The Sentinels my heartbeat could tell you it's urgent

On the cusp of Donnelaith, Malachi watched through a furrowed gaze. The land lay cursed before him, and though new growth showed in buds and sprouts, the world groaned as if waking from winter, though summer came fast upon them. He knew not what ravaged the land, only that the Wilds were exactly like he had left them - bare, and frozen in time, without the snow to blanket them. And that was enough to make the Kalderon worry.

The salty sea stung his eyes. He had never intended to return to the ocean, but one gaping stare at the land's desecration had tunneled his thoughts on the Mayfairs, on their growing children, and on the tiny faces of their newest kin he had never mustered the courage to see. And so he had ventured deep into the land plagued with famine, and to a family he realized he cared more for than he thought.

So when his heart wrestled with him now, Malachi resisted the easy press to turn away. He gave a final sweeping over the landscape, a sight that brought tension to his jaw. He had left them moments before their greatest need. He could only hope they would forgive him for that, and Malachi tipped his head to the sky and rent a howl through the cool dusk air, for @Lasher or @Dante, or for whoever would choose to meet him there.