Firefly Glen Phosphorescent

@Arcturus Title inspired by this song - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcdOLKx2XG8 . :)

Wraen had not met Arcturus on the borders that day due to the fact of spending a fun afternoon with her sister Maia. Scouting, story-telling and taking a well-needed break from the job. Ever since Firebirds had grown in numbers, she had had more difficult time keeping track on all things. Towhee was a valuable source of information, but how long could she rely on her to get all the news she needed to know?

Had it not been for a paw injury, she would have gone after her dear friend the same evening. But it took three days for her to be in proper shape to go as far as Moonspear. There was still a noticeable limp in her step and she stopped now and then to rest, it would have been easier to wait for Arthur in their usual meeting place, but Wraen did not wish any of the Firebirds run into them. 

By sunset she had gone past Moonspear and reached Firefly glen. From there she had a good view of the former kingdom of the Mountain king and there she sat down to wait.

there were reasons for arcturus to come here, not all of them illicit. the glen had been a favorite of his father's -- sometimes, when he felt the mountain was weary of supporting his weight he would come down to the lowlands, and sit among the stars that swam above an endless plain. here he could dissect and unravel his thoughts, and piece together parts of his life that so often, simply refused to fit.

he found wraen here, as he prowled among the white-veiled glade. at first arcturus thought to turn quickly, to hide his trepidation -- for he still was boyishly wounded that wraen had not met him at firebird's gates. the moonlight was not so insufficient to hide his form entirely -- no sooner had his shadow spilled before him, did he realize he was plain to see.

"wraen." arcturus offered, drawing close yet not so close; the distance he cared to put between them spoke well of his newfound, irrational, and confusing feelings: why had she deigned to ignore him? who else was she seeing?

Wraen was blissfully unaware that she was a reason for any emotional turmoil or unrest on Arcturus part. To her Arthur was her serious and awkward friend that very much needed fun in his life and who had enough patience to listen to all of her stories. In fact, on her way here, she had remembered one Osprey had told her and had come up with rough drafts of two consecutive ones. There were special reasons, why her friend would be interested in hearing the first one. 'cause it was based on real life events (loosely) and involved Charon. 

Moonlight or not (even a broad daylight does not help) - all Moonspear wolves that have taken after their mother look the same. Therefore until the moment Arcturus addressed her, Wraen had no idea, who was coming in her direction. Knowing that he was a man of few words, Wraen took his laconic greeting as an invitation to come closer. She hobbled over to him, sniffed around his muzzle, face and bumped it lightly against his cheek in a more cordial way. "I heard you had come by," she told him, retreating and sitting down to ease the pressure on her injured paw. "I was out with my sister tracking deer - the herds have returned!" she explained. 

"And I got a little incapacitated in a freak accident," she beckoned to her bad paw. "And I reckon that for a pure-blood mountain-dweller staying at the lowland forest to wait for friend's return was a bit too much of a stress, huh?" she teased him gently. "Or was my Sergeant-at-Arms, who greeted you, too scary?" 

the first thing arcturus noticed (besides the fact wraen was oblivious to the mindful gap he had left between them) was the way his friend limped. like a spark, all resentment faded -- replaced now with a growing sense of alarm.

who had hurt her?

his iciness melted as she touched him, and he held himself against her a moment longer, lingering. their contact was fleeting and yet, he found himself wanting it forever.

he drew back, the tension in his shoulders dissipating. he could not begrudge her and like snow under sunfire his anger was melting away, melting to something warm and malleable and soft. her joke pried a soft smile from his lips, boyish and full of good humor.

but mention of her sargent-at-arms and he was stiff again, shifting uneasily from paw to paw. "she is ... formidable." arcturus admitted, looking away to hide his shame to be outclassed by such a woman. "you hurt your paw hunting? what was the accident?"

"He can smile, what a surprise," Wraen replied with a beam of her own. "It suits you, you should do that more often. You look less like someone, who will rip your head off in a dark corner and more like..." she tried to come up with a proper description, but nothing came to her mind, "...more like a wolf being." She finished with a sly grin, feeling that such freedom of speech would not be tolerated, if it not had been her, but someone else.

"Aha... I will tell her that, when I get home. ," Wraen pounced at the opportunity to tease him more, but was merciful enough to suppress laughter. "Turns out that your Ahilles heel - formidabble Highlander - is women. That they did not teach in the mercenary school, did they? That danger comes not only wrapped in bear-skins and as scar-faced buccaneers, but also as beautiful, but deadly women?" funny, how the world worked, but in Arthur's case it was quite logical. He had grown up with masculine women, amazons. Whereas he would have been a quite different chap had he been born among Blackthorns or Niamh's family circle.

"Oh, I am not proud to admit it," she told him, "but I literally fell in a hole. I noticed that I was in trouble only, when the snow gave way under my paws and I was already falling. I could not move much for the first day, during which I learned to appreciate the fact that I have four functioning legs instead of three. And now I am here. No need to worry, though it is very nice that you asked."

arcturus hid the smile quickly, though wraen's teasing elicited a contorted, stifled grin that was quickly stowed away. he had never been complimented for his smile, and it set butterflies aflutter in his midsection.

all shade of mirth dropped from his face-- blanched, in fact -- when wraen mentioned she would convey his impression of niamh back to her. please don't, said his expression - which looked one or two steps away from mortal embarrassment. as far as achilles heels, arcturus was confused and prompted quietly: "achilles heel?" was this another of her stories he had yet to hear?

once the nature of wraen's injury came to light, arcturus allowed a bemused expression to fall across his noble features. it was understandable -- any wolf that did any sort of long distance exercise, was bound to become prey to earth's terrain at some point. he had tripped over a hidden piece of log, not so long ago -- not that he would tell wraen that, and destroy her image of him as an elegantly composed predator (little did he know, she saw right through that veneer and saw him for who he truly was - a confused creature just trying to understand his place in this world). "it happens." the mountaineer offered, glancing from paw to wraen's face, his sunny eyes imbued with concerned warmth. "do you need anything for it?"

"That's a metaphor - every strong person has it's weak side," Wraen explained. "When Achilles was a wee puppy, his mother Thetis dipped him in river Styx to make him immortal. She held him by his hind paw, thus this was the only part of the body that remained vulnerable," she told a brief recap of the lengthier history of this particular Greek hero. "He was a skillful mercenary and fought successfully in many battles, until in one he was bettered by his opponent. He knew his secret and bit his paw, having chewed very poisonous stuff beforehand. The poison seeped in the wound and the hero died."

Wraen would have pushed more of Arthur's buttons concerning his expertise in medicine, had she not caught the genuine concern in his eyes. It was nice to know that he cared. "Nah, I'll be fine," she shook her head, smiling. "What have you been up to in the meanwhile?" she asked. "What can you tell me about Moonspear, without becoming a traitor of the state?"

arcturus listened to this tale of achilles rapt; he wondered if styx was a river he could find, and if so, would it make him impenetrable? he had a great many deal of weaknesses -- how easy it would be to have a river sweep them all away.

that was fairy-tale thinking, though. he enjoyed the worlds wraen painted - sometimes even wished he lived within them - but nothing would change the fact they were here, and her stories simply make-believe.

so, he tried a rare joke. "lets find that styx then, and dip you in it so no holes make you their victim." arcturus glanced upon her warily to see whether that weak joke registered, before rushing in answer to her last query. "all else seems quiet. the influx of trespassers we had the last few months seems to have abated. no puppies as of yet; there are only a few mated pairs in the spear. what of firebirds?" his eyes traveled to hers, subtly hoping she might not have taken on a mate of her own this season.

"No, thank you! I would not trade my vulnerability or mortality for that matter for anything," Wraen shook her head, but smiled amiably at Arcturus. He had improved and found the previously non-existent sense of humour somewhere. She liked to think that it was her good influence, though it was likely that, when among his own folk, Arthur was not as awkward or confused. A firecracker? Not likely.

"Nothing much," she shrugged, wondered, if she should tell that she had found his mystery moonlight lover among her own folk and that she had bitten her in the butt in order to defend his honour, but decided against it. First - out of respect to Towhee, second - she had no idea, whether Hydra had had any whiff of all, what had happened between her second in command and Wraen's leader to be.

"No puppy applications for me this year as of yet, but we have quite few eligible girls in our ranks. So, if you decide to enter the marriage market, I might introduce you to them," she offered, though knew very well that Arcturus would rather burn in hell than go near her women's monastery. His loss.

"Frankly speaking, I would like to have a year without any puppies at all. Can you believe that I have spent half of my life caring for the little toothy buggers of others?" she asked him, but since Arcturus was very young (and a man), she doubted that he had been involved in baby-sitting at all. "I would like to have a spring, where I do not have to share my food and my coat is not ruined by sharp teeth."

arcturus would have taken the opportunity to be doused in the river styx; he marveled that wraen would keep her vulnerability. would that not make her weak, and prone to be somehow bested? it was not the answer he would have picked, and rather not-so-introspectively, it surprised the young ostrega that someone would have different views of mortality than he. perhaps wraen was his proverbial river styx -- for in hanging around her, he found parts of himself he never knew he had coming to the surface.

the offer of being introduced to her women caused the dark beta's expression to blanche. having already been introduced to most of firebird's eligible women, and finding himself rather swiftly outclassed, it was not something he wished to subject his ego to. after all, it was rather a fragile thing -- and he was still rattled from seeing towhee and niamh in one go. besides, his interest was not held in firebird's swath of eligible bachelorettes: arcturus had interest in only one woman -- the one standing before him. "thank you, but that won't be necessary." the male said softly, the scarcest hint of an embarrassed smile wreathing his muzzle.

again came that connective dissonance: wraen mentioning she wished she went without puppies for a year. this was a revelation that caused arcturus' hopes to momentarily pause, as if caught on an endless loop of buffering. to arcturus ostrega, there was no more noble a purpose than finding his woman and siring whelps with her. part of his desire to do so had to do with the lulling pull of the season and his instincts -- but a deeper, more reliable wellspring of that desire came from the fact that arcturus was, down to his roots, a man made for family. "you've never had puppies of your own?" arcturus replied, edging in a careful question designed so that he might read from wraen if she had other men arranged for her -- after all, she had been 'busy' the last time the dark ostrega had come calling.

"Oh, come on - don't tell me that Niamh has dissuaded from every marrying!" Wraen asked, oblivious of the slight embarrassment in Arthur's voice and face, when he had adressed the matter. That's, where being a black wolf came in handy - under moonlit sky it was nearly impossible to read their expressions. "Believe me there are way scarier women around than her," she told him and added with a cheeky grin. "Hydra, for example. If I was a man, I would be scared shitless from her. Or... if I did not have much brains, then I would actually be glad to have her boss me around."

Wraen did not reply to Arthur's next inquiry right away, studying him for a moment, while deciding, how much truth she could and should reveal to him. He had proven to be an interesting person to be around, she felt that he liked and enjoyed her company, but could she trust him? Was he loyal? Then again - who would he tell? Or who would be interested in, what he could tell about her? "To put in eloquent terms - when it comes to creating children you need more than sharp wit, sweet words and desire in your heart," she looked away and sighed. "You need an ability to do so. The one that does not depend on your will, but, what nature gives you," she paused. "Or doesn't."

"You know, what it feels like, when spring sings in your veins. It hasn't been like that for me for years now," why did it take so many words to tell the simple truth "I can't have children"? Because it hurt still, even if you had lived with this thought almost all your life. "That's why I do not intend to ever marry - I would rather have him as a friend than disappoint him as a mate. That's only fair."

level as arcturus' expression was in this given moment, he agreed with wraen: there were certainly more intimidating women than niamh. and yet.. that had not been why the ostrega had been taken aback by her. he had known his fair share of fearsome women -- and it was not that attribute that scared him.

it was the way she had looked upon him - measuring him not as a man, but as conquest.

certainly hydra - or any of the moonspearian women - had never looked upon him that way. arcturus had no defenses for such a woman - his world was physical, made of tooth and claw and hide - but niamh had given him a glimpse of another world, that was mental subterfuge. he had not cared for it.

while wraen was silent arcturus felt a nervousness within him. what if she was thinking of saying she was not into men? or what if, she was trying to gently let him down and let him know she was spoken for? the longer she took, the more anxious he became -- until he was about to say something to break that godforsaken silence, only to realize wraen had finally begun to speak.

the relief he felt that there was not another suitor (male or female) was short-lived as wraen's thoughts came to light. so.. she had not had spring visit her? his brow furrowed -- what did spring have to do with anything?

then he understood. she was taking great pains, perhaps, to avoid saying outright she was infertile.

arcturus' vision clouded, and his thoughts took a sharp dive from joyed to dashed upon the rocks, hopeless. the future he had envisioned with wraen - full of greenery and happiness and children and all things that kind of life entailed -- shattered like a dove caught mid-flight in the talons of a raptor. in an instant, that future withered into impossibility.

now it was his time to be quiet as he tried to frame an answer. his brow was dark with barely lidded emotion, his eyes downcast. it could not be. it could not be that she did not want to marry, or that she could not have children. maybe she hadn't been with the right man? or maybe, she was a late bloomer? he wanted to say both of those things, but when he looked upon wraen he knew the truth was reflected back in her eyes -- that she was being truthful, and nothing but.

he hedged a long sigh, tracing the face of a rock that had been submerged in dirt with his claws. how to even start with all the feelings he felt? "are you certain..?" he fumbled, realizing the second those words left his lips that they were insulting to his friend. "i mean -- yeah, i guess you would know best. that's .. that's just not fair." a little light went off in his head as he realized maybe there were women out there that specialized in this sort of thing -- women that could cure wraen of her infertility.

then came the next thought: if she was infertile, would he still want to be with her? his visions of fatherhood would end the moment he professed his heart was wraen's -- and was that something he could live with?

it anguished him to think it was either or -- and he took it upon himself then, that he would do whatever he could to make things different. of course, it had never occurred to him that wraen might like it this way, that she might be happy without these responsibilities to weigh her down. "i wish i could help."

"It's not fair, but I have had a long time to live with that thought," Wraen replied, feeling a bit surprised by the way Arcturus took the news. Sure - it had been something very personal - but then it had been nothing disgusting or crazy. "And I realized that the ability to create children does not define me. I have so much more to give to the world," she smiled. 

"Which leads me to the next thing," she said, giddy and with a hardly-contained excitement in her voice. "I came here to tell you a story and you can help me by lending an attentive ear. I see that you have two, in fact," she teased him gently. "But I will need a more comfy place to rest, while telling. My feet will freeze, if I remain sitting in the snow. So - you as a native of these lands - can help me a second time and find the best area here for storytelling."

arcturus was not fond of the news, however gracefully wraen explained it. he thought she was incredibly brave -- he had always held a high opinion of the woman, but it was elevated to new heights he did not fully understand when she made good on the point that childbearing was not a woman's sole occupation.

all the same he was disappointed - for her, and selfishly, for him -- he might be miles ahead of himself as young men often were, but he had his own visions of his future -- their future.

yanked from his thoughts by the uptick in wraen's voice, arcturus dipped his head in response to her joke. "two ears, always ready to be attentive." for her - not so much others. "let's get somewhere warm, then." surprised by the protectiveness that surged in his voice, arcturus began to climb, always careful to take the easiest spots and the trails with the least resistance, so wraen could easily keep alongside him.

his gaze traced their surroundings, at last finding a dark spot flanked by two protruding shelves of granite. the ground there was dark grey and brown -- devoid of snowfall, and sheathed from the elements by the ledge backing it.

Wraen did not say much, while she followed Arcturus's lead. She hummed to herself, as she hobbled along the path, up and away from the open space of the glen, into the shelter of cliffs and rocks. There was a good view, from where her friend finally decided to settle and the Sovereign spent a good few minutes, looking out in the distance and observing everything, until she too came to lie next to him, pressing her side gently against his. 

"Have I told you that your father was a good friend of my mom Osprey?" she asked, knowing that she had told this to somebody already, but which of the Ostrega kids had been, she had no clue.

the summit he chose afforded them a view of the sun-soft valley below. for a time, wraen surveyed this -- and arcturus was struck by how noble she seemed.

when wraen came and pressed her flank to his a flush of fire stirred within him, his features blushing beneath his midnight fur. he tried to settle his mind, which was now abuzz with a whole bevy of excitable emotions -- thankfully, wraen spoke and arcturus could easily distract himself in answer. "yes - the day we met." all too cognizant of the fact they were touching, arcturus tried his best to play it cool -- savoring every last second they spent together.

"Wonderful. Sorry that I asked - I meet so many people and I talk so much that I sometimes forget whom I have told what," Wraen looked up at Arcturus and smiled sweetly. "My mom used to base some of her stories on real life events, though she never told directly that this or that particular tale featured a living and breathing person," she explained. "But ever since I met Burke, who was prototype of villainous, clever and adventurous Benny the Mountain, I have a feeling that the tale I am going to tell you is loosely based on her and your father."

She fell silent, closed her eyes and entered the labyrinth of her mind library, going past shelves full of books, notes, letters and various random objects, until she found a little bundle of children drawings on yellowing paper pages, blew the dust off it and opened the grayish pink ribbon that had been tied around the images. "It was a very stormy night, heavy rainclouds had hidden the sky and flashes of lightening danced around and music of thunder played in the background. The wind was very strong and violent, it broke and fell trees, it made rocks, sand and debris fly around and by the seaside the waves were so high and strong that they flooded whole territories in one take.

In one such place a small family of wolves perished, save for the smallest and youngest. It hid itself in a small crevice between the rocks and, when the morning came and he half-climbed, half-swam out, he found his home destroyed and no sign of either his parents or siblings. He called and cried for them all day long, until hungry and exhausted, he fell asleep on the shores. He spent the next two days looking for them, but to no avail and that's, when he decided to walk in the woods to find food and shelter.

For such a small chap it's no easy feat to survive on his own. Too slow to hunt a hare, lacking experience to down a mouse and too small and fragile to even look at anything bigger. However, luck smiled at him that day, because, when he came to an old hawthorn tree, he found a witch there. Her wings and long fur were tangled in the branches and the sharp thorns had pierced her skin, and she was unable to break free. She seemed almost dead, save for the dark, shiny eyes that focused on the little one, when he came close. 

"Free me, and you won't regret it," she told the boy, looking him in the eyes. And though he was scared and unsure, his heart was in the right place. For he immediately remembered that witches could grant wishes and he knew already, what to ask for. He wished to be with his family again," Wraen paused and looked at Arcturus. "What do you think happened next?"

arcturus had no earthy idea who Benny was, though he briefly felt a spear of irrational jealousy that was rapidly swatted away. wraen was just telling a story — a yarn — he had no reason for such childish feelings.

so the mountaineer waited, watching dutifully as wraen inwardly travailed her mind’s library. how she was able to conjure such mystical stories was beyond arcturus, who was, as they said, born with all four feet on earth’s plane. once more he was filled with awe for firebird’s queen — he listened, rapt as any school boy before his attractive marm.

the reverie was broken as he was called upon to answer her question. arcturus shifted, knowing most stories had some sort of mortal twist. was it a trick? in his own heart, he wished the protagonist had freed the witch because it was just and right to do — not because he might benefit from the woman’s magic.

"No, it was an honest deal, because this witch was not the lying kind," Wraen replied, though, it would have been an entirely different story, if the witch had been the one to trick the fellow. She saved this version to process later and see, if it came to anything good. 

"So, the boy helped her, but not without effort. It was morning, when he found her and it was way past mid-day, when he finally had freed the witch. So the creature settled down, took care of and preened her coat, until all it was clean, soft and had regained it's shine.

Then she looked long and hard at the boy and asked, what he wished for," she paused to think for a little while, then went on. ""I want to be with my family again," the boy replied readily and waited for the witch to do the miracle. However, she shook her head: "That I cannot do, unless you are dead. But it is too early for you to meet the Good Ol' Grim. Do you have anywhere to go?"

The boy was disappointed by the news, the gravity of which he began to comprehend. But he shook his head. "Well, then I will take you with me. There you will be safe and suffer no hunger," the witch said and before the little guy could say anything else, had snatched the guy in her claws and flown off," here Wraen took a break again and looked at Arcturus: "Where do you think such a witch would take the boy to?"

a fair witch -- this seemed unusual to arcturus, who so far, had only dreamed witches were cruel and unjust.

he took the novelty in stride, bent on discovering the next series of adventures for this selfless wolf that had helped a witch ensnared in the forest. these stories had a way of capturing a side of arcturus he could rarely conjure; it was as if wraen's imagery nourished a part of him that, for a long time, had never supped.

his ears flicked in response to her question; what next? "i do not know.. does she take him home?" while he felt sorry for this character, he wondered if he was not in store for a fairy-tale ending in light of the news of his family's deaths.

"Maybe, maybe not. For a witch the world is it's home and place, where she operates," Wraen replied. "However, she kept her promise and took this particular fellow to the Fairy court of the Enchanted forest. The Witch was a good friend of the Queen, who gladly took the boy in and named him Starchaser.

There the boy grew up alongside the court members. He learned to hunt and fight alongside the best faerie warriors, he learned the manners and ways of the court, he even tinkered a bit in the magic, though for the latter he did not have enough patience. And more often he got frustrated than managed to get a spell done well.

The Witch visited him in his new home time from time, took him with her time from time and taught him the way of the stars. And one evening, when the green lights danced across the nightsky, she took him all the way up to the Milky way to witness and join the souls that had departed from earthly life on their walk along the starry road towards Eternity. 

After this journey Starchaser was never the same. His mind kept returning to, what he had witnessed, and he wished to return there and find his family. Though a long time had passed, since he had found friends and comrades among the fairy folk, he had never actually been one of them. 

Forest was at the flatlands, therefore Starchaser's gaze was turned to the snow-tipped mountain range that loomed over it. The rumour had it that it was inhabited by a fearsome dragon. Now and then one could hear it's roars and see flashes of blue lightning. At different times sudden snowstorms and avalanches would happen, destroying everything that was around the Enchanted forest, but never, what was within.

Eager to reach the moon crescent shaped mountain that seemed to reach the sky and stars themselves, Starchaser asked a permission to leave to the Queen. When asked, where he was heading to, he told about his plan. The Queen did not object, but it was evident that for whatever reason the permission was reluctantly given.

So - Starchaser left his home and in the company of his good friend moss-Lauren Drake headed in the mountains,"  here Wraen stopped and looked at Arcturus. "What do you think happened next?"

arcturus' interest was already rapt, but the new developments -- and the name starchaser caused his ears to prick in interest. it was a name that he thought a hero would bear, and no doubt this starchaser was destined to great things.

so he listened, figuratively on the edge of his seat despite a full swath of stone underneath him. he hung on wraen's every word -- from the queen, to the court, to green lights which wavered thousands of miles above. when prompted what he thought would happen next, arcturus was at a loss -- but he wished to know, and so, spoke hushed and eagerly so wraen might continue: "did he fight the dragon?"

"Perhaps, he did," Wraen replied and went on with the story. "The journey was very difficult. There were hardly any paths, the icy slopes were slippery and dangerous. On more than one occasion the two friends were almost burried under the sudden heavy snowfalls and the higher they got up to their destination - the crescent shaped peak - the scarcer food became.

Until one day - weak and exhausted from hunger and their long trek, they were surprised by a rock-slide. Starchaser managed to avoid it, but it badly hurt his friend Drake. The young man was left with a difficult decision. Abandon his quest and bring the injured friend down back to the forest to heal. Or... he watched the dancing lights and how close they were now... or leave him be and continue the journey. 

He was so close now and he sincerely believed that he could hear the voices of the souls around him," Wraen took a longer break after this sequence. Closed her eyes and hummed to herself quietly. She had got so far into the story, she knew the ending, but had not hammered out all of the details for the present events. What would happen now... "It was - in reality - a dead end situation. Because there was no way he could take care of his friend properly, nor was it truly possible to bring him down the way they had come. There was no straight path left after all. 

So one morning he left his friend sleeping and set out on his own. It was better than sitting and doing nothing, he figured. After a while he came across a large cave, shaped by ice and crystals, filled with blueish-green, bright light. Once inside he came face to face with the famed dragon, which... much to his surprise looked just like him. 

It was the most beautiful she-wolf he had ever seen with a pristine-white coat and eyes in the colour of snow-covered forests. Her fur was soft and silky, tail was a tad bit longer for a regular wolf and she had a set of wings. She smiled at him sweetly, approached him and said: "You've kept me waiting." 

Starchaser was both surprised by such a greeting and a little taken aback. How did she know him? But before he could say a thing, the dragon replied: "I've watched for a very long time. Were it not for the Grey witch, who claimed, you would have been my king long time ago. I have an eye for special people and you are one."

Starchaser did not feel so sure about her, but he said nothing. The dragon was captivatingly beautiful and he felt his doubts and caution gradually slip away. His heart swelled with pride and confidence. The dragon came closer, now their muzzles were almost touching: "Don't fear me. Stay with me. Forever." Her kiss was ice cold, Starchaser felt, how it reached his very being and felt himself freezing and unable to move. 

The last thing he saw was the dragon balancing a small, shiny orb in the air. She gave him one, victorious smile and swallowed it. The dragon left the cave, where Starchaser remained, turned into ice, cold and lifeless," here Wraen stopped and looked at Arcturus again. "Do you want this to be the end?"

there were many parts of this narrative arcturus wished to question, but he kept his mouth shut. for instance - what kind of friend leaves another wounded in the wilderness? was drake okay? what did the orb signify? why hadn't starchaser realized this 'dragon' was naught but a siren in wolf's clothing?

existential dread overtook him as wraen told of the kiss exchanged between starchaser and the icy drauga; don't do it, he wanted to blurt to no one but wraen -- don't let her touch you!

alas, the audience rarely gets to pick how the story ends, and arcturus shifted, a frown on his features as he digested all that had transpired. "no - there is more to the story, isn't there?" he hoped, anyway -- it seemed so unsatisfying an end for starchaser to be transformed to ice, forever alone in an ice-crystal cave until the end of time. what was the dragon's deal, anyway?

"Well, it could have been the end. After all odds were against Starchaser. He was a young and naive boy, whereas the Dragon had had 1000 years-worth experience in soul-hunting," Wraen mused, though she agreed - after such a grand and promissing premise - this ending was too abrupt. 

"But let's put your mind to work," she said with a mischievous smile. "Say... having devoured Starchaser's soul the dragon left her kingdom and flew down to the forest of the fairies. There the protective magic that kept it safe from this powerful creature faltered and faded away. The dragon drew in breath and was about to freeze everything, when suddenly time stopped," Wraen told.

"The Grey Witch had intervened and now, in order to remedy the situation, she has a choice to go at any point back in time to save Starchaser and banish dragon from the realm," here she stopped and looked at Arcturus. "Think about, what I have told you up until now and choose, how far back will you spin the events to change the course of the story."