The Heartwood well, you were laid in verse

he'd lost track of @Anselm and @Gideon, his hunting trip leading to a spiral of a crisis in faith and existence ... founded deeply in a sharp stab of agnosticism, and the grief of @Heda's death that he had never truly dealt with. pushing it aside had only allowed it to compound until it broke him. was still breaking him.

would he ever be whole? he couldn't say. but he did know that he could not continue his isolation, clearly unhealthy for him. he was almost a year old, a man grown.


so he pushes himself to his paws and gives his body a firm shake, nosing away the bones from his latest kill: marked with his teeth in a religious ritual that had offered him some clarity. at the very least, it forced him to take a long hard look at himself at his lowest.

he casts one look back at what had become a ritualistic ground for him in a secluded corner of the heartwood and bid it farewell with a low snort, eager to feel the sunshine of the morning upon his face for the first time in ...days, perhaps.

tags for reference but as always feel free to join! <3