Sunspire Mountains oh, he hops with the hippest of them

stigmata wasted not a single moment and whisking piper away into the mountain shelves; eager to shield her from whatever lone horrors had befallen her in his absence. he wondered what had happened to her escort, but found not need to dredge up such negativity in that moment. it was the same reason he refrained from telling her what had become of bearclaw and his personal status with her family, but after she had gotten some rest, it would be among the first topics he breached. their relationship wouldn't be fair or based on honesty if he didn't reveal and explain these things, but there was a time and place for everything.

he absconded with and housed the dimmed redleaf tightly at his side, finding a slender pocket on the cliffside in which to tuck her in - a small cave adequate for both warmth and security - and he was carefully quiet all the while. he lay by her side until both of their bodies had ceased their respective anxious shivering, and it was with great effort that he peeled himself from around her, like the curling skin of an orange, and he nibbled the back of her neck in a silent, reassuring message.

stay.

he moved so that he could meet her eyes - a shade of worried champagne - and his gaze did many things at once, in the slow, fathomless moment they locked eyes: he asked, commanded, begged, demanded, wanted her to stay. wait for me, he conveyed without daring to use his voice and potentially lie. he would do everything in his power to return to her, but fate was a tricky mistress and he dared not promise her to return. the ironwraith turned and melted away into the cold dark

---

dawn was breaking before he returned to the very cave he had left her in; his jaws in a vice around the carcass of a thin raccoon. the blood practically in his nostrils prevented him from being able to tell if piper had remained or not, but he dropped the catch worriedly, and whined into the jagged entrance in a hopeful call for a resting young she-wolf.

i pray for a very long and dramatic future between these two. THE IDEAS I HAVE!!