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

Looking away, Noctaryn took in her words, letting them wash over him as he stared at the horizon towering over them. His fire doused to a simmer, and he sat with a huff. He didn't want to live with the weight of his past; if he could somehow forget it all, he would. Yet, a small flicker of hope remained—that there might be someone who didn’t mind his demons. Maybe they would even help him battle them.

"Are you always this philosophical?" he chuckled softly. Not that he minded her counsel. It had helped in its own eye-opening way. Of which, she was right about--once again. A pattern he did not mind.

He was a man of few words, yet he found himself spilling them at her feet. It felt easy, natural. There was no denying that he liked her—if only for the conversation alone. He hadn’t lied when he called her beautiful, albeit accidentally, but he found her even more so in the way she carried herself and how she treated him. A stranger—a dog—as if he were her own.

Chaudry had mentioned that his maman was kind to travelers, but he hadn't the slightest idea just how kind she would be—until now. Noctaryn found himself suddenly never wanting to leave.

It would be so utterly cold if he did.