Broken Antler Fen All Burned Away

He had finally arrived, despite what he had been told. He had to see for himself...and he saw that it was all true. Broken Antler Fen was truly gone. He collapsed to the ground in his last hope, which was no longer there. "Why...why did I leave?" he muttered to himself. His whole world came crashing down. 

He started crying, and shaking out of panic. His whole world he once had was gone...now he had nowhere to be safe. Nowhere he could go that he would fit in. Broken Antler was his last hope, and it had disappeared like the ashes of his birth home.

The shadow found comfort in the fen. If it weren't for the fact that it sat on the edge of the wilds, she may have considered making a temporary home there. It seemed secluded and safe. Lucy felt as though she was not at risk of being caught in the brush and frosted moss that grew in the area. She had not yet experienced anything that would cause her to flee. The wisp of ink was not holding her breath, though; she knew better than to get her hopes up, for she had often found herself losing the things she cared for most. Regardless, it would make a suitable place for rest and a hunt later in the evening.

Lucy stepped lightly across frosted earth, her tail whisking from side to side. Small puffs of steam rose from her nose as she breathed. She stood out, an inky stretch of limbs against a beautiful winter landscape. Her cosmic blue eyes carefully picked over her surroundings. Were it not for the soft crying, Lucy would have passed the other wolf entirely. The length of her dark ears spun atop her crown and she slowly moved toward the dismal noise. Her head was low as she slipped through the brush and when she emerged on the other side, she felt as though someone had gripped her heart in an iron glove and squeezed.

There was another, shrouded in greys and whites, splashed in ebony, who appeared to be in a good deal of distress. The young Blackthorn watched for only a moment before she attempted to close some of the distance between herself and the stranger. With a quivering voice, she spoke up.

“Hey... it's alright. Do you need help?”

Nevouku curled up on the ground as he continued to cry, before he heard a voice. He opened his tighly shut eyes and lifted his head to see who it was. His vision was blurred by tears, and he wiped at his face with a paw. "Y-Yes...no" he said, changing his answer with a hopeless tone. "I s-shouldn't have left th-them." He put his head back down, and his back to the other wolf. Aviana had been right, they indeed had gone. But for how long exactly.

"There was a p-pack here...I was part of it...but I...I l-eft" he hiccupped, still very much upset. He didn't know why he was telling this wolf he didn't know, he just felt so upset with so much pain in his heart. "Now th-they're gone...I have no one."

The grey-clad wolf shrunk, curling themselves up on the floor of the earth. Lucy watched with a frown and softly furrowed brows over her cosmic blue gaze. He was a pitiful sight for the inky wisp, but the more that he stammered on about his story, the more she found herself connecting to it. She knew the pain that this man was feeling. Perhaps she did not know it on the same level, but she had been there and she too had lost everything that she held dear to her heart.

The dark girl knew that she could not say anything to console this emotionally battered beast. Instead, she made a motion to nudge gently with her slender muzzle – a motion of comfort. While she was still wary of this stranger, she could not help but to believe that they would not be of much harm to her. The pain that they were feeling was radiating from the argent of their pelt and seemed to linger in the air above their heads. Lucy could not offer words of comfort, but she could offer her small frame as a crutch.

Nevouku's crying stopped for a moment as he felt a nudge. For a moment, he thought he thought he saw a friend in the stranger, someone to lean on. He sat a bit and turned his head to face them, eyes still tear stricken. He now realized how small this wolf was compared to him. And quite young. "You...what are you doing ou-out here, alone?" he asked. He could put aside his own troubles for a moment, if it meant helping a young wolf.

The stranger seemed to halt their crying for only a moment. They turned to look at Lucy and she shrunk slightly, making herself appear smaller, less interesting for this beast. The stranger spoke, inquiring as to what she was doing out there all by herself. Lucy's brow furrowed only slightly and her lips parted. She gaped at him for only a moment before responding with carefully chosen words, “I'm always alone.” It was a matter-of-fact statement. She seemed to have found some strength in her voice as she said it, too. The young girl had been alone for almost her entire first year of life. She had survived merely on luck, and even then; tragedy seemed to find her more frequently than luck did.

“I used to live here, too,” she then added, watching the argent male with a careful gaze.

He was slightly saddened to hear that. "Well...right now w-we have each other...c-company of strangers." He noticed how she shrunk back and rested his head down, trying to appear less threatening. "I-I'm harmless...really." He didn't want her to suddenly run, leaving him all alone again.

Nevouku's ears perked up a bit. Had she been a part of Broken Antler? He hadn't recalled seeing her there. "You...did? You were part of Broken Antler?" Perhaps he could get some answers to questions he neglected to ask Aviana. "Do you know where they all went?" 

The small shadow was not fond of the company of strangers. She had often found that they led to worse trouble than that she could find on her own. Still, she did not want to leave the male behind. He seemed as though his soul ached for the return of something that had faded away. He stated that he was harmless, and Lucy felt as though she ought to believe him. He had not shown her an ounce of hostility since she had arrived; and while the argent brute was quite saddening, she did not see any harm there.

It seemed as though her words were quickly misconstrued. She flattened the length of her ears to her head and frowned as the other became visibly perked by the thought of another of his kind. She did not want to crush his spirit now that it had come to life, but she knew that she could not let him believe a false pretense. The inky wisp shook her head carefully and looked at the grey wolf from the corners of cosmic blue eyes.

“No, I'm sorry,” she corrected. “I'm from the wilds here, but not broken antler. I stayed in Neverwinter Forest for a short while.” As she thought of Rannoch and Cypress, her heart ached, but she attempted to push the boys from her mind and focus on her present companion. “Maybe we could search some of the nearby packs? I'm sure you'd find someone from your old home,” she encouraged. Maybe we'll find someone who knows what happened to Cypress and Rannoch, too.

Nevouku's smile faltered. So she was not. "Oh...guess they are really all gone." Aviana had said that Sebastian was still here. But what of the others? Such as Pearl and Odette. Were they still about as well? The wolfesses suggestion was one that brought some hope however. 

"Y-Yes...perhaps that would help...you wouldn't m-m-mind me coming along? I mean, if we get i-into trouble..I am no fighter" he said, although he had proven himself to be quite the runner...not exactly the best skill though.

The light faded from the stranger's face after she admitted her truths. She frowned softly at this, wishing that she hadn't been forced to let him down. Still, she believed her initial plan would help her locate who she was searching for, and was more than likely to turn up at least one result for the lonely wolf. The girl wondered if she still had a pack as well, and feared that she could very well have been faced with the same reality as this other beast. She knew she had to try to find her friends; she missed them more than she could ever say.

“I don't mind,” she said softly. “I may scout ahead a few times to see if I can set us on a good path, but we should be fine to travel together for a while. At least until we can find one of your old pack mates, or somewhere you feel like settling down.” It was a safe bet to make; even if the male was not a fighter. Two bodies were safer than one. She knew that if things turned sour, she could disappear faster than most.

Nevouku wasn't sure he could let her go alone, she seemed so young. But, she also seemed brave. Something that reminded him of another. "Th-that is fine with me...I'll t-try to protect you" he said while attempting to stand tall, tapping into that chivalry he once had back in Broken Antler.

Lucy had been forced to grow up at a young age. She had only a fraction of what most children had in a childhood. That was before she had been swept into the night. She often daydreamed about what her life would have been like if she had not been kidnapped so young. The little shadow didn’t like to dwell for very long on these subjects. She knew there was nothing she could change. 

A ghostly little smile curved her dark lips and she released a short laugh. ”Let’s look out for each other and I’ll call it a deal,” she replied, the laugh still clinging to her voice. She was handier than she appeared. Though the dark girl was better at hiding, she had learned to use the point of her fangs. She did not always have to run. 

Nevouku shakily nodded. He sensed by now there was more to her then met the eye, like that smile she had. "D-Deal. I'll look out f-for you, you look out for m-m-me." He could get with that. Although, perhaps his not so small size would keep some things away. Not most.

we can fade this soon and possibly have another one set a little in the future?

It seemed as though the two had struck a deal. Lucy nodded to her companion with a swift bob of her head and turned her attention toward the fen. They would surely not stick to each other's side for the entire duration of their travels, but she anticipated that her new friend would not be far at any given time. This was fine by her; she preferred to be on her own, but Lucy would not mind the trailing shadow of this wolf. As long as she could find them help, she would feel as though it was worth while. She only prayed that she would find what she was looking for.

Realizing suddenly that she did not know who she was talking to, she turned back to the stranger and offered a small smile. “I'm Lucy,” the ghoul introduced. Surely there would be a pack nearby who would want to house such a kind fellow. Soft hearts were hard to come by, she realized.

Sure, that works for me

Nevouku nodded back to her. They were in agreement. "N-Nevouku" he answered back to her. He turned the same way as her, and started moving that way. Then paused for a moment. "Um...do y-you want to lead ahead? i don't know wh-which way we are going."

“I'm happy to,” Lucy answered in regards to leading her new companion through the fen. She was sure that she could find a nearby pack where Nevouku would feel safer, more at home. She wondered if she would feel the same emotion after having been so far from the life of a pack. Doubts swam through her young mind, but she pressed forward, already taking the opportunity to scout ahead for direction. The two would continue their march through the wilds. The dark ghoul would leave for short bursts, scouting out the best path for them to take before circling back to ensure that Nevouku wasn't left alone for too long. The young girl had made a promise, after all.