Neverwinter Forest there's a monster in the woods.

lots of wolves seemed to be going missin', specifically the few wolves she seem to have issues with. minori wasn't the biggest one, not really had anything against her either due to be her sons tutor, but also, hasn't seen her doing that. then there was hide, orochi's boyfriend, who snarled at her. instant enemy, obviously.

and then orochi, the trouble-maker who wanted his rank back.. but he disappeared, so she wondered if he just flew that idea away.

none her business.

her business was looking at them stars right now.

he was restless, suffering from insomnia, slipping through the trees like the slim shadow he was. when the cover above finally broke, cam spotted a young woman ahead, looking up. he chuffed to let her know he was coming, then approached slowly, paws soft against the forest floor.

can't sleep? he asked her, assuming she was feeling like he was. he followed her eyes to the sky, which was somewhat clear for the first time in a while. he smiled, watching the stars.

he'd heard rumors that each pinprick of light was a loved one's soul. where was mummy? olive and seabreeze? the dead man, his belly torn asunder, crimson pooling out onto hushed willows' hallowed ground—and the screaming—

cam shuddered, feeling himself slide into waking nightmare again. closing his eyes, he breathed in the smell of the pines, of the sodden earth beneath his paws.

here. not there. he was here.

hope yall don't mind me popping in!! : )

in the darkness nüwu rose from slumber, fluttering lashes, stirred by nothing in particular and yet suddenly restless. she climbed from the den where she laid near mama and slipped silently into the blanket of night. cicadas chirped and would grow quiet as she passed them in turn, until she came upon the figures of two, where her focus shifted away from her surroundings and onto them. aunt ruò and a stranger, she thought, jade gaze sweeping over their faces in a moment. ruò looked upon the stars, and her own eyes moved upward to embrace them too, silent.

a man, cat-like in stance walked forward to ruo. he did not smell of yuelong, but slowly their sea-salt scents were fading, and was slowly disappearing from herself as well. though he was a neverwinter wolf, and she hasn't interacted with many of their kind, preferring reclusiveness, and only toward family. 

"no," the siren shook her head, "i stay up to watch stars." her gaze once broke, now retreats to the sky. she did not realize her niece looked toward the same stars.

a girl approached, though not the one he'd met before. she smelled similar, though—a sibling? cam gave her a friendly nod and smile, a murmured, wordless greeting. the trio were silent for a moment until the woman spoke, explaining herself.

what do you think is up there? he asked, curious about her take on the night sky. did her folks teach her about the dead souls there, too? or maybe she believed in something else, something he'd never heard of. either way was better than fixating on all of his deceased loved ones. . .so he was all ears.

but his eyes were for the brightest in the sky, a twinkling jewel in the dark velvet that outshone all its neighbors.

aunt ruò did not acknowledge her yet, but the dark boy did. nüwu smiled silently back at him. normally she would think that it might be customary to ask for a name, but the adults moved directly into conversation. and so, she thought, perhaps some matters were more pressing than their labels. when they spoke of the stars, the thinker's jadestone gaze moved up again. if only she knew what was there! but there were so many things unknown to her, and so she could only shift closer to the duo with a tilted ear, wanting to learn more of the stars and sky too.

"legends." the stars woven into her memories were ones of grand legends. to the point the gods themselves would etch their stories into an eleborate tale within the sky, for each wolf to look over for eternity. she didn't think the stars were once wolves, like her mother would say, but she only saw the sky was a grand painting. why else would there be bright lights, forming to pictures?

"my niece seems to wonder as well."

legends. well, not so different from what he thought. dead spirits were legends, were they not? he gave the woman a solemn blink, understanding (or pretending to, at least). then he turned to the girl, the smile returning to his face once more.

what do you think? cam asked. i've been told the stars are the souls of the ones we've loved and lost.

he wondered if she had lost anyone. she was young, but then. . .he hadn't been very old when lily had died. he didn't want to trouble her. perhaps his belief would bring her comfort in a time when she desperately needed it.

while ruò fell quiet, nüwu listened to the dark boy. she blinked dumbly, i do not know anything about them, she breathed, do you believe what you have been told; they are souls? i never lost anyone. she explained, no one there would be familiar to me. she looked away from cam and back up to the night sky, wondering if the light from each pinprick might begin to frolick and leap like running wolves.

she was lucky. cam chewed on her question for a moment, quietly considering. i think i believe, yes, he murmured, and glanced at the stars. when i was a child, i lost my mother. i'd like to think she is looking down on me every night.

instead of. . .what? lost forever? which one was she, anyway? 

he focused on one bright orb in particular, wondering if it was the light or deep-seated emotion that moistened his eyes.

they help guide your way, though, he remarked, changing the subject. when you are lost, you can focus on a star in the distance and follow it. there's one. . . cam narrowed his gaze, scanning the velvet sky. well, i can't see it now, but it leads you north.

the north. full of promise. ziggy was there, and perhaps would be for life.

cam's place was here.