Sun Mote Copse slow dancer, no answer

still, the ice did not crack.

if jarilo was the mountain, arcturus was the glacier. slow and dull, maybe -- yet none could argue the irrevocable strength that forced mountains and valleys both to move. arcturus did not see moonspear moving in his time, but perhaps his self-made exile had been the little spark that would someday be catalyst to greater things to come.

jarilo's question came from left field, and so for a moment, arcturus' emotions could be seen visibly stirring beneath his normally stony facade. jarilo was shrewd, and surely would read from that glimpse of vulnerability all he needed to know the answer.

all the same, arcturus was nothing if not truthful. "she is part of why i am here, yes." it was a long story, one he did not wish to tell again -- not even to one as deserving as his brother. as far as arcturus felt, jarilo was moonblind and saw things only from moonspear's vantage. whether or not this suspicion was fair, it was all arcturus felt.

he had never been gifted with the ability to easily elucidate how he felt, or why he felt the way he did. all he knew was that it was impossible for him to maintain his current trajectory on the mountain without certain death. that he knew as fact, just as he knew he loved wraen. his love for wraen and his love for his family were two constantly warring tenets -- he could not serve one faithfully without being the death of the other; and in the end arcturus had chosen the death of his soul in favor of the love of his life.