Hazy Shade of Winter

Things hadn't changed much for him since seeing Asha, though he hadn't expected they would. His own future was disconnected from hers, though he would be lying if he said he wasn't reflecting not heir reunion quite a bit. Knowing she was in these lands was enough to cause him to feel wildly out of sorts. His past seemed to be haunting him - and he wasn't sure what to make of it quite yet. Wandering in the unknown today seemed quite ideal, as his own thoughts were scattered and disorganized. The oversized brute found himself wandering through thick underbrush, a place he normally wouldn't great mess of briar bushes and vegetation. Even the cold did not deter him. Instead, he shrugged off the frost as it caught on his pelt from brushing against the briar bushes and continued on.

It was a chilly morning, and each exhalation brought a visible puff of air from his nostrils. Rather than enjoy the scenery of this place, as some might, he simply trudged onward. Beneath his paws, he crushed vegetation and flower alike, without regard as he trudged through the thick underbrush. In the distance, he heard the gentle rustling of.. something. Or someone. His jaw clenched tightly. He wasn't really in the mood for company today, not really. Stubbornly he pressed onward, knowing very well the last thing he wanted to do was to interact with anyone at all, but he was too thick-headed today to change his course of direction.

The stranger's shuffling grew louder, and he caught a whiff of their scent. He thought it was a stranger, at least. But something about the scent, even from a great distance, made his chest clench uncomfortably. Like claws raking at his heart. He couldn't place it, but he knew it was.. someone. It wasn't Asha, he'd just seen her recently, and her scent was ingrained in his mind now. Slowly, cautiously, he pushed onward.

That was when he saw her. Through a clearing in the vegetation, stood a woman with white and black fur. He couldn't see her features well from such a distance, as she moved among the briar bushes, focused on something of her own. The realization hit him suddenly. She looked like Caelum. So similar. But.. how could it be? She'd never, not in a million years, intentionally end up in the same lands that Asha inhabited. What was the chance?

The last time he'd seen her had been painful. Actually, that was a drastic understatement. It'd been.. torturous. A plenitude of emotion, of hurt and regret and anger, had surfaced then and threatened to consume him entirely. He'd been stunned, at first, but slowly his astonishment had turned to white-hot anger. He'd spent so much time thinking of how he might confront her - or make amends with her, though his mentor had all but convinced him that everything that had happened had been Caelum's fault alone - but it had all gone to hell when he finally saw her again. He'd seen her run from the carnage, had seen his closest friend fall, had seen the blood and mangled flesh where his children should've been. Once again, he felt it grip his heart - the hurt was real, and merciless, as it once again consumed him. Years of trying to forget, of trying to move on, felt as though it had been erased in an instant.

He'd lied then, though. He'd told her he never missed her, that he was happy she was gone. The truth was that he'd spent months crying, hardly able to think, let alone move. Time had hardened him, had changed him, and the easiest way to block out that pain was through rage and through blame. He wouldn't deny that he still blamed her, but something else prickled at his mind as he peered at her from a far distance. Then slowly, warily - his voice unable to contain a slight quiver that entered it suddenly - he'd call out, "Hello?" With the single word, a question he hardly had the courage to even ask, he froze and waited. He half-hoped that his senses were playing tricks on him, and she wasn't the wolf he knew at all.