Silver Creek and I call with all my heart

He had seen crashing waters as vast as The Gilded Sea, with sky birds screeching a foreign song -

He had seen a land without fire, without Father or Mother -

He had seen the face of his brother - Athens? Evander? Tybault?

But in the rays of dawning light, this stream was just a frozen puddle, and in places, he’d seen the scars of fires of generations past.

The only constant was @Evander, who once again moved with him in measured time.

Faithful Evander.

The stars have hidden themselves again, Everett said, his eyes on the northern sky. Let’s find a bough for shelter.

You always find the most uncomfortable places, Evander bounded up behind his brother, making sure to send a spray of powdered snow his way when he skated himself to a stop. He gave a dramatic shiver. Brrr! You’ve got a knack for finding the coldest places, too!

But it had been Everett’s idea to journey North, and not because @Tybault had come this way. While Evander enjoyed his more mouthy brother well enough, he never thought Everett had ever seen eye to eye with him, as far as he could tell, even when he’d finally turned away from their parents, too.

Maybe because he had been the last.

Snow flew in Everett’s face and he bristled, stiffening against the sudden burst. Ack! he yanked his attention from the skies and curled his body in an arc to keep his eyes away from the last flurries of snow, Evander!

Everett thought of kicking some snow in his brother’s general direction, and would have —

— but it is not of Mother Rain to retaliate, and you are born of her, first among none.

His father may as well have been beside him whispering in his ear, but they were alone. He did not know where their father even was. And while he did not believe the mantra anymore, he put his paw to his face instead to brush the snow dust from his fur.

And you have a knack for finding the most words to complain in, Everett said matter-of-factly, straightening up now that his face was mostly clean. It’ll only get colder from here, so we’d best get used to it now.

He sniffed, and looked around. There are plenty of trees to choose from. I’m sure one of them will be comfortable enough.

He’d hoped little Rhett would retaliate, Vander knew he had it in him to. He just needed a little egging on. After all, he’d seen glimpses and traces in his brother before, and he thought he’d seen a glint of it now in the Flamesinger’s eyes. But the fire fizzled out, and Everett still ran calm and collected as a rain shower in spring.

Pfft, Evander jostled his brother with his shoulder, you’ve always got such a stick up your ass. But his teasing voice held affection, even between the crassness of the phrase.

Still, Evander did as his brother instructed and bounded to the nearest evergreen, stooping low once he reached it to pull back the lowest branches and check out the space beneath. Yeesh! he recoiled, and swung to find another, a couple foxes couldn’t even fit under that one! He stopped near another, and bent down again. I don’t know why we had to come North, of all places. You really don’t think he turned around at that River we lost his trail?

Everett’s frown flickered with something of a smile, even as he stumbled and tried to regain the balance he’d lost with his brother’s playful shove.

He knew what Evander wanted from him, but Everett knew better than to give in. It was still against his nature too, even if his brother thought otherwise. Everett would always be the rain to his brother’s wildfire. Their parents had made sure of that.

Everett ambled to a tree opposite the one his brother surveyed. I’m not sure, he admitted aloud, Tybault could be anywhere by now, and in fact, a small part of him hoped they wouldn’t find him at all. Evander often told him how much their brother loved him, but Everett had to admit life was much easier when he wasn’t around. But North is the way… and he faltered, though he knew Vander knew the end of his sentiment.

North was the way he had seen.

He did know the end of things, and he would be there with Everett for whatever came to pass, just as he’d been there with him at the beginning and all the way through.

It didn’t mean he had to like it. It didn’t even mean he really believed what his brother saw or said was true. He wasn’t well. They all knew how he’d received his vision. Their parents kept no secret of that. Not from Evander, anyway.

Everett always told him too much.

But Everett didn’t know Evander’s misgivings, and for the better. He’d find them out himself when the end of their travels fizzled into nothing, and his vision proved untrue. The pain would be enough for him then and Evander would be there, still, to help him through. Sure, he had to suffer some hunger and ice to reach that end, but it was the best way, the only way, so Evander thought, for his brother to start healing, for them both to finally start moving on.

Then North we go, came the sum of Vander’s thoughts. He peeked his head under another bough and this time, disappeared beneath it. Hey, check this one out! Evander poked his nose just under the draping branches so the leaves covered his eyes, but let his grinning mouth show through, we could fit the whole family in this one!