Hushed Willows Beautiful Sunrise Mother May I

Five days from Moonglow.

Five days from the Weald.

And though the nasty knot tightened in his stomach, his worries, for once, we’re far from himself.

Why was Rodyn all the way out here?

Surely his family had not disappeared, too?

But his friend answered without the need for Melaneus to say a word. His presence here was business, the usual routine of a wolf. And though he was not a part of Moonglow, this knowledge filled Melaneus with a certain grounding he had lacked since father had left to find their family.

That understanding that in some places, for some people, life was still normal, and that settled a small calmness in his otherwise anxious heart.

The youth shook his head, I don’t know where he is, he admitted, he went to find my mother. And brothers and sisters. They were all gone — but though he knew this, he did not have the courage to say this out loud, as if doing so would make reality truly real. I came looking for him but I think they might be back at the Weald now.

He thought about what Rodyn had said: that he would be going back that way. Can I go back with you? A few days would not compare to the many he’d already spent looking, and he would not mind the company, after so many alone.

<3 thanks Danni!! All is well enough, some things in life were changing pretty significantly here and I needed time to think them through. But I think they have settled down now — or at least, I have moved past the hardest days <3