Dragoncrest Cliffs never cry again

When he roused and began his own ministrations, Meerkat wanted to weep. She had missed this man so much. And he had been gone just long enough that she had begun to come to terms with it. Without even realizing it, she had come to accept Njord’s absence as permanent.

So to have him here, every inch of their bodies pressed close, was nothing short of a miracle. Tears gathered at the corners of her eyes and dripped down her cheeks, which ached from how often she smiled, and how broadly.

Once or twice since his return, she had legitimately worried that she was dreaming, that none of this was real. But the marked differences in her husband’s face grounded her. Meerkat touched her nose to those new planes tentatively. It made her chest ache, though that came with a silver lining: this definitely wasn’t any dream.

She didn’t know how he’d come by these yet. They’d been too busy basking in their reunion. And Meerkat’s love was not conditional on the details of Njord’s story, even if it hadn’t been etched so visibly into his flesh. No matter what had happened, what monstrous entity had held him back from his family for so long, she was just happy he was back where he belonged.

But she was curious, of course, and surely Njord deserved a chance to explain. If you want to talk about it, she murmured, eyes shut against the glare of the rising sun, I’m ready to hear the story…