Double, Double Toil And Trouble

Mist swirled around her limbs, twisting out the way as the goddess moved through the swamplands. Pyralis was headed back to Auster, winter nipping at her heels. It seemed a winter storm had been following her, only lifting when she passed over the mountains of the maw. Hopefully the storm would dump its moisture there and not further burden her journey with biting winds and bitter cold. She'd been wandering and exploring the north, hoping to find some sense of direction. She hadn't found what she was looking for. Ashiel was troubled and she didn't know how to comfort him. She wasn't sure what to make of her grand-daughter. She felt distant from her beliefs. In the end Pyralis decided to head home and see if she could turn her mind to her duties. She was an expert scout. It was time for her to start using her skills to benefit the empire. But even so, she found herself tempted to go further back, to the land of her birth to check in and see how her brother was doing.

The call of a screech owl gave her pause when it was suddenly snuffed out. The scent of blood reached her nostrils but she was not concerned. She was a skilled predator and warrior. She was prey for none. The killer soon made her presence known and Pyralis grinned as her companion, Alkali, settled into the branches above, digging into her meal. A break then. Pyralis leapt onto the base of a great tree, long since felled in some mighty storm. Here she stretched out her elegant form and bathed in the moonlight. She welcomed the silence. The stillness was soft and heavy and she let it envelope her.

Alkali ate away at the flesh of the screech owl and for a moment Pyralis wondered if she drifted off to sleep when she thought she'd heard a hissing voice, not far off. She tucked her limbs beneath her muscular body, coiled taut like an elegant spring. She spied something moving in the dark. It seemed almost as though a piece of the darkness had come alive and was slithering through the nice with bright blue eyes and the form of a wolf. A wolf with an exceptionally long tail.

"What a treat. I wasn't expecting to find a ghoul wandering about her business tonight." Sultry tones spilled from her lips as her golden eyes flitted about the stranger's decorations. Azure beads and bird skulls. Pyralis had to admit, her curiosity was peeked.