Winter was howling through the valley, whipping the clouds in to a frenzy with gusts from the north, and from the ground Titmouse could stare at those clouds as they gathered; they were an abyssal shade of gray, and he wondered if there would be snow tonight. Most of the landscape he'd crossed was covered in glistening ice. It would've been beautiful if he'd been in the right frame of mind, but Titmouse was having a tough time focusing on anything for long - except those clouds. Those clouds looked dangerous.
He had no reason to be this far from home. To be following the river, letting the creaking of the growing ice sheet across the slower segments punctuate his steps; but still, he was here. He was hunting for her — desperate, alone, finally resembling some aspect of sober that allowed him to understand some things. His driving factor right now was the absence of Maegi. He'd looked for her in the caves, in the woods, in the valley — and yeah, he had been high through most of that, but as he sobered up it became clear that she was missing from Blackfeather.
The boy concluded that when he was at the crux between the rivers, and on a spur of the moment decision he had let his path careen to the north; if she wasn't here then maybe she had gone back to Undersea, he thought. Maybe he could go back too - visit with Seelie, see the children -- and with these thoughts in mind, he followed the river.
He had no reason to be this far from home. To be following the river, letting the creaking of the growing ice sheet across the slower segments punctuate his steps; but still, he was here. He was hunting for her — desperate, alone, finally resembling some aspect of sober that allowed him to understand some things. His driving factor right now was the absence of Maegi. He'd looked for her in the caves, in the woods, in the valley — and yeah, he had been high through most of that, but as he sobered up it became clear that she was missing from Blackfeather.
The boy concluded that when he was at the crux between the rivers, and on a spur of the moment decision he had let his path careen to the north; if she wasn't here then maybe she had gone back to Undersea, he thought. Maybe he could go back too - visit with Seelie, see the children -- and with these thoughts in mind, he followed the river.
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