Dragoncrest Cliffs Till my heartbeat stops

it hurt val too -- not that he had grown without them, but that he had taken their place in his life for granted. stupidly he had assumed when he came back things would be as he had left them.

now, he realized that was just a child's foolish dream.

he'd always planned to come back. first the bear had driven him away, then he had gotten lost. then winter had set in, with wicked fangs. then he had found aventus, and the bear had found him all over again...

it seemed too much to categorize into simple words.

well... it was like untangling a knot. first there was a bear, and i ran so far. i found alyx again, but then i lost her too. and then a tall woman found me, and tried to bring me somewhere safe. only.. i lost her too. so many tangled paths he'd taken, deeper and deeper into the mire. and the whole time i was thinking i would come back, only, i didn't know where i was or how to get home. then winter set in. i wanted to keep going, but it was dangerous. val's eyes softened with something close to true sorrow. then, i was found by a wolf -- aventus. he became my friend, he brought me to his home and -- here, the boy fell to silence, as the threatening crack of his voice became too much.

after a moment to collect his composure val continued. i stayed with them until early spring. he could not bear to go into details or to think, was aventus even still alive? indra is from that pack, too.