Big Salmon Lake hateraid

@Hydra!

A few days had passed since Rian departed Neverwinter Forest to get away from everyone. No sooner had he begun to enterain the thought of trusting Kjalarr, the pale northman stepped down and elevated his wench of a wife in his place. She had zero blood ties to Neverwinter, and hadn't even known Scimitar, Eshe, or his father. What right did she have to rule in place of Cypress, or even his own mother. Indeed, why hadn't his mother stepped up once more in Kjalarr's stead. Rian felt as if his entire world, the ground upon which he stood, was constantly crumbling away. Soon he would have nothing to stand upon, and the void would consume him.

He feared the nothingness.

The O'Malley boy wandered the reaches to the south of Neverwinter, never straying too far from his home, but not close enough to be easily found by those he called pack members. A large part of him didn't want to be found. Perhaps out here he would find the life he wished he had, and the respect of those he called leaders. He stood upon the frozen shores of Big Salmon Lake, jade eyes cast out across the expanse. They were glazed over and his entire demeanor suggested a deep-seeded lethargy that had nothing to do with the season.

Rian took a hesitant step out onto the lake and when it did not give beneath his weight he brought the other out ahead. Slowly he crept upon the ice, but it did not groan under the pressure—the only sound was the light crunch of snow underfoot, and the distant cry of a raven.