Dragoncrest Cliffs Underwater

She had no awareness of the small audience behind them, every bit of her attention pouring into her mate’s return. For several minutes longer, she clutched at him. Her emotions bled out of her in great waves of weeping.

Even after all this time, she had not forgotten just how it felt to hold and be held by Njord. But slowly, she became aware of small differences. He did not feel so broad, nor so soft, as she remembered. Meerkat drew back, wiping at her eyes and nose, to really look at him.

Something had happened to him to keep him from his family. She didn’t know the story yet, though the marred flesh on one side of his face told a dark tale. Meerkat’s lip quivered as she beheld him for a moment, a shaky foreleg raising so she could gently cup his cheek. It felt as different as it looked, though he was still her same handsome husband.

There were murmured voices behind her, though Meerkat didn’t turn. Njord answered, though she knew his response was more for her than for anyone else. Never again would he leave her. Meerkat believed that, in part because she would never let her husband out of her sight again.

Do you have any idea how much we’ve missed you? How much I’ve missed you? she breathed, throwing herself against his leanly muscled neck again, the rest of her words muffled against his scruffy fur. I thought… it doesn’t… mo chridhe…