Moonstone Quarry And The Light may Shine in Your Eyes

*yoinks off page 2* :D

Mal had wandered farther than normal -- he needed time to think and some distance so that he didn't run into a packmate in the wrong state of mind. For a little while he'd considered himself even kind of lost, but he'd recently found the path he'd taken to get here in the first place and was fairly sure that he would find his way out and home in not too long. This place he'd wandered into was certainly different, but its proximity to Moonspear meant he wasn't going to linger if he had any choice in the matter. He didn't trust those wolves, no matter how reasonable they might act on second meeting.

And so he was wandering when the howl came from somewhere up the path ahead -- assuming echoes weren't tricking him -- and the way the patch of rock he was on had been so far, it didn't seem likely that he'd even have much of a choice but to see who it was. Sounded like someone else wasn't having too good of a time out there. Join the club or something. Mal was all too familiar with his own gloom and doom -- it was a throwback to what he thought he left behind, but maybe it was what he needed right now. He kept walking.

Eventually someone did come into view. It had been long enough that Mal didn't recognize the pack scent, but whoever this kind of messed up guy was, it had to have been him howling. Mal had seemed to have left his grinning countenance at home today, his expression was relatively flat. Not a good day, huh? was his bit of musing. His mind was otherwise too wrapped on what to do about Cupid, about how much of himself he might be losing if he did opt to forget. About what it meant. All of that. Right now some stranger's presence didn't come with the weight or responsibility that a familiar person did. For that he was thankful.