I'm just the boy inside the man

She had promised the boy that she would find his father, and that alone would have spurred her onwards, enticed her to keep her promise. Who Typhoon was, and who she searched for, that changed everything. There was a touch of desperation in her searching, a franticness in her searching. Typhoon had told her that his father was sick, that he had left him here for Shaye to find. That told Shaye more then, perhaps, it told the boy.

Why else would Arcus leave his son to his childhood friend? Why would he leave him here, and walk away. Not hello, no goodbye, only silence. Terrible, ominous, silence. A Feather that as far as she knew, he had never taken off rom the day she had gifted it to him. Perhaps that was his goodbye, his apology, so much and so little.

Her insides tightened into a pained knot, and if she thought too hard on why Arcus had done these things, she knew she would struggle to breathe. Her life might have moved on, she might have children of her own, a pack to care for; but the ties of her childhood where still inside of her, a bond she didn’t know if she could ever let go of.

Pushing past the pain, she moved through the territories surrounding Abaven, leaving Typhoon in the safety of her pack lands. She started with the place she had found the feather, dropped down on her knees to sniff the surface for anything she might have missed on her first go around. The very feather she had found here was tucked gently behind her ear, fanning beside the blue of the feather she always wore. It left a gentle hint of her scent on her, and if she turned her head too fast, occasionally she would catch it.

Perhaps it was foolish of her to bring it, its scent a distraction. It didn’t matter, she could never leave it behind, just as she could not leave behind the faces of her childhood. Dusk arrived, but she was not yet ready to give up her search, her paws lead her to the lake that sat tranquility behind her territory, she found herself skirting its shore, her eyes lost upon the fireflies that flittered and danced above its surface. Their lights cast reflections on the water, like hundreds of stars, moving, dancing, alive. She stopped her pacing, turning fully towards the water, and wished instead of stars, she could be seeing a storm within their pattern. A reminder, a memory.

She couldn’t say exactly what caught her attention, a trick of the light perhaps, a hint, a whisper in her mind. She turned, and found him there, not far from her, his face turned to the lake. She knew without knowing how, something inside of her spoke of her connection to this stranger, this did not know, yet knew better then most.

She felt as though she was in a dream as she drifted towards him, her steps soft on the cool grass, the moonlight faint and the light of the fireflies haphazardous at best. It was enough to outline him in a faint golden glow, but she knew he was no mirage. She came to a stop not far from him, her voice soft, heartbroken and full of hope. “Arcus?”


"Burn Baby Burn"