Emberwood We saw brilliance when the world was asleep

He roused in the middle of the night, and as he exited the cave he'd used to shelter on the lower slopes of the Lone Star Mountain, Talion's cool gaze found the valley before him to be blanketed in a pale mist. Without hesitation he began his descent, careful as he stepped into areas with reduced visibility and focusing entirely on the downward deer trail he'd chosen to follow. From among the branches of a nearby conifer, the familiar hoot of an owl broke the silence, and it's fierce yellow eyes followed the ashen wolf's departure.

Talion pressed on, choosing to go around the mountains, and found himself on the outskirts of a forest. He moved between the foliage, moonlight piercing the thinning canopy and dappling his raven dorsal, illuminating the moisture that hung in the air. A foraging mouse, alerted by the arrival of this predator, scurried over the scattered fallen leaves before disappearing into it's burrow. Talion sniffed the air, content that he wasn't intruding, and continued deeper into the woods.

she slept fitfully —

feet kicking out from beneath her, tiny tantrums racking her small frame as the dew settled around her.  strangled noises caught in her throat as her jaw tensed and clenched.

it was that damn lightning again.  the hoot of an owl ripped her from her slumber, booming through the midnight silence that had encompassed her and she stood, guard hairs on end as she heard the wildlife teem around her.

and then footfalls.  she took a moment to stretch, aching joints cracking beneath her tired muscles as she headed out towards the other who she heard.

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Somewhere ahead, there was movement. Halting at once and with raven ears trained on the direction the sound had come from, Talion listened quietly. No other noise followed immediately, but distinct padding paws soon broke the gentle thrum of wildlife in the forest, and the young Roux-Abrhen couldn't deny the sudden sense of fear that gripped him.

"Who's there?" Talion called out, remaining solid in place as the sound of footfall grew closer. The paranoia in him wondered at once if his mother had finally sent an assassin to be rid of him once and for all and, trying not to focus on the increased pace of his heart, waited like a deer in the headlights and with bated breath for the approaching stranger to make themself known.

the stranger breaks the silence that hung in the air with a demanding tone.  but she does not grace him with her voice, she does not croon and comfort him with a mothering gesture, instead she hurries her pace and presents herself plainly.

what a sight.  she did not understand how she looked, black scars on her side, the blood and feathers of a raven smeared on her body, so she just fixed her eyes upon him and chuffed.

He bristled, raven guard hairs standing on edge, as he stared wide-eyed into the darkness. Time seemed to creep by, yet his heart thrummed almost painfully in his ears as adrenaline courses his veins, preparing him to flee.

Talion was not expecting the ghostly figure who appeared before him, striding through the mist and into the moonlight. He sucked in a sharp breath as his frosty eyes met a pair of eerily obsidian orbs upon a pallid face. Unable to look away, the boy simply continued to gaze at this unsettling hybrid, unsure how to react other than to gawk at her.

Silence remains, and his fearful blue eyes never shift from her impossibly dark eyes against the whitest face he'd ever seen. Throat dry and, finding himself unable to even swallow, the ashen youth backs away carefully before springing to the side and galloping right past the eery wolfess, disappearing into the darkness from which she had come with zero intention of looking back.