Shadow Mountain royal wyvern

in @Ketzia's unexplained absence, stigmata had grown quiet and overly distant in regards to the rest of diaspora; a manner of grief he could not identify or control. he had avoided the aurelian huntress since revealing his intention to father takiyok's children, and he regretted every decision he made to part from her when it became clear that he may never see her again. he looked for her, desperately so, but the tracker had gone too long believing she was gone by choice before acting - so there were no trails of hers to follow by the time he had taken up the effort to find her.

the general was nearly beside himself when thorn (presumably) returned ketzia to the diasporan fold, and he learned that she had not been gone of her own volition at all. her jarring wounds were proof enough, and stigmata spent the next several days stewing over all his mistakes and private heartaches. for the most part he hovered over ketzia - rumbling at anyone who offered to take over for him - but he left her now to hopefully rest, and steady himself now that sure tragedy had been averted.

he came to stand at the cusp of shadow mountain, on a brisk and cloudy high noon, and he gazed up into the heights of the greyscale crag and then looked back over his shoulder towards arrow lake. he made this gesture several more times, as if trying to make up his mind, before half-turning south and trotting parallel to the mountain's broad eastern face.