Neverwinter Forest i'm beyond the archetype

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Kjalarr did not understand the regret in the other male's voice, his eyes focusing upon him when he admitted that Allure, Cyrpress and him went searching. The lack of Scimitar's presence allowed Kjalarr to assume that he hadn't found him. Yet, if that was so then why was this male apologizing to him? Though the action was strictly subconscious Kjalarr ghosted a step closer, holding his breath his ears thrust forth atop his skull to catch the words that followed. Scimitar and Eshe. Killed. By a bear. At first, the words did not make sense. Kjalarr's ears pinned back to his skull as they formed a coherent meaning in his mind and instead recoiled back the step he had ghosted forward sharply as denial struck him true and deep. His head gave a shake as his tongue drew across his chops. No. No! It couldn't be. Scimitar couldn't be dead and certainly not by a bear. But the third apology slammed Kjalarr back to reality. It made sense as to why he was gone for so long even if his adoptive father's death was like a bullet to the chest — a low blow that if he were a man would have left him hunched over and staggered as he clenched his teeth against the pain.

Kjalarr struggled for a long moment, with his emotions. With the simple question of why. How was it that two adults found death at the mighty paws of a bear but Kjalarr had been fortunate enough to escape with his life the two times he, as a child, had came toe to toe with a bear. The three scars that cut across the bridge of his muzzle echoed with a phantom pain as he recalled both days. Why did the Gods always insist on giving with one hand and taking with the other? Following that came the: what happens next? “Thank you,” Kjalarr offered the male simply when he managed enough composure for it.

“Scimitar found me when I was a child not yet able to take care of myself. I was malnourished and dying when he took me in and gave me a home, a family. I never got the chance to repay him.” but perhaps in death he could yet find a way. “He was the only father I have ever known.” Not meant to be a slight to Ragnar but simply stated as the truth. Scimitar and Bazi had raised him and they were apart of him. In private, to Ondine even, he would surely break down as he further processed the realization that Scimitar was truly gone — as Whittier was — but here and now he struggled to remain composed. Partially because Shrike was a stranger to him and partially because there was an empty throne that needed filled and a sudden desire to do what he couldn't do for Scimitar in life: step up and carry on the legacy that his adoptive father had created for his family in the wake of his death.

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