Barrow Fields tessellate

Coelacanth was fine — and not only that, but she was a good mother. Komodo loosed a genuine grin. Would he have expected her to be any different? No, of course not. But, late at night, there had been moments that he wondered and worried; would something go wrong, and the last interaction they had been that, whatever that thing happened between them was? It was a thought that had often made him sick, but now he could release such pressure and guilt. Hopefully Seelie felt the same way, but for this, only time would tell.

With that small glimmer of hope, Komodo’s desire to return to the isle increased almost triple-fold.

But then the topic of conversation turned much too quickly for the earthstalker’s preference, from the topic of someone he cared much about to a wolf he did not even know. The listened to the young girl’s plea, stalwart and nodding, and appreciated the sensitivity with which she approached the situation. My, he had really been gone a long time, hadn’t he? Now that he could give her a once-over, he realized that Maegi kind of looked older; Seelie had gone through an entire pregnancy; he and his raven were in the midst of a heated romance; this man Mou had become a part of the family and the absconded. So many things were different, yet so many things were the same.

He shook his thickset maw from to and fro, signaling his dismaying response to what sounded like a desperate query. “Naw, haven’t seen ‘um.” From what was essentially an outsider’s perspective, Komodo was rather pleased to know that a convalescent had gone when he was capable of leaving. Healing was a full-time job, and the seawolves were not in a place to be handing out freebies. Even when on a job, Komodo rarely overstayed whatever welcome was offered to him. 

— but that answer likely wouldn’t go over well with a girl of such middling youth, so he elected for a different appeal. “Maybe he’s gat baggage tha’ he did-n’t wanna put awn us,” he burled, believing that to be likely. “Y’thank this Mou is uh’ capable man? Thank he’s safe n’ well?” He waited a beat for a response, but continued. “If so, y’shouldn’t ti-yur yerself out tryinna fine’ a man who duzn’t wanna be foun’.” It was that easy, wasn’t it? Putting others in your past; those who deserved to be there?