Silver Moraine you were one of those classic ones

@Cry hope this is okay <3 being a lil vague about storm bc i'm not sure how that's gonna go down

It was on the natural road she ambled, the path formed by the receding of the glacier - it was no longer a frozen river, but a ditch of upturned soil and rock. Amongst the browns and oranges of autumn's touch, her snowy white pelage sparkled and glittered, lit by the few rays of light trickling down into the ghost's fur. Her breaths were only just beginning to steady, having leapt from the confines of IkKanattuk after Storm's approach so that she could exhale in peace and rest the pounding of her head, though the she-wolf's legs still trembled at the beating of her heart and she had to slow her pace in order to relax the tensing muscles.

A chirp. It sounded from above her head, and Gwen idly peered up to meet the gaze of a little bird - what kind exactly, she knew not, though she watched it with mild intensity. It shuffled, ruffling it's feathers before fluttering off into the distance. The fallen empress slowed to a halt, paws laced with dirt and pads cracked, dry. The evergreens lining the valley had retained their green leaves, and the air was cool against her sore throat; her lithe figure stood stock still in the center of the path, almost like a lost child who was begging for a little hope to find her way.

And there he was, standing underneath the bird's flight, watching as a shaded guardian through the shadows of the frost tinged timbers. He still couldn't decide how far back he should've been, as he knew deep withing himself that it wasn't right for him to even be there, now. But here he was,

and there was the Empress. Much had happened since last he had seen her...
And much had been lost since then, as well. The longer he stood still, so did she, seeming to mimic him. It actually appeared as though she hadn't noticed the dark assassin, and he was conflicted on whether he should keep it that way, or muster the courage to go to her and offer some semblance of comfort.

Frosty glacials went over that ivoria, noting how her muscles seemed both lax and tense; something had to have just  happened, something that upset her deeply. Cry went over the times when the Empress had confided in him, telling her of her troubles, and he himself offering her what little empathy a heartless man like him could obtain. It was meager, but then he could see how much his words had meant to her.
Would they mean anything, now?
Or would she too, see him as a traitor?

He would stand and wait for her, hoping her lupine senses would alert her rather than him spooking her. She was frail enough, already. Stock still, the elements swirled around them both, dark fur blowing in the gist of it as it raced through the sleeping trees, as hers swam with it.

And every second passed just as cold as the land they stood in.

It was the soft caress of the wind that brushed against her pelt so delicately, and yet so rough - it was like the tender embrace of a lover, but twinged with cold. Laced with ice. It trembled through her fur and left shivers in its path, swishing against her cheeks and rushing down her sides, where her stomach rose and fell with the slowing thud of her heart. Without the pressures of her situation and the paralysing fear tied to her limbs, the ghost felt terribly empty. Almost as though she longed for the pain to return only to feel something other than numb, anything to show she was still alive and not simply a walking corpse, deceased to the world's woes.

Like the tickle of a feather against her leathery nose, a scent washed over her and caused the former queen to pause. Her breaths halted altogether, body frozen and mimicking that of a startled deer in the headlights of a car; the scent was familiar, and yet distant all the same. Cerulean orbs flickered upward and trailed the line of trees, plush ears cupping forward upon her crown to pick up any sounds from her bleak surroundings. They only settled when sight of a dark male was caught in her vision, fur swimming in the waves of the breeze - she could not distinguish his features from her distance, but beckoned him forward in silent question.

She was not alone here anymore, and the thought both comforted and perturbed her. Something about his scent called to her, called to memories beneath the surface of her mind. Usually she would have fled, hidden by the shadows of the ditch like a frightened rabbit, but where would she possibly go?

What happened was swift, and almost relieving...She hand't recognized him too soon. But the dread returned as he cursed himself, seconds passing as she stared at him. He was here for her to remember him, not for her to think he was just some damn admirer.

"Fuck," he swore into the wind, icy air snatching the foul language from his lips. It almost pained him to watch her wonder who he was, some kind of rusty set of fangs jutting into his lungs over and over, harder and harder as he just stood there like some knd of coward. So to get his life back, he had to make those abominable steps forward.
So he did.

Inky paws brought him closer, body serious but neutral as he had always been. Watching and weirdly anticipating something to go wrong, something to ruin this moment even worse than what he was going to just form simply showing his face to her again. It hurt, moving that void sheathed body forward, closer to that brilliant woman and taking himself out of the refuge. But he did it. For her?
Or for himself?

The closer he got, the slower his steps became....
Until he was in her space, proximity close enough to challenge her to breathe his breath as well. Would she recognize him now?

If anything, as he stared down at her, those wintery eyes could have been seen to either beg for death by her jaws, or forgiveness from his sins. But the interpretation was hers alone to make, and her judgement hers alone to deliver.

The ink of his fur bled into the wind as the distance was closed between the pair, white fur striking against his black - opposites, at least to the eye, but were they really? How different were their sullen gazes, how much did their hearts contrast? The mist was fading in her mind, clouds parting as memories tipped and spilt like a half empty glass, breaths mingling in the cool breeze. Yes, she knew who this was. The eyes, of a wintry blue, had not been forgotten, simply covered by the troubles that her head begged to pain her with. "Cry."

The name rolled off her tongue, a whisper that pooled into the air with a puff of grey billowing from her lips. The Isikkaneq observed the man almost sadly, yet her gaze had warmed a touch despite their proximity - her wolves, they had abandoned her, but had she not abandoned them too? Had she not fled from the Bypass just as they did? In silence they remained, for the eruna found that words escaped her and instead all she could do was eye the assassin with conflicted orbs of blue; at least in their depths was hints of joy, buried amongst all the sadness her body was plagued with. At least he was not dead, lost like all seemed to be. Lost, like all she loved.

The desicion he begged for her to make was fruitless - she had forgiven him the moment she had pieced together the memories, placing him amongst her thoughts as he had once been. The ghost had no time to hold grudges, for many came and went and left her in the dust; perhaps it was where she truly belonged, after all. If he was to betray her, so be it. Gwen did not blame him for it.

He was so close to her...close enough to feel the warmth she generated in this frozen place. But the warmth made it inside, and cuddled his heart, a swarth of embrace that defrosted it enough for him to lay the underside of his maw on the top of her crown. He relished this moment, taking in the slow melt of his icy interior just to feel alive, a member of atleast this reunion. It felt so nice to simply not be alone, anymore. Holding his head delicately, he made sure his weight was featherlight, controlled on top of her own head. But the moment was fleeting as he soon pulled the warmth away, trying to give her the space she probably needed.
The space she deserved.

But little did he know, it was the space that too, infested her and caused her woe.

"I missed you, Empress," he murmured only loud enough for the ivoria's ears alone. His voice remained the same timber it had always been, but it was clearly matured much more as he hadn't used his voice often, and that marinated it in it's somber grave. But as he spoke her title to him, it was  clear he cared enough to issue it.

Tilting his head, he watched how she held her body, and saw how the stance was. How she held her body in his mind compared to now...
She was hurting, internally. Such forlorn haunted those deep sea gems of hers, and they were gilding the sparkle she had initially greeted his own with. What was seen as both a gesture of kinship when he had his head atop hers was also him taking in that scent of hers; and it was mixed with wolves he had no knowledge of. None spelled as the Bypass had. The fae was in an entire other pack. 

"You've moved on from the Bypass," he said, tilting his head to study her even more. It was when his eyes returned to her own when he asked,

"Is that what ails you?"

As the underside of his muzzle rested delicately atop her crown, the fallen snow queen let out a soft exhale from betwixt her blackened lips, relishing in the warmth he brought. She could see the charcoal fur lining his neck, and feel the hairs on his chin brush against the top of her head - such peace it brought, the kind of which had abandoned her for many moons. For a few heartbeats, she almost felt normal; as normal as one could, wrapped in gentle arms. As though her troubles had faded, if but for a fleeting moment. And fleeting it was, for soon enough the warmth left and her crown felt heavy once more, a burden. Cold, it felt cold. A part of her longed for his touch to remain, longed to feel whole again, but he had shifted and the moment lasted no longer.

I missed you, Empress. The title left both a bitter taste on her tongue, and was as comforting as hot chocolate on a terribly cold winter's evening. She had not deserved that title, of that she was sure, but the care in which it was spoken was as though the eruna had been given a warm hug, or wrapped in a blanket to shield her from the twinges of ice. "I missed you too," the ghost uttered, soft and tender, holding as much love as she could muster in those words - she wanted him to know she truly was grateful to see him, to know not all had been lost. Perhaps... perhaps he was the only one left, and it plunged a spear of sorrow through her heart.

"The Bypass... it fell." Her voice had dropped to a whisper again, oceanic orbs lost in the white as her eyelids fell down to hide them, and her head shook dismally before they were revealed again. "I had no choice but to move, but that is not all that plagues me. Much has happened, Cry." She could not explain to him the pain that wracked her body, that cursed her soul every time she dared to take a breath; she could not tell him of her heartbreak, of her losses and her failures. They said time healed all wounds, but she found it impossible to believe - none of her wounds had healed, they clung to her body as bitter scars, gashes and marks. They were constant reminders, tragic lines of her woeful story. She could not erase those words, could not remove herself from that book. She wanted to burn it, watch it dissolve into the air as nothing more than sparks, but the weight of knowing she could not was almost as heavy as her losses themselves. Erase me, she often desired to scream to the wind, to the sky, to the moon... but at least with the arrival of Cry, there was hope, no matter how small. She clung to it like a moth to a candle.

"i know," he stated, his own crystaline winters returning a slight of their rigid ire. "I have seen, and nothing remains." He looked away from where she stood, his head bowing in an arc, ears swiveling to face his back. "And everything, every single voice in me, repeatedly reminds me that it is my fault for it."

Snatching himself out of his own self loathe, he again brought his stare to meet hers. Voice softened as the assassin regarded her hurt. "Then we will not speak upon it. The last thing either of us needs is to hurt over the past. The past is the past, and as of right now, we only need our future to remain constant." Nodding to her left shoulder, the dark guardian asked, his muscles involuntarily tensing in case he had to commit to murder, once again. "Are they treating you right? You lead their ranks, yes?"

It was her right; a woman of such courage and grace needed that role. It took heart to face the shit Gwen did, and still survive.

To his words, the space between her brows creased and the ghost allowed her petite head to shimmer back and forth. "It is fault of my own; do not blame yourself." She saw only truth in her words, though whether he would agree was something she could not predict - she had failed her wolves, hadn't she? She had not been strong enough for them, had not done enough to save them from dissipating into nothing, like snow melting on a sunny day except without the warmth or the peace or the beauty.

To his following statement, the eruna finally gave a nod - at least for now, she had no wish to speak of her troubles, and it appeared as though he did not either. She respected that silence, and would never press to hear his story unless it was one he desired to speak. "They treat me as they should - a wolf who they have yet to put their trust in. They do not know me, as I do not know them. I do my duties and help where I can, and in return they offer me shelter, protection." She had yet to make friends - it was a task not easily accomplished, and still was the svelte woman wary. Her words came steady, yet were laced with that immovable sadness, for she could not escape from the disconnected feeling, the pressure of being unwanted. "I am no leader, not of their wolves; I am low of rank, and it does not surprise me. I have not been amongst them long..."

The Eruna still wasn't sure if she'd stay. For now, yes, but she could not predict the future and just as with her first encounter with Knew, or her reunion with Cry, life enjoyed throwing twists at her when she least expected them, like the sudden spring of a predator upon their prey. The surprise in which filled her heart at meeting Cry upon the path of the glacier had yet to shift, but it was far less sinister than the closing jaws of a depredador.

He had to bite back disagreeing with her; how could she put herself in such a troubled mentality? She was what Alphess' were expected to be, yet what held her back was caring so dearly. As if it were upon her to blame herself...Maybe that was the same nature of disease that forced him to burden the weights he did, now. He believedthat it were the workers that backed the alpha's which made them strong; but such reliance on teamwork was a finiky thing -  hence why he blamed himself. They were in the same type of boat, sinking, but done in perpendicular ways.

"Your humility never ceases to amaze me." It was true, he thoughts, his azures upon her own. She was a humble and devoted girl, loyal to a pack who probably didn't recognize what potential they missed out on simply because Gwen was at the bottom of the totem pole. 

The void prince looked to the east. Where his own ideals lay, places he's ventured through enough times to understand exactly how that wooded place opperated. It was a place of eden, something beautiful and full of oppertunity for the both of them to flourish in seclusion or company, should they choose to have it. The plan had formed in his mind long ago, but he was determined to see it through, unlike his own mentor and delusional puppetmaster, Slade. 

Without looking at her, he chose to admit what was on his mind, as the perceptive beauty ultimately knew something much more important lurked behind his calm mask. "Gwen...I have plans for us. Plans I intended to surprise you with," he confessed. "But it seems even my own principles can't hide anything from you." 

Turning to look at her, he lowered his muzzle to her ears, his whisper a bit chillier than what was expected of a living wolf. 

"I have plans for us to run away, together. I told myself if I had found you, I would take us away from this all. And we would live amongst the plane of fortune and chose our terms of confinement." 

Pulling himself away from her, he took that moment to stare her directly into her eyes, something much more dire than a silly asking. This concerned their lives...and he was willing to live it with her. After all, who was he to guard if he had no one? 

"Come with me when I set up everything...and we can choose Shadewood as our final place to be. No more serving beneath others then. If you choose to bring others with you, those you care for and such...I will trust you in their pick. And if I decide someone is worthy enough to stand with us, then I will hope your judgement sees so as mine does."

This might have been the time he spoke the most. Revealing much more to the Empress than what he expected. But what mattered ultimately was that he made that decision on his own accord. Just as it was his own decision to choose her to be at his side when the time came for it. 

"I personally believe it is right for you to have rule over this coming pack as much as I would, but again, if you desire it to be just us, then I do not protest."

The faintest of smiles traced her features, corners of her lips tilting upward only a touch as she stared at him - the ghost of her happiness, returning to haunt her as the assassin spoke. The fallen queen observed as his own head quirked to the east, watching for something she did not know; he was an intruiging creature, fur blacker than night and eyes so vivid, and she began to wonder what it was he was seeking out there, in all the nothingness.

Her pondering longed for an answer, and soon enough one came - the dove continued to watch him, ears flicking further forward to take in his words. Her eyes of cerulean began to widen a fraction, the surprise lighting her delicate face as the moon did on a quiet night; she appeared even more etheral than before, caught in a moment of unpredictability. Perhaps it was the way he phrased the words, falling as a chilled whisper from his tongue so close, but she was suddenly taken back to a place she had missed so dearly. It was a sudden blast of deja-vu, and yet still it was unique.

I have plans for us to run away together. She could see it already, the gentle curve of his muzzle, the movement of his lips as he spoke the words from her past, eyes glittering - Knew's words, but from another. She recalled the light tingling in her paws, the rush of exhileration that came with the freedom of his request, and it seemed to ignite something within her chest, something few could provide.

The man turned to meet her eyes, and within them she could feel the intensity of what he was asking her, the pressure of what lay behind his appeal, but she did not falter. The Eruna had a decision to make, and with it came the changing of her whole path, the direction of her life - what would she pick? Her options were silently weighed, but beneath the surface her mind had already chosen, had already selected the winner from amongst the battle. The void prince was offering her a new life, a new start and a new domain to birth. Somewhere, deep in her heart, she felt a sliver of recklessness, of excitement and hope; in reality, there was no question. She knew, and perhaps it was time to try and move on.

"Cry..." The whisper twirled from her muzzle so elegantly, a spark behind her voice that was a rare occurance to witness - she met his eyes and held the silence for a moment as their hearts beat in tune, the rhythmic sounding of drums against their chests. "... I would love nothing more than to join you."

He could feel the difference in the throbbing muscle in his chest. And exhaling, he swore he held that breath since birth. Almost as though she had completely defrosted everything that bound him tight, and simply blessed the horrors away with that twinkle in her cerulean gaze, with that smile in the lace trimmings of her voice. She unshackled the assassin from his life, and unbeknownst to her, she now held the key and was allowed to keep it.

"Give me a cycle and a half", he promised her. "And we will have a new home that nobody can cross without our say-so." And it was then his body prompted him into that little thing where, with his now wagging banner of obsidian, for him to pull back his lips a bit and grin at her rather boyishly. He was a handsome man under that calm cloak he wore, a logical one under the drape of mercilessness. In fact, he almost wanted to show her the woods currently, but she had a home, and lest she remain nearby, they would probably deem her unworthy.

"The way of humble vengeance is to make them sorry with your goodness," he began. "For your hard work and loyalty, they will take notice of you and crave your stay, but because of their slow notice and ignorance of your skills, when you leave, they will miss you." The dark warden chuckled, his banner returning to it's slowed procession until it halted all together. "Who knows? Their empire might fall from your absence, and they will have no one to blame but their naivity."

She felt suddenly light - it was as though her troubles had diminished under the wintry surface of his gaze, which beneath it held a warmth perhaps even he had not noticed. She knew that the moment they departed from within one another's presence her body would feel weary and exhausted once more, but the exhileration of his proposal would keep her distracted for the time being, and she relished each second she was still stood before him.

"A cycle and a half," She confirmed, swiftly nodding to his statement. The ghost would be waiting for him, standing amongst those wolves - a few twinges of guilt stole up to her mind, remaining within their ranks despite the promise of departing to join Cry on his quest, but the idea of it pushed away any negative thoughts. "Do not forget about me." The traces of a teasing smile crept upon her maw, faintly curling the corners of her lips up into a delicate sign of growing bliss. It was an odd thing that the assassin was able to tempt from the dark inside her head, the plague that cursed her body and mind.

There was just something about him that was able to bring any happiness to the surface, wherever it lay buried. Able to bring out that masked recklessness, a thrill that she'd missed dearly. He made her feel as though she meant something, she was not entirely worthless; in all her self hatred, the idea that she could feel as though, in some world, she belonged, was something she could never take for granted. And then, when the sound of his chuckle was ringing in her ears, the fallen empress did something she hadn't done in far too many moons - she chuckled back, eyes squinting a fraction and a glimmer dancing like a school of silvery fish in the depths of her blue gaze. Perhaps it was not his words that caused the sound, but the tingles she could feel like butterflies in her stomach. She was so terribly glad that the man had found her when he did.

"Never." He had a memory that was all too keen, especially with faces. Her's wouldn't ever be forgotten, and whether that was a blessing or a curse, it was a sin he was willing to hang onto and a gift he would forever keep in a special place.

He knew it would probably be best to discuss the details ahead of time, and thus he started the inquiries. He valued her opinion as much as his own, and perhaps it would help herself out if she felt she had a say-so, again. "What of our glade, Gwen? Do you consider others to join us? Or would you prefer time unravel something like that later to you? I don't have a problem scoping out and bringing others. But the timing you would prefer to meet them, would we begin to invest now, or take in lost souls later?"

He couldn't exactly see them thriving without a pack behind them, and he rather not bother with meddlesome newcomers. So if she came across wolves she happened to have faith it, he's be behind her in their joining.

Never. Though her statement had been meant as a joke, she felt the warmth of his words and clutched it deep inside her chest. It meant far more to the dove than he could ever truly realise - to have one, at least one, who didn't forget her, it was all she really wanted. She didn't want to fade into the clouds of his mind, disappear amongst his other thoughts; it happened all too often, and every time it felt like a shard of glass repeatedly plunged into her heart.

The leaves of the evergreens did not cease their rustling, the wind howling as a wolf would to the moon, or the stars when a friend was lost. It ruffled their coats and shivered down their spines, but it didn't feel quite as unpleasant as it had when her pale paws had first set foot on the upturned path where the glacier had retreated. "Perhaps... we should let them find us - they will come. We can recruit if numbers fall too low when we gather, but I guarantee there are wolves out there who need a home." Nobody deserved to feel lost, and it was a safe haven that Cry promised. If they were to claim it, why not share it? No good could come of the world if all those who remained revelled in selfishness, and it was a dream of the dove's to create somewhere where the lost souls could truly feel at peace. But so too did she desire to feel at peace, and she was certain the assassin did as well, somewhere in those wintry eyes.

And despite the wickedness that the world dealt the Empress, she still remained strong in her kind convictions. It was a sight Cry was overly relieved to see. A firm nod shook his crown curtly. And with those words, the ebonian prince finalized it. "As you say it, it shall be."

It was clear they both had lives, things to get back to. He needed to let her go, to allow herself to build her reputation within the pack she was in. He himself had to get within a pack and do what he could before it was time to come back for her. But everything in him didn't allow him to take those steps back. To atleast attempt to grow a pair of balls, he spoke the words that should've worked their magic. "I'm going to find a pack and see if there's anyone worth keeping my eye on. I'll stay aware, meanwhile..."
One hind tensed to take that step from her, and pull him further from the ivoria.
But it hadn't moved.

Taking a deep breath internally, he swore at himself. Cry knew better than to form any kind of relationship...that was literally the most important rule. It was a weakness that all assassin's weren't allowed, as it made you do stupid shit. But wasn't that the life he was meant to give up? The life he was trying to give up? If he was to rehabilitate himself, he would have to break the rules-

Wasn't that how it worked?

Cry looked at her with some sort of question, asking for some sort of permission...
Should he stay?...

Or should he go?

It was then that they should have departed, broken from this trance and returned to the lives that lay in waiting for them; stepping back into reality seemed... far too difficult for either of them to achieve. She saw one hind tense in preparation of the move, but move he did not - the assassin seemed caught, as though his goal was set behind glass and he could not quite break through to the other side. 

There was a deep longing in her chest again, the fallen queen felt the tingles of hesitation take hold of her mind - there were two roads here, two different journeys to be had. She didn't know... but then again, what did she know anymore? What was right and what was wrong, what was the answer? Nobody could tell her, there was nobody there to tell her. It was a path she had to take for herself and, biting her lip, the dove took a step forward, rather than back. "Yes... unless... unless you wanted to... I don't know, come back with me?" Soft eyes met those of the charcoal man, and suddenly she blinked. "That's if you want to. Um... you don't have to. You have... things to do, right?" Her head shook back and forth, but her cold nose pressed tenderly to his shoulder. You must take care of yourself, Cry. 

What was she doing?

"Yes... unless... unless you wanted to... I don't know, come back with me? That's if you want to. Um... you don't have to. You have... things to do, right?"
She brought forth a  frosty snout to nuzzle his shoulder, 
And suddenly every single lesson he had ever struggled, fought, and surpassed, fell away.

Nothing in the world mattered anymore. Everything he could have remotely cared about was nonexistent, and all of his life unraveled with string that spelled out her name. His methods, his care, his duty, all of it,

now belonged to her.

To Gwen, the light he thought would never shine in the bleak tunnel of memories he strove to erase.
And as of now, his objective was to make her feel as though she were the only girl in this fucked up world that mattered.  He would pledge his life to this goal, and because of this pledge, there was no going back, no matter how damn bad things got. He was an assassin,

and this was his final contract.

It took an insurmountable level of internal strength to not smother her in his kisses, but to allow himself the smallest joy, a valuable treat, of casting a very precise lick just on the side of her own lips. She would never know how much she had meant to him...it was lethal, and if lost, would immediately kill him.

But because of her graceful love, he found himself revigorated enough to take that step back, his words staining the space between them as he moved away from that white shadow.

"That is why I can not come with you."

He would be a distraction, not only to her but to himself. That was the last thing either of them needed. To stay on task was the current goal, to ripen the wine before they soothed their parched thirst.
He would wait and work hard for his wine to ripen.

Especially if it would bring that light back to those cerulean eyes of hers.

"I will come back for you...but if you need me prematurely," he surmised. "Then you know my name."

And like that, he turned into the unforgiving breeze, and reunited with the shadows of the unknown, intent on bringing both of them the peace their tormented souls deserved.

ThAnk yOu for this thread <33

There was a moment of silence in which something seemed to break away, and the ghost's muscles tensed instinctively as she watched the sparks dance in his wintry eyes - she worried then, she worried she'd done wrong. Perhaps she should have kept her mouth sealed tightly shut, for words could do plenty damage if used wrongly. Had she upset him? Maybe this was wrong. Idiot, the words spat were laced with venom, stupid, stupid, idiot. Her lungs began to freeze at the second-guessing, and her legs resisted the urge to tremble pathetically. How many times will you mess up? How long does it take for you to realise you are not wanted here? Stop. Run. Go. Now.

She had been prepared to bolt in her awkward shame, face heated and feeling deep within her chest like a terrible fool; then she felt his rough tongue sweep across the side of her lips, and the beginnings of a fire grew in the pit of her stomach, flames reaching into the air like the wings of a bird taking flight. Those wings caressed her side in a blanket of heat, and suddenly the girl was a puddle before him. How did he do that? She was doe-eyed, orbs of blue glittering in his direction, the sides of her mouth pulled upwards in a half, surprised smile. 

Though she longed for him to stay, he began to turn and the Eruna accepted this turn of events - she had a purpose now. She had a purpose and it was one she would dedicate her life to, for it was the only one she had. Cry was the bringer of her role, and now she had a reason to stay alive, to keep trying. "Until then," the murmur fell tenderly from her lips, another puff of hazy air billowing from betwixt them; alive, that's how she felt. She felt alive.

Watching his blackened figure dissolving into the distance, at last the woman turned and took her leave back along the path, back toward the confines of the glacier and those who resided there. Until he returned.