Gilded Bay ebbed and flowed

a shiver ran down his spine as he turned to find the other wolf there; he looked like a walking skeleton, pale markings over his skull, his ribs--the rest shadows. god, maybe he had died, and this was some sort of extended purgatory. so reincarnation wasn't real, after all? was this his escort to whatever hell to which the divine had assigned him?

hello, govinda said stiffly, warily staring down the stranger as he gave him a quick nod. his ears canted forward. can i help you? where are you taking me?

he couldn't be dead, though, nor this man, who smelled of the earth, of salt and sea and living things. were scents this vivid in the afterlife? govinda supposed he would find out soon enough. once the burning started. . .