be responsible and make sure dionysus didn't get lost. or eaten. or whatever.

might as well, if you came this far. arius accepts the companionship — if not a bit begrudgingly. dionysus, right? he waits for confirmation or correction if he was misremembering.