Broken Antler Fen lacewing

Since Ani’s accident, he had lingered near Brecheliant. His heart had ached when he had first seen his friend, her grace fallen to sharp movements and spasms. And yet the girl he’d met in the forest still shone alive in her eyes. And he could not help but wonder what if this had been his sister? Ariadne, Callyope? He would take them with flinches and spasms, as long as they were alive. And Ani was alive. This would be enough. This would be enough.

Stratos wandered further today. He often did, whenever he hunted, not wishing to deplete the supply around Brecheliant itself. He’d not returned to anaa with any further news. He had made his choice already, and he needed to think through it himself.

He was doing this very thing of thinking instead of hunting when someone broke through his thoughts. Her calls started quiet and grew louder, until he made sense of the name being shouted from her lips.

That same ice crashed over him again, but this time, he stirred to motion.

It was okay, things were okay.

He crashed through the marshland anyway, getting soggy in the slushy waters, until he came upon her: a stranger, gilded and small, and sounding as though she had been calling for many ages —

I know Chickadee! he blurted out, without thinking. Worry lined his face, and he did not consider how he must look with the mud that caked his underbelly, is she okay? Is she here?