purple diamond in the rough

He wasn’t sure he had ever been so thankful for the warm weather returning, he didn’t feel right when the world was dormant and dead. His massive paws carried him over lush grasses, alone. This wasn’t how he preferred to be, not having another presence beside caused his mind to wander much too far. Much like his paws. Indigo had started the day with a small patrol with every intention of returning to the castle before his girls woke, but his paws took on a mind of their own. Indigo’s mind was foggy and the young man ‘woke’ miles from the border of the Hallows.

Indigo blinked in surprise as he took in the landscape around him. The cold northern climate hadn’t quite released its hold here but despite the chill in the air the berry bushes and the trees were doing their very best to push out leaves and foliage. Indigo’s eyes were particularly peeled for the flowers of the plants that might one day soon provide a plethora of berries. The young man was especially eager to find a strawberry patch. He’d found a dormant bee hive and harvested what honey he thought the hive could do without so that when he did eventually find his strawberries he could honey them. If there was anything beyond his Aslatiel that he wanted more in the world it was honied strawberries like his aunt used to give him.

A soft sigh left his lips as his mind was returned to a time much simpler than now. When his aunt, father, and grandmother were the ultimate authority. When the wolves he looked up to still had all the answers when he felt lost. A sharp pain struck through his heart and Indigo gasped at the sudden pain. It was just like the moment he left Aslatiel after the funeral. He didn’t have his medication, he had no protection against it. The young man leaned against the thick trunk of a tree as he tried to regain his composure, but struck from nowhere he felt like the lost boy he truly was beneath the rough intimidating exterior. He felt the hopelessness that Duchess chased away, and without her Indigo embraced the emotion.

Indigo looked up to the north, he could just barely see the ocean through the trees. He convinced himself that if he could just see a little further he’d catch a glimpse of Aslatiel’s brilliant galactic eyes. The thought soothed him enough that he could catch his breath, but the emptiness inside brought him to his knees.