Hushed Willows oh lazarus, how did your debts get paid?

Harlyn had never expected to hear his voice on the wind. She had begun to suspect that she would never hear it at all, ever again. It was a thought she had kept at bay with concern for her family and with the work she did to assert her place in this new pack. But in the empty hours of the night, her heart mourned for him. The removal of him from her life had been the final nail in the coffin that enclosed all of her hopes and her dreams for herself. Her pack, her home, and her perfect mate. She had locked them all up together and bid them farewell when she'd approached the borders of the Keep to start a new life in service to her children - likely the only three she would ever have with Mordecai gone from her life.

And yet, there was something not at all surprising in its familiarity. Harlyn had shut her eyes and taken a deep breath as the wave of relief came upon her. It should have been more staggering, more emotionally disorienting for she had always considered seeing Mordecai again would be like seeing him come back from the dead. But it wasn't. It was more like stumbling upon a favorite sweater that had been missing for a while. It had always been there; it had simply been out of sight, out of her reach for a while.

Apparently, she had been severely mistaken in thinking that she'd given up on him.

Her heart was in her throat by the time she came upon the borders. She was running when she approached, but slowed to a steady trot before stopping a few feet before him. A soft smile graced her lips as she looked upon him, simply enjoying the feeling of being able to lay her eyes upon him for the moment. "You found us," she said after a few moments of silence, her tail wagging at her haunches and tears beginning to collect along her lashes.