Stone Circle the blood on my hands scares me to death

West had made a promise to himself, a promise to not run no matter how much his heart screamed. It had been weeks since his confrontation, and a lot had been said, most of which still circled his brain. Merrit was home now so he wasn't Valette's only son around, but he was close with his mom. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt her by running away. Polaris was right, he should know what kind of reaction she would have, he had already seen it two times before.

Avoiding the borders of the hollow, West had climbed to the stones early in the morning. He always found comfort watching the herds graze and live peacefully, but he only paid them half a mind today. Instead of gazing out into the distance, his forest gaze locked to the towering stones, specifically one where fresh dirt had been torn up and resettled with the passing weeks. It was where his brother would now lay for the rest of time.

He wasn't sure how to feel about it, that he was really gone. There had been a lot of denial at first, and self-blame he still believed to be true, but it didn't matter now. Now he just felt...numb. Supposedly the stones were a place to come to speak with his ancestors but...could Clay really hear him? If he could would he even want to? He sighed, gaze shifting back to the lumbering forms in the plains when his eye caught sight of a woman approaching.

West had never really spoken with her, but he knew her, Laurel. She was close with his mom, or at least he thought so. It wasn't until she settled, gaze out into the plains that he actually spoke up, Do you watch the herds too? Funny how he thought only his mom and himself watched the creatures they co-existed with. It of course wasn't true, but every memory he had with them brought an image of his mother. The woodland boy had never really shared his love for them with anyone else.