Whitefish River drachenfeuer

Skipping Aurë and having her go to find Speedy as per Ellie's PM so this thread can take a more interesting turn!

There wasn't much else to talk about, or so Dragomir thought. Aurëwen excused herself to search for Speedy as per Mahler's request, leaving the ailing son solitary in the Kapitän's presence. For several long beats, Dragomir merely stared at his torn nails and offered nothing. But with his mother away, he felt the oppressive weight on his tongue that kept him mum around his parents begin to lift. Almost as though Mahler was a more trustworthy adult in his eyes than his parents (which, for him, was the truth).

With a deep breath, Dragomir quietly revealed, she made this happen. He would never say that to Aurëwen's face. He would never confide that secret belief to Vercingetorix or even Isilmë for fear that they would tell Aurë and break her heart. But Dragomir believed it completely. If not for her making friends with dangerous wolves, enabling that dark and wicked man to weave his nefarious web and ensnare her son in it, this wouldn't have happened. Such was the logic of a child who needed somewhere to point the finger and didn't yet understand that not everything was someone else's fault.

She had a friend, or that's what she called him. She tried to leave us with him once but we ran, we didn't want to be left behind. Then we stopped in a forest and I wanted space and he lied to me and took me, and then ... then he ... threw me ... here he paused, gulping down several mouthfuls of air as he attempted to stave off another panic attack, but as images flashed through his mind, he began to hyperventilate. ... off a cliff.

Squeezing his eyes shut, the child gasped, they don't know. Well, Vercingetorix knew who, but Dragomir hadn't told him what exactly happened.