Missing Piece

Life was pretty strange as of late. Life within Abaven was quiet, almost unnervingly so, and while timid Spirit generally enjoyed when things were so calm lately he simply felt uneasy. The only person he spent much time with lately was Gloom, and though he knew that was simply how life went - he knew Void was married now and had his own life to tend to beyond himself and Gloom - he couldn't help but feel somber about it all. They'd left Abaven for so long too and still hadn't found their mother, and it was hard to not be too hard on himself about all that. Things were just hard, and on top of that he'd been neglecting his training for far too long, or maybe his luck had simply run out. He'd gotten fortunate in meeting a few good wolves who'd taught him most of what he knew now, but then again he hadn't been going out much lately..

Today Strawberry, his little finch companion, seemed unusually insistent on bothering him. She rarely was bothersome at all but every time he turned a corner it seemed like she was alternating between calling to him and pecking annoyingly at his nose when he glumly ignored her. Finally he pulled himself a bit taller and made to follow her, wherever she was taking him. His slender paws carried him north of Abaven's lands. Maybe Strawberry just wanted to take advantage of an unusually dry day. The autumn had been a wet one so far and today seemed like a break from that. The ground was still damp with dew from the sun just barely rising in the sky but its warmth promised a temperate day, and Spirit hoped that he was right about that as he headed toward Firefly Lake, not far off from the water's edge now.