Mudminnow River it will break my heart to go against your wishes [m]

Can probably wrap this one with your next post!

Watching while Arielle sought purchase on Laurel's mangled flesh, Aventus felt a surge of gratitude for her that ran so deep, it nearly drowned him. She would always be the heart of Ursus. She reminded him so fiercely of his mother, but possessed of all his father's conviction, that at times it felt like Astara had never left. Ursus was as much a part of Arielle as she was of it. There were no words to describe how much he loved her then.

She was the only light flickering within him when he bent to grab the other side of Laurel's mangled corpse and began the long process of hauling her to the bypass. Without her, he likely would have curled up here and died as well, or stormed Rivenwood alone and paid with his life. Because of her, he still had something to live for.

His grief over the death of his father, and his renewed grief for Astara, would crush him into a thousand shards when they got home, but he would not succumb to it because he had her.