Moonspear i'd like to take this time to say

AW <3 maybe smelly @Yama?

it was good to be home, to be reunited with revui. arcturus wouldn't have said it, but it felt like a massive, choking tether had been released from round his neck. how long had he carried this burden, this strangling anxiety? and how had it melded to him so subtly, like a hangman's torc?

he breathed a sigh mixed with relief and exhaustion - part of the puzzle had been put in place, but then small pieces fell away. he was so young to have learned this so early, that life often unraveled plans swifter than one could commit to them, and that when one thing clicked in place, something somewhere else often drifted away...

this time it was vela. maybe it was heartless of him, but he didn't have the same connection with charon's mini-me that he did with yama and revui. he hoped she would come back soon, of course, and already he missed her -- but she was older than he and he would not search for her.

as he moved lost in thought, arcturus discovered he had come to the summit where the star had fallen to earth in a blinding flash. as he neared the corrupted star, black and as hardened as a stone, his gait slowed. arcturus was not superstitious the way his father was, but he did believe the star had power here, and that it was kismet that it fell in their mountain.