Lake Rodney I call you now to tell you I'm thinking of you.

Stilling, he watched. The twin of light, closing the distance between them. A shell indeed, Akavir felt only hollowness when it should have been relief that his brother had returned to him. A part of him always knew he would—Viinturuth and he—bonded in a way he felt with no other. Time and distance did not matter. They would always pick up where they left off when reunited.

But where to start, when everything else was now gone?

Ro math, ro math... he murmured, resisting the urge to sag as the ivory wolf’s forehead pressed to his. Instead, he fell to silence for only a moment, his mind practically unraveling at the very idea that he would need to deliver the news. That he did not know how.

That he would need to say the words aloud.

Tha i air falbh. He did not pull away then, gratified in that moment the strength his brother leant. Marbh, he clarified, the bitterness of it all seeping to his words.