Duck Lake straight to the heart,

@Nephele a tag in case this got lost in your threadlog. Wasn't expecting this one!

He drifted—in and out of areas. Whether they were meadows, rivers or woods, Alasdair was not keen to stay in one spot for long. He refused to go to the shadows of the tall mountain, let alone look toward it for any length of time… as if they would sense him, and once more snatch him up.

Faces blurred with time—not just his family—but those that had taken him from comfort and what he had known.

Matts collected along the back of his ears—the long fur of his tail and the youthful man’s flanks. Mud caked the bottom of his belly—a gleaming twinge of feral despair clinging to his gaze as it now sought movement across the waters he traipsed.

Another—a stolen glance of pale movement. A tug at his heartstrings that he mistook for anxiety before his lip curled—gem-green eyes glaring to where the other stood, and the splash that had revealed her to his senses.

He waited only a stolen moment before paws clambered away from the bank depths of the lake, forgetting his thirst—ignoring the hunger that tore at him. Company was not welcome.

No one was welcome.