Noctisardor Bypass Sitting here underneath the bridge

@Heda if u have time <3

It'd been a month since Etienne left, but Anselm told himself he wasn't counting. Every day, the blackened tendril that snared his heart grew a little stronger. Every other day, a new section blackened and rotted.

Anselm began to only think of the hurt. He forgot the good in Etienne - he focused on the abandonment. The coldness. Thinking this way kept the depression at bay, and gave him the fuel he needed to keep on going.

Eventually, Etienne didn't occupy his thoughts at all.

(So he told himself, anyway.)

Things in Rivenwood settled, but not in a way Anselm could call balanced. The kids were a handful. Almost too much. Anselm had lost weight hunting for them all. He'd also grown quieter -- something that many wouldn't have thought possible given his general reticence in speaking at all.

And Heda -- Anselm knew something was off-balance there, too. But he couldn't place it. It wasn't like they hated each other -- but each time he looked upon her, he got the image of a broken bird and him stepping on its wing. It was like each time they interacted, another silken line of their fragile spider-web connection broke.

After feeding Ezra and Gideon bits of a hare, Anselm made for the cold stream. The garden he'd managed with Etienne was overgrown now -- plants grew up haphazardly, choking each other out in their disarray. He ignored it, wading into the water and allowing the cold liquid to seep around him. Somewhere nearby, he thought he scented Druid or Heda -- but he wasn't really full of much energy today.