Ouroboros Spine Cinders in the Hearth and Fire in the Home

Massaraq had not stayed much longer in Moontide, enough for the wound on his side to no longer disturbed his movement and his legs to stop shaking by the time he worked his way around the plateau. He had spent his days a shadow on the fringes, occasionally greeting those he met but seeking none out in particular. But the ache in him did not abate and he could not stand the not knowing any more than he thought he could stand the fear so he set his course to the spine and made the journey more in haste than in caution and yet his legs did not fail him as he had thought they might and he found himself once more on the edges of Moonglow.

The trees and the border were familiar. He breathed in the twining of scents, ones he knew, ones he had missed and he felt the corners of his eyes prickle as he forced a harsh breath through his lungs to steady his chest and his steps as he crossed the border. He would not call for he was home, if he could still call it that and somehow declaring himself like a visitor, like he had ever been gone in the first place, would have torn his ribs open so he slipped inside the borders and walked familiar pathways.

Unconsciously he set his steps towards @Kukutux's ulaq, allowing his memory to guide his steps for the first time in months for he trod once more pathways familiar to him though his body belied the change. Because somehow the steps forward seemed fewer, the shrubs and bushes seemed smaller, the spine was still immense and yet - did it tower all the same? And though he was home there was a shift in him that he had not remembered, perhaps did not realize at all for all Massaraq felt was an unease at the edges of his consciousness. As if his memories had betrayed him and he had not come home at all.

looking for Kukutux but all welcome!