Swiftcurrent Creek This isn't funny. Come back!

What was he doing here?

He was insane to come back.

And yet, he returned. Step after step. Without Kallik. They’d split ways again, as was custom for them to do. Merrit had intended to stay in the West, but he found his heart tugged him Eastward again, and homeward bound.

He had promised Kukutux he would return with a ballad. Many months had passed and he remained songless. Unwilling to probe the land that was as tied to Valette as she had been to the land. He still grieved - but perhaps this would help him in the end.

Merrit didn’t expect to see such a familiar figure across the rivers of Swiftcurrent Creek. “Arlette?” he called with a string of hope, all while remembering how she had been the last time they had met. She had another with her now, a child… no doubt one of the ones she had been carrying.