Ravensblood Forest Im here with a pledge hand slapped across my chest

Sorry guys, don’t mind me over here as I write a freaking novel

Since parting with Dakarai, Olive felt as if she only held half a soul. She had glimpsed the universal heavens within another wolf [her wolf] and the harsh realities of a life without him were laid bare in front of her. At best, if felt as if she weren’t living to her fullest potential. At worst, if felt as if she weren’t living at all. The maiden found herself oscillating  between these two extremes several times a day. 

During this time, the doe took solace in her sacred visions; choosing to spend large swathes of time hidden among the forest in an attempt to recreate the strong emotions she felt with Dakarai. Nothing she did could fully replicate the strange, guttural emotion [she was a bit distracted from her studies, after all] and she craved it intensely. The fae felt small and vulnerable without his simmering gaze upon her [though she knew nothing could touch her as a member of Teaghlaigh], nor his touch to ground her in the present. But they had made a promise to each other: a promise to reunite. 

At the time, Olive did not know exactly what it truly meant but looked forward to it immensely. 

Then - a howl! The sound reached Olive’s ears immediately and it reverberated strongly within her spirit [though the audible sound of the howl was weak and breathless]. The woman immediately knew it to be her dark king, Dakarai - he had finally come. Almost instantaneously the grey woman rose and dashed off among the titans, seeking the boarders and seeking the embrace of her kindred lover.

The scene she came upon was not the scene that Olive had imagined for their reunion. Olive had hoped to be the first to arrive, but that was not the case - both Arturo and Chusi were already there. During her wistful bouts in the forest, Olive often entertained visions of the brute, standing strongly and proudly above her - but it was not this wolf at their borders. Instead, Dakarai’s dark form hugged the ground beneath the two members of Teaghlaigh. Confusion gripped Olive’s mind before the scent of blood flooded her senses.

“My love,” she spoke breathlessly, the words falling from between her lips towards no one in particular. Olive stepped out from the shadows of the forest, her moonshine eyes darting from Dakarai, to Arturo, to Chusi. Pale paws took another step towards the scene; Olive was unsure whether to stay near her family or reunite with her paramour. Seeing as Dakarai was a stranger to the rest of the family, the pragmatic solution would have been to stand in solidarity behind her superiors… but the women could resist him no longer, especially not in such a state. Olive hoped Arturo would not take her rush to meet him as a slight.

Olive drew closer to Dakarai’s side, immediately dropping to the ground and curling against him in an attempt to thaw him with her body heat. The young queen had done this to Olive on that fateful day at the river - and since that meeting, the weather had only gotten colder.

The familiar sensations rose quickly within the woman, but this time it was layered in a veil of sorrow. The other half of her soul lay next to her, bruised and bleeding. Olive was concerned and had many questions about why he was battered so, but she kept those questions silent. Instead, she elected to close her eyes and drink in his scent, to sense the pulse of her body next to his, to intimately feel his fur intermingle with her own. This was the moment she had been waiting for and would relish it for what it really was. Dakarai was not a distant dream but a distinct reality, laying just outside her borders.

“See? You are strong… and you are resilient. Just what I saw you for on that mountainside.”  Olive sung into his ear. The woman looked kindly, longingly down at Dakarai and silently thanked him for returning to her… no matter what the cost to himself. 

Olive looked up and offered an appreciative look to Chusi [acknowledging her kindness] before turning to Arturo and pulling her small body from the ground. She would not deign to speak to Ceannasach from her place on the ground but would instead address him with an air of respect [like the boss she knew him to be.]

“Arturo, I…” she began, but was suddenly unable to find her words.