Blacktail Deer Plateau Back in the days

Aningan could not still himself, a million emotions all boiling up within. Part of him wanted to yell, whilst another part couldn’t find his voice at all. She had a point, as much as he didn’t want to acknowledge it. She was gone for a long time—“But she was trying to find us!” he tried to argue, grasping for any footing he could find. She cared about them, about Rusalka. The entire time she was gone, she was searching for them, he was certain of it. She just couldn’t find her way home—they moved, after all. That was what made her take so long, it had to be!

But as much as he tried to reason against all that Caiaphas did, he couldn’t. The more Raleska said, the more at a loss he felt. The sea tried to destroy them—it nearly succeeded, too—and she was nowhere to be found during or after that. Those that held grudges against the sea queen could have easily kicked them while they were down, a retaliation against their former leader. “I don’t know…” he muttered, eyes downcast. He could feel his eyes burning, tears threatening to fall—and perhaps a few even managed to slip by. All of the reasoning in the world couldn’t stop his heart from aching, yearning to embrace the kindness she showed him.

“I just wanted her to stay…” To be home with them, with those he was able to meet only thanks to her. “I just wanted us all to be together again…” Everyone else got back who they lost. Those separated from them by the sea kept returning, day after day, filling those voids previously made. Yet the one that he hoped so desperately would return, was not someone that they could afford to welcome back.