then you slipped from my grasp

They had been reunited! She had found Baelnaris. For the better part of this year they had traveled together, tracking their lost family members with no results... and they had been miserably separated during the volcano. After the explosion there was no chance of catching his scent again. The ash and acrid air had undeniably changed the landscape. Finally, her surroundings looked how she felt inside: ravaged and altered by chaos. There was no predicting the world around her and she found this extremely troubling. Although she practiced her rituals for luck and prosperity the same as ever, Vera found herself doing it mindlessly. No longer did she put her heart into them. No wonder they never worked.

She made her way to the battlefield. It was one of the few places she had been to before that remained relatively unchanged by the volcano. Of course, some time had passed since the eruption - the days had quickly melted into months. Without any purpose it was easy to lose track of time. Vera stalked the plains restlessly as ash rained down on to the paw-churned snow. It was wet and cold, but at least it wasn't burning or covered in that strange black rock that volcanoes left behind.

Fighting never changed. Empires would rise and fall to ruins and wolves would still fight the same way as they had for generations, for eons. There were only so many ways that you could execute certain moves, respond to attack patterns. It was predictable, to a certain point. She would find her solace on the battlefield. Veraxes lifted her head to the sky and sang the familiar song of challenge. Anyone would recognize what she was looking for: a real fight. Something with stakes. Something to give her purpose again.

wc 298
twc 298/1500