Broken Antler Fen I hear the wicked get no rest.

When the snow had stopped falling so aggressively and the sky had stopped being hard to distinguish against the snow-covered earth, Ibis felt a little more at-ease. She stared heavenward at the rolling clouds, their murky grey bodies an acceptable change.

She sighed. A plume of breath rose from her and dissipated quickly. Akavir had not come back as promptly as she had hoped. There had been no sign of him - or Arielle - since the initial discovery of her absence. Ibis thought of all that could have gone wrong; it was difficult not to.

Soon her body's biological alarm would sound. She knew it was only a matter of time before that flood of desire would strike at her, and without Akavir here - her husband, her beloved - she worried for herself.