Neverwinter Forest currents

Valiant is on his way to Moonglow after meeting Nantahala but before Seelie went missing.

Vairë.

He had to see her again. Was she even still his wife? Valiant would not blame her for moving on, nor for refusing to see him after he'd forced her to relive her nightmares. After the death of her sister. After the loss of her niece.

And he hadn't even brought her back.

Valiant had to see her again, but first, he had to apologize to the mother of the child he'd failed to recover. Almost in a trance, he made his way to the lake where Ariadne's body had been found. If there were other scents to take note of, he failed to do so. He only thought he could smell Callyope around. It occurred to him that he did not particularly want to see her, but he was determined to take whatever licks he'd earned from the family as a whole.

But Ariadne first.

"I couldn't find her," he said aloud, long after he'd come to the lake. Tears swam in his eyes. Shame and dejection, but grief, too. He'd not known her long, but he'd had only to look at the young girl to love her. He'd meant it when he'd told his wife they should take them in. He'd meant to love her as his own, and he'd searched for her as valiantly as if she had been born to him.

"I tried so hard," he said, his voice hoarse. "I can tell you, 'cause you know it all already. But all I can tell Vairë is that I couldn't find her, 'cause that's all I have to show for it."

He swiped a tear away from his cheek with an errant paw.

"Please, forgive me," he said, his voice quiet, now. "I won't ask no one else to, 'cause I don't know if I deserve it. But you know. So — if I do, please, please forgive me. For givin' up. For goin' home. For bein' gone."