Broken Antler Fen When you were here before

buffeted gently by wraen's soft joke and her nudge, arcturus stopped along the path and surveyed her quietly. maybe there was truth in that -- one pair of eyes always looking back, one pair of eyes always looking forward.

perhaps in that way, they complemented each other very well.

he resumed walking, his expression less troubled as wraen's smile eased some of his nagging doubts. he could spend his whole life looking behind him and it would not serve him well -- not when so much of the world was to be seen by looking straight ahead.

from what arcturus could tell, they had to be near. wraen's steps had slowed, and her expression panned over to something large and dark peeking from a mound of dull earth like a tooth. a stone no doubt left over by an ancient glacier. arcturus looked to her in silence and then to the rock, which wraen had efficiently mantled in a matter of seconds.

it was not a poor vision, seeing his friend draped across this royal stone like a sovereign. "move over," arcturus grinned, wrestling to get a good foothold as he too scrambled upon the rock. when he was finally atop it he sat down and surveyed the landscape below them. for now the vision was cold and drab -- but he imagined in the summer, it was like sitting in the center of a very beautiful oasis. "surveying your kingdom, huh? will make a nice throne for you to command all your subjects from."