Dead by Night...

Jakart shivered again and lowered his body onto the ground. There was no warmth here wherever he was as a paw idly scraped the soil of the riverbank. Even touching ye ground fully felt muted and disjointed than how it normally should have been. If that was the only thing about his sleep beneath the waves he supposed that he should grateful that it was no nightmare. Though... if he was alone forever here the he supposed that he would go mad. Jakart had always been a quiet wolf around his family, glad to help with whatever needed to be done without much thought or words given to the task. But he felt that Callisto had changed that when he had first met her since leaving Ebony. Anais and Lior were gone to a pack, his brothers disappearing to explore for days of weeks at a time, and so he remained by himself for much of his time in the Fern Gulley. Though, Callisto had changed that.

She didn't seem to need much in the way of a friendship as it was wanting to have a mutual understanding of where they stood in their strange relationship. Jakart supposed she could've been more than a friend after what they'd done during her season but he would need her to say it. Not that she would anytime soon. Especially with how they had parted a few hours ago. She most certainly thought of him as dead and lost. Maybe there was a chance that she would come looking for him. It was a stretch for him to be found even if he did resurface intact and well enough to walk.

The mirror smooth waters of the river had a ripple travel out across the surface as a paw was gently placed into it. The paw retracted and Jakart immediately found himself sitting back up and facing the sound of crashing bushes. If this was a nightmare he would be ready to face it. But no. One long lost to him poked her head out past the edge of the forest and stopped, that missed smile he hadn't seen in years falling away sharply. "Mom?" Tahlia? What was she doing here? "Mom..." Jakart saw that she was about to cry, his own chest constricting as his black paws darted his battered frame forward. With a choked sob, emotional strength waning with each bound forward until he buried his face into his mothers chest and wrapped his paws around her back with a sharp breath. Tahlia was one thing he needed right now and he didn't even know it as his body still drifted beneath the waves of the flood.