Northstar Vale My world is burning to the ground…(MdC members highly welcome)

A strange calm settled over Noctaryn as they walked, a warmth flowing through his veins much like the stream before them, heated by the flickering flame kindling in the hearth of his heart. The sensation was unfamiliar yet soothing—unnerving and grounding all at once. It was almost as if moments ago was a distant memory.

For too long, he had been bound in the tight grip of anxiety, but now, for the first time in what felt like ages, he could breathe. He watched the female ahead of him, that warmth burning a little hotter the longer his gaze lingered.

What was this feeling?

Silver eyes followed every movement as she laid her pup-bound body down and he winced in sypmpathy. To be carrying must be exhausting. Questions he had no right to know ran through his mind. Is the male she coupled with here in the Vale? Or, did she have no choice but to do things on her own? Something inside him struggled with that concept, despite his own tight bond with loneliness.

Her words about the stream broke through his musing, and he nodded in thanks, offering her a soft smile as he passed. Viskani was right—again—about the waters. He lapped at it eagerly, the coolness soothing his throat as he swallowed, but it did nothing to damper these new sensations. Not that he was disappointed, not in the slightest. 

A single ear swiveled in her direction at the offer of counsel. He was wary to speak of his past; it was ugly and disgusting, nothing he wanted the female before him to shoulder. But, he couldn’t stop the words once they started. Despite it all, he found himself wanting to confide in her.

“I was born to a she-wolf four turns ago. My sire was of humans, a tool of theirs in the form of a dog. I can only assume she had been unlucky the day my siblings and I were conceived.” He sighed, moving to settle himself near her. Far enough to respect her space, though if she asked he wouldn’t deny her to come closer. 

“My siblings and I were still small at her side before the humans came for me. I still do not understand what is was that made them choose me over the others, but I soon found myself alone with this,” he pointedly jostled the chains, “around my neck. My constant companion.”

He tilted his neck side to side, the weight of it and what it represented pressing down on him. Lips pursed in annoyance and in silent effort to stop himself from becoming unhinged. His breath shuddered, but he forced a deep breath and continued.

“The next years were spent in what they called a backyard. It was a space behind these big dens they call a house, and mine was wrapped by these weird-shaped branches. It was meant to keep others from seeing what these humans truly did when no one was around.” He paused, returning his eyes to hers, a question simmering there.

“Please tell me if what I’m about to tell you is too much, Viskani. You’ve gathered I’ve been hurt, that much is true, but the truth of what was done is…” a heavy sigh escaped him, “nothing I wish upon anyone. Not even to hear.”