Miles and States

[Rickter]

He had awoken just a couple of hours before the actual sunrise, there to watch his beautiful children sleeping in their crib together. Pups. They just had to sleep close to one another, but that was just something more adorable to admire about them. The wolf found it peaceful watching his children as they slept, especially after the horrors that he faced yesterday, and the grueling task of fighting off a curse with friends halfway across the world. It had been a trifling ordeal but now that it had passed, Rickter could sense the shift in the tides that Fate carried him on. He wasn't entirely sure where to go at this point anymore, at least, not when it came to figuring out how to uphold his end of the promise he made.

"Hey!" A lovely voice whispered to him as he heard the door ever slightly shift, and thus Rickter cast a gentle nod toward his beloved as she came into the room. "When did you get up?"

"A couple hours ago." He softly murmured as she knelt down to kiss him on the lips, their hands enclosed with one another over his shoulders as he faintly smiled to her. "I can't believe I was out for that long." He admitted as he saw Isaac fidget a little, drawing his gaze from Telion as she too watched the little ones sleep. "How'd the hell did you all get me to bed?" He pondered out of thought which venerated a quiet giggle.

"Hannah and Patrick, with a bit of Kinetics applied." She teased with another adoring kiss pressed to his forehead, as he soon felt her fingers brush through his hair a few times. "What exactly happened, Rickter? You just went down and never woke up."

"To be honest I'm still processing everything." In other words he wasn't quite sure. Not just yet. "I feel like that's all I've ever been doing since we got back. Now I..." Admittedly a little frustration made it's way into the tone, and he breathed deeply to keep from letting the thought shift his mood. "I don't even know where to begin. I think about what to do but I just feel pulled every which way."

"Well... have you tried talking to Talon? Or anyone else?" Rickter knew she'd suggestively hinted at the rest of his pack, as he practically did have quite the colorful cast of people for a support system. Regardless, he hadn't counted them out as she might've likely worried, the wolf just simply needed to sort his thoughts proper, before he could rightfully assume leadership of this likely next suicide attempt. At the rate he was going, the wolf was doomed to have to face Talon in one form or another, and if the Imperium had their way for much longer, then Rickter feared there wouldn't be much left to save of Talon at all...

There was so much for him to worry about, he nearly felt stifled by it all, whereas perhaps a simple chance at meeting the ones who could help would suffice. This led Rickter to wonder as he absent-mindedly brushed his right index finger, between the crevices of their left arms where the Eminence emblem resided. "He can still probably hear you if you just pray or even talk to him. But if you really need a way to see him, Rick," Telion brought her hand down from his hair to the prickly jawline she cupped, "then maybe you should consider other options. You have gotten better with Traversion than the last time I saw you, so maybe it's time you consider things like generating a window. Or even Astral Projection."

The wolf looked to her very mindfully before he tucked his head over to kiss the hand so close to him. Seeing the woman he loved smile in return venerated such a genuine warmth in him too, enough that he still nearly felt the flutter in his gut when he smiled in return. "Thank you." He had to admit he certainly was a lucky one, to have met not just an intelligent but also an insightful woman. "I think... I'll give it a try."

"Good," she mused as they both eyed the cradle once more, "you do that." Isaac stirred which led Kendrick to roll over, both children sluggishly rubbed their eyelids before the mother padded their father on the shoulder. "I'll get these two started."

Miles and States
2nd of Ash, 122nd Year, A.o.S.

The streets of Gel'grandal weren't something he expected to see again so soon, especially after the mistake he'd made in Wintergarten Circle a couple of months ago. Yet after a bit of meditating to focus on the connection between him and Talon, the closest source stemming from the Emblem to start with, the wolf had felt its light guide him to a particular place within the Imperium.

The room was quite large and spacious, domed by design as it constructed for a specific purpose, however, also lived within as there was the smattering of decor about. A large bed to one side of the room that looked recently disturbed, along with a few desks situated together in another area. One side of the room looked to be missing a wall perhaps, or was just a sizeable window that could compare to some of the bedroom balconies found back at the Palace of First Wind. He wondered Talon might've actually lived here now, instead of staying back at the palace as the wolf might've suspected.

Guess he would find out soon though.

Rickter pondered about the desk area for a moment, in hopes of reading any documents he might've found there, yet when he reached down for one the parchment didn't even move. Rather his fingers slipped through it. Puzzled by this Rickter looked down at his hand for a moment, before remembering when Hannah had explained the concept of his astral form before. "Right... Astral Projection." Meaning he could not physically interact with the world, and while invisible to the naked eye, only certain magic and magical entities could detect his presence.

Quite honestly... Rickter felt nervous just thinking about facing Talon even now. After everything that had happened, and knowing full well that even Lyra couldn't likely 'save Talon' in the way he wanted... Well, things had certainly taken a turn beyond his way of thinking. And so the burning questions in his heart lingered there, demanding that he stand in the light regardless, and be seen in whatever form or fashion his other beloved might think of him now. After all, the wolf was done worrying about all that, and had greater things on his mind that would guide his heart in this.

Thus with a sigh, the wolf took the first few steps out toward the open balcony, where a view of the entire port, as well as the northside of Gel'grandal, awaited him. Surprisingly the wolf couldn't even smell anything here, which was somewhat a relief, but he could at least still hear the sounds that were carried out from the sights all around. An industrial oceanfront to one side of what he suspected was some old mechanized lighthouse. Way off in the distance past the rims of the massive wound within the city, the Palace of Spires stood tall within the skies just beyond the Wintergarten circle.

He'd forgotten just how huge the city was, and couldn't help but ponder if life had changed here at all since they'd left. Just how severely did the wolf fuck things up when he'd released that blast? He'd almost wanted to look and find out, but the underlying dread of it reminded him of his original purpose, which was to follow the fire that now burned in his heart. Eminence had an interesting way of connecting it's bearers to their God, the hope that burned within him felt almost like a beacon now; a beacon calling out to the one he sought here in spirit.

"Common" "Synskrit" "Norvaegan"
"Rickter" "Telion"

[Talon]

D A E M O N

It was peaceful in the lighthouse.

Within the Palace of Spires he had the entirety of a suite of rooms to serve his purposes. He had staff at his beck and call much like in the Palace of the First Wind. The bed was luxurious. The sheets of the finest silk. The pillows of the greatest quality. He had every material thing that could have been afforded to him from his place of chained privilege. But he had no peace. He could get no rest there within the halls of the place that had been the purest manifestation of his prison for so long. When he had found the lighthouse, it had called to him. Its perch by the seaside soothed the ache in his chest and made him feel less confused, less angry, less alone.

So the furniture was not the work of a master craftsman. They were worn pieces bought in the humble carpentry shop found in Gesindelholm. The bed was not fancy. It had no elaborate carvings, no posts to hold up drapes, and there was not a pile of fluffed pillows upon it. The sheets upon it were homespun and comparatively course when held up to the fine silk of the palace. But as he lay there, bare save for a pair of golden bracers upon his forearms, he felt the peace needed to actually get some rest. A peace he did not feel in the palace, that he could never feel in such a place.

He slept soundlessly but as the first rays of the sun’s light hit his form, he began to stir. Laying on his stomach was a man that would not be immediately familiar to Rickter. He had sun tanned skin. The markings upon his body were not a violet-blue but a silver-white that glowed softly, becoming brighter with the light of the rising sun. He still possessed the point to his ears bespeaking elven heritage but he appeared more Hytori than Siltori as Rickter was familiar with. His face, however, was immediately recognizable. Still present upon his cheek were the three claw scars and the scar over his right eye. The rune etched upon his skin over his left was still in the shape that Rickter was intimately familiar with. As the sunlight touched his face, the man in the bed stirred, scrunching his nose and letting out a tired groan before sighing. He slowly, groggily, picked himself up. The muscles of his bare torso flexing with the movement. As he seated himself on the edge of the bed in an upright position, his feet coming to rest on the floor, it was then that the most startling change about him became apparent.

His wings were gone.

The large, powerful, silver feathered eagle wings that had always made Talon immediately identifiable for the Avialae he was…were gone.

He rubbed his face, a hand passing through his hair. The once midnight black strands were now a silver-white. Talon sighed heavily and then opened his eyes. He froze as soon as he did. He could not believe his eyes at first. He could not process what was in front of him for a moment.

“Rickter?” His grey eyes went wide as he beheld the form of the Rathari man in front of him. Talon winced as the ache in his chest suddenly throbbed painfully. He curled in on himself breathing for a moment, squeezing his eyes shut as he waited for that terrible emptiness to subside. When it finally did, he opened his eyes, blinking and looking up. He half expected to see nothing…but there he was. His eyes were wide with disbelief, a misting beginning to form in them as he grappled with emotions that were too much and too vague all at the same time.

“Rickter?” His voice was a stunned whisper.

[Rickter]

He had overlooked the sleeping Demigod within his bed earlier when Rickter had taken an initial examination of the room. Yet shortly after the wolf had stood out on the balcony, movement generated sounds as the bedframe supported the waking man bundled in his covers and pillows. Truthfully, when Rickter realized Talon might've actually been the one sleeping there, he wanted to quietly approach to watch the man rise from his bed... but it was when the wolf stood in the center of the room that he got a better look at the subject of his interest.

This man wasn't Talon. He had no wings. He still bore runes that marked him as the mage Rickter once knew, but any sure tell sign that it was Talon didn't seem possible to him as of now. The Bond between them both felt as empty as before, though, the wolf only had suspicions based on the fact they were at a distance. Now though... He felt entirely unsure whether or not this was indeed Talon if at all. Yet he knew Rickter, and that alone stirred a compromise of hope and nervousness. From the way he reacted when he saw Rickter, down to the noticeable clench of his chest, the wolf too recognized that same pain he once felt there.

A pain he still sometimes felt even now, after feeling the weakened Bond returning between him and Aoren. The wolf wasn't ignorant to the fact that his pain stemmed from missing Talon, just as he was also painfully aware of how desperate the extent of that feeling drove him before. It was strange for him to look at it this way now, but for all intents and purposes, Rickter had learned just how much of a double-edged sword his emotions really were. Thus, he approached the situation with caution, mildly so that when he slowly approached the side of the bed, his somber yet observant gaze never once left the man who sat before him.

He wore only the bracers now, the wolf himself only seen in his linen shirt and pants from overnight, and every noticeable mark and scar Rickter remembered still remained on the man... And for all intents and purposes he seemingly looked as well as sounded like Talon, only an alternate form of him that the wolf had never seen before. And that was what the Empire, their enemies, as well as what Rickter had reduced him to now. A common man living away in only but a shadow of what he deserved, left here alone to serve whatever whims that the enemy might command of him. It was enough to almost make him emotionally sick just now, having felt rage already roiling beneath the calm exterior he projected.

"Uh..." He slowly remarked with sheer uncertainty, before he gave the Demigod a loosely faint smile once more. "...Hi...." Though he could not feel it Rickter noticed a breeze beckoned within the room, generating a chill around where his astral form resided as he knelt somewhat to be at eye level with the Demigod. "You're not going crazy. Honestly... If I'd thought about this sooner, I would've visited you a long time ago whenever given the chance."

Though 'visiting' hardly felt appropriate to the wolf, if anything, he simply felt like he'd haunted Talon just now. Showing up as some ghost or memory that likely plagued his thoughts. It did not generate any small comfort to know his beloved might've actually suffered so, in return, his eyes beheld a somber look before they finally fell away from the man in front of him. "I really screwed up back there," there was no need for him to elaborate where there was either, "I'm... Sorry. For my part in what happened back in Sun's Zenith." It was obvious he still bore regrets as to how that all went down, yet the wolf didn't linger on it long enough to beat himself down over it like he normally would.

Instead, he looked back toward Talon, the broody expression more firm as he sat perched on his feet before the man. "I hope it's not too late." He admitted with a rub of his hands along the fabric on his upper thighs, his eyes a little misty as well the longer he looked at the Demigod. There was so much he wanted to say. So much he wanted to express. Words weren't even enough for him to decide at the moment, and well, it was impossible to express them either way because... no physical contact. At least, not when he was in astral form. All the same, the wolf realized quickly just how hard this conversation between them grew.

"Common" "Synskrit" "Norvaegan"
"Rickter"

[Talon]

D A E M O N

He moved out of pure instinct born from a yearning need to just feel the Rathari man against him. He practically leapt forward, arms reaching out, hands grasping, with the look of a desperate man who had been starved and now had finally found sustenance. He reached for Rickter…only for his arms to pass through him and he stumbled forward as he passed through Rickter as though he were nothing more than empty space. He stood there, dumbfounded. Then he slowly looked down at his hands, as though he could not quite comprehend the fact that his arms were empty of the man he wanted so badly to have in his arms again.

“You are not here…” His voice was a tremulous whisper. There was an ache in his soft voice. Pain and misery that was too big to process all of it born from months upon months of torture. He did not hear what Rickter said. His mind was still fixated on the fact that the wolf was there, in front of him, but not there at the same time. He was alone. He was well and truly alone. Robbed of even the joy of being able to touch someone he loved while still being haunted by the vision of them. For it was love that he felt. The love that Talon had for Rickter was the love that he had for the lycan.

“You are not here…” He croaked out those words. They cut his throat like glass and hurt to say. He steadily sunk to his knees, suddenly lacking the strength to keep himself upright. His whole form began to shake as he looked out to the sunrise, away from the painful apparition that he craved so badly. The sunlight that searched for him found its way through the large window, illuminating his form. Golden sunlight soaked into his body. He could feel it winding its way into his muscles, into his bones, into his soul…at least…what was left of it. There was almost a sense of melancholy from the sunlight as though it too were sad for him. The misting in his eyes welled even further and beaded out of his the corner to run down his cheeks.

“I cannot do this, Rickter.” He shook his head. “I cannot.”

He looked upwards. He looked to the heavens. He looked anywhere but at the Rathari whom he loved so much. A ghost that was now haunting him as a reminder of everything he had failed to do, every battle he had failed to overcome.

“Why did you come here? Why did you come this way? Have I not suffered enough? To see you. To hear you. To be robbed of the joy of holding you?” He choked back a sob and shook his head.

“Go away.” He did not have the strength for this. It was bad enough to know that they had been so close. This was just a reminder of how bleak his circumstances truly were.

[Rickter]

At the very moment this new Talon leapt at the chance to reach out to him, the wolf actually jolted from the initial surprise that rocked through him before he instinctively reached up. Even in this state he wanted to catch the man he love, to reach up to him and provide that comfort he so desperately needed. The man before him hardly looked anything like the man he loved once, and yet, even the wolf's heart could not mistake the feelings he still felt deep inside for this man. Was he Talon? The wolf did not know. Something in him burned hotter just by seeing the man, though, the state of that man's very being felt like a cold rain over the heat of that warm flame.

"Talon?..." The wolf quietly muttered as he turned to face the warrior behind him, a heavy weight on his heart now as he listened to the Draegir murmur to himself. There was such desperate hardship and turmoil in his tone, such defeat that even Rickter himself felt it's crushing weight from where he stood. They had done this to him... He had done this him. Aoren had been spared the wrath of the Empire but for how long? And what had that spelled for Talon in the meantime? What had Lyra done to save him as She promised? Rickter had so many holes to fill in his mind now, so many disjointed situations to wrap his head around due to his previous mistakes.

"I'm... I'm here..." He softly whined with his eyes fallen somber toward Talon, noticing the fact the man turned his back to the wolf to avoid looking at him. Why? Already Rickter wanted to jump to conclusions but that had been his irrational nature, just the ever-driving force in his heart that almost dictated everything he did. He had to remind himself that it wasn't because Talon actually wanted him gone, that he had suffered enough on his own terms alone, and he was speaking from a place where only pain and sorrow resided. Rickter had been there before a time or two, and it had been the same person before him now, as far as he could tell, that had managed to bring the wolf back out of that dark place.

Sunlight danced off the surface of his skin and the wolf bit his lower lip hard. Seeing the man he had fallen in love with, that he wanted to one day marry, and how far he had fallen from when they'd last seen one another. It felt as though Rickter's heart were ready to break all over again, like how the night he awoke numb and cold from the loss of the Bond practically shattered him apart. He had been a mess ever since, and now that he was aware of it, well hindsight was the bitch always holding the leash, to say the least. The Demigod's tears were matched by the streaks that quietly streamed down Rickter's own face, as he reached out to Talon regardless of the fact their bodies would never connect.

But Rickter didn't care. As maddening as it was he didn't care any longer, he just wanted to reach out and protect his fucking soulmate. Yet his fingers slipped through every time, not even brushing anything as his astral body failed to remind him of what touch felt like. If anything... Rickter had to rely on memory when he reached out a final time, at least pretending to rest a hand on the shoulder of the man who crumbled before him. Then the wish to be sent away. The literal words he heard like knives that pierced into his core, as he nearly looked at a loss for words on what to say next. Talon, what was left of him, no longer wanted the wolf around because of reminders that both their shoulders carried. In a way this had been exactly what Rickter dreaded between them, a sense of finality that might've stemmed from just how great the divide between them had grown.

But... Rickter wasn't not done. Nor was he ready to be.

"Please..." He pleaded. "You don't deserve this. Don't send me away before the fight's over, Talon..." Because it wasn't for Rickter, nor for the rest of the family at home waiting for the prince. "... I know I can't give you what you need. Not at the present moment..." No matter how desperately his heart ached for him too. "But don't push me away Talon. Not when we still have a chance for a better future, together." He didn't care if he sounded selfish or not in that regard, but deep down, Rickter held onto that thought when he focused on the emblem that shimmered faintly on his forearm. The wolf put to mind all the hopes and dreams of not just their immediate family, the pack that he dreamed of reuniting one day, but of all the people that also waited for the return of their beloved prince.

House Novalys. The people of Kalzasi. Everyone who had ever given a damn to this irrefutable cause. He kept all that warmth burning inside even as the gentle breezes carried in a colder front now, the air around the lighthouse growing chillier than before as though a stormfront were moving in. "Please... don't give up on all of us now." He still pleaded but the warmth and courage he felt were channeled through that mark on his arm, his hopes that this Talon before him would still be able to sense and realize these feelings Rickter had. "...Not when I'm coming back to save you a second time." Even if they had gotten Aoren out it wasn't, nor would be, enough to bring Talon the salvation he deserved. And while Rickter had no earthly idea as to how they would do it, he just knew that there would come about a way of making it happen.

Fates be damned. He would jump that gods damned rift between the both of them, but for the love of Eikaen himself, Rickter could not think of leaving Talon alone on these terms alone.

"Common" "Synskrit" "Norvaegan"
"Rickter"

[Talon]

D A E M O N

“You are right.” He sniffed and brushed away the tears streaming down his face with the back of his hand. “I do not deserve this. I did not deserve to have my life ripped away from me. I did not deserve the murder of my father. I did not deserve the torture and enslavement that I now endure.”

Anger crept into his voice as he spoke.

“All my life I have fought for my people. I have faced horrors in Deeps that would make ordinary men tremble and flee in terror. For them, I found my courage. For my people, for my family, I found a way to be strong.” He clenched his fists tightly and hung his head. “And for what?”

He thought on the petty politics of Kalzasi and the constant fear and warmongering of the city of Zaichaer. He thought about the murder of his family at the hands of a man poisoned by the madness of his crown. He thought on the constant manipulations that took place in the courts of Kalzasi’s nobles and even on the lengths his own mother had apparently gone to in order to secure House Novalys control over the throne and the future of his people. Was any of it worth it?

“Nobody wants the Justice I believe in. They want a tyrant who ferrets out petty vengeance on those who slight them. Light? There is no desire to bring good and honor to this world. It is filled with people who simply want the glory of their own charity to be uplifted to swell their own ego.” The light of the dawn filtering in from the outside took on a red hue as anger and wrath filled the ache that dwelled in his heart.

“For so long, I have fought. Now look at me. Son of Eikaen? What has he ever done for me? Prince of Dragons? I see no dragons coming to my aid. Prince of Kalzasi? What is that worth?” His words trailed off and the red hue to the sunlight faded as the golden light of dawn continued to rise higher in the skies.

“Second time, third time. What does it matter?” He could feel Rickter’s presence, even if he could not feel him physically. He was silent for a long stretch of time where he simply stared out the window from his place on the floor. He then let out a long, heavy sigh as he hung his head.

“I am leaving. I am commanded to go south. Do not tell me your plans. Tell me nothing. I have cut away the part of my soul that holds the Bond and the part that holds Hope and most of Talon.” He rose to his feet. As he did, the bracers on his forearms came to life. A liquid material spread across his body, sliding over his skin. It formed the armor that was his prison. A platinum and gold torso covering that was seamless and fit snugly over his body. His legs were covered in pants that were made of the same material. His feet were wrapped in knee high boots. He turned to face the specter of Rickter.

“He is safe from this prison, free from what it is turning me into. Perhaps…” The cold abated from his eyes, softening for a moment. He pushed away his hope and clung to what was in front of it. It was too dangerous to hope. “For your sake and others, the less I know, the safer you are.”

He stepped back, his jaw firming even as his heart broke even further.

“Until you can free me, until you have the means of uniting us again, do not come back here, Rickter. I do not know how much longer until…” His words faltered. “...I could not live with myself if I did something to you, Sorumeito. So please, go.”

With that, he continued stepping back until he was out on the balcony platform. Once there, he turned on his heel and teleported away. As he did so, he closed off his presence to those bearing his mark.

[Rickter]

Rickter might've actually clutched skin if he were really there to grasp at Talon's shoulder. His soulmate had been correct about the fact none of this was what he deserved. He opened his mouth to speak in response to the inquiry 'for what' and yet, when Rickter did not even a sound could come out from his lips. He noticed the reddening of the sunlight just over the horizon, and felt the anger bleed into the sky as his soulmate spoke of the extent of his endeavors. True. Kalzasi had been a place filled with it's share of burdens, and the many political agendas of the Great Noble Houses that presided over it. But Rickter did not think of them when he held onto that fire, when he wanted to continue fueling the prince with what little hope he had left.

"I once believed... that I would carry out Justice for you." It was a belief that displaced him on the path he had been on, his own road to the dawn filled with experiences both harrowing and griefful. "...I think what we and the world perceive as Justice is a multitude of different things. I should know... It basically killed me before I met your father." Well, the other father. And while Rickter had knelt to look over at his distant Bondmate, his empathic eyes carried out to the sunrise once more as the colors lessened to their warmer hues. "Even after that though, I still felt lost in a war that I didn't know how to fight."

He had indeed lost his way but everyone strayed from their course every now and then. Rickter knew and believed well enough that even after everything that had happened, after all, that they had been through in their separate journies, something he thought about still rang true to his core when he looked back on the Siltori man once more. The fact that Eikaen had come up casually between them stirred something in the wolf, then again, many things have stirred the constant unrest deep within his soul as of late. He honestly wasn't sure which thread of Fate would tug at him next, only that he could plan on his next move, and simply attempt it in hopes he could outrun its weave. "Because you matter." He flatly remarked as if there weren't any question to it.

Then again Talon, in whatever form he currently resided in, would always hopefully remember that about Rickter. Once the wolf had grown certain of something, the stubbornness in him made it nearly impossible to be dissuaded. "You and I both know I can go on all day about this, because we've both made a habit out of it with one another." There was no denying the extent and lengths Rickter had gone just to reach Talon, and how prepared he was to actively be at war for the man he loved. Just as there was also no denying the constant act of protecting the ones he loved, much like Talon, when the prince himself would alleviate the danger to those around him at the expense of himself. It was that same man that threw himself into the jaws of oblivion after all, the very same man that found love when the world continued to assail them with obstacle after obstacle.

"You're just as part of a family, our family, as we are a part of your's Talon." Maybe Rickter hadn't quite belonged to House Novalys in that regard, but he hadn't forgotten the length of service he devoted into being just the prince's bodyguard alone. "Regardless of how you may feel now, your's is a presence that aches for us as much as it does you. That is why it matters." He had started to grow rigid in the silence of his Bondmate's presence, mostly from the tension in his chest as when he spoke his honest feelings. Admittedly the wolf realized now, of all times, that he could no longer be the protector that he wanted to.

Even up til now he had believed he could. But it had finally sunken in that he was still holding onto yet another piece of the past, a part of him that dearly just wanted to have his soulmate back home. Talon sighed and not long afterward, the breeze outside grew stronger as clouds rolled in. The morning rays of the sun soon shared with a gentle dowse of rain within the air. There were likely those citizens already up and out that hadn't accounted for rain this morning, but regardless, the sound of rainwater gently tapped against the outer bulwark of the lighthouse. Talon was leaving.

South was the only direction the wolf had been given, but Rickter knew nothing of south beyond Atinaw. That had been intentional then, this Talon likely doing what he could to protect Rickter yet again. He had started to hate it almost as much as he loved it. Yet he also began to understand the levity behind it also, as he learned why it was they were safer in sharing little to no information with one another. Fuck. Yet another obstacle he hadn't accounted for, just when he'd needed answers or at least insight on what to do. He'd already felt lost before, but now, part of Rickter had grown flustered with the circumstances at play. None of this was fair, but then again when had life ever been fair.

Now it became ever more apparent why Talon wished for his wolf to leave. Yet every fiber in his being refused. Even when Rickter wanted to listen, to concede and submit to what his Bondmate told him... something refused. He watched as Talon stood out in the rain, looking up into the sky even, before he teleported away with the closure of his mark. The wolf felt his presence diminish within the moment the Draegir vanished, left alone within the center of the room on top of that lighthouse. "Knowing is only half the battle." He reminded himself as the drizzle outside lessened, the wolf still posed on his knees as he looked to his hands in thought.

He reflected on that last night he'd seen Talon, the last conversation they shared in the waking world, before what happened on that frozen night. "Don't dwell on it. Follow your heart, and let it bring you home." As somber of a reminder as the words were for himself, somehow, he hoped that at least the Demigod still might hear them as a prayer. "Fight your battles," He murmured to himself with a slow stand on his feet, "no matter the distance between us we'll be together again." No matter the second, third, or even fourth attempt; Rickter won't be fighting to protect just what mattered to him anymore.

The wolf had come here in hopes of learning and understanding Talon's situation better, but only more questions stemmed from the failure that was his attempt at coercion. Regardless Rickter did learn several things from this visit, and it was with his eyes set on the sun as it still hung above the horizon, the front carrying in the rain already swept throughout the rest of the city. It wasn't his dawn but it was a close enough prospect, enough to draw hope from before the wolf closed his eyes to meditate.

Within a blink of an eye his astral body vanished from the room, his presence no longer drawing the gentle cool breeze from the north when he left.

"Common" "Synskrit" "Norvaegan"
"Rickter"

[Talon]

R E W A R D S

Name: Rickter
XP: +10 XP, can be used for magic.
Requested Lore: +10 Lores

Name: Talon
XP: +10 XP
Requested Lore: +10 Lores

Note(s): There were a lot of emotions in this thread. All I know is that there is a long road ahead of them, one I hope leads to a happy place because Talon and Rickter certainly deserve it. That was a nice touch adding that final line of dialog.