Moonsong Glacier crush

:o :o :o

The weeks stretched long. When Dutch allowed himself time to think about it, he could acknowledge that life was just as enjoyable at the glacier without Ariadne as it had been with her. It was he who had changed most of all, his desires realigning out of sync with such things as his priorities and responsibilities.

Things weren't bad, though. Rather, the panther was discovering for the first time what it meant to really want something. As uncomfortable as the experience was, there was a newfound joy in it as well.

The call of another drew him down from the mountainside. His hip had healed almost entirely by now, and it was at an easy lope that he approached the pale figure soon identified as — "Sialuk,"

They hadn't truly met. Or, if they had, it had been in the midst of his drugged and fevered reception at the healing camp. Somehow, the panther knew her scent and her face without recognizing the sound of her voice.

"What brings you out this way?" he asked, slowing to a jog to close the last several yards of distance between them. His hackles were half-raised already; a combination of reasonable concern about what bad news she might bring and the less reasonable urge to posture. "Is everyone alright?"