Don't Blink

Chrystelle never wandered far from Ocean or Aslatiel, especially not now that the world had depended into this constant darkness and eerie glow, but as long as she was still within the forest that they called home she still felt safe enough. She kept away from the crystals and mushrooms that grew on the trees and rocks and was grateful that she had spent so much time collecting herbs before all this began so she had a good stock of them without feeling the need to collect from the plants that had an odd, otherworldly glow to them. For the most part she kept to the den they lived in, occasionally wandering through the forest as she continued to build up her strength and fortify her immune system, spending time with Aslatiel's children now that they had all moved in together officially. She knew the plan was for them to begin traveling through Boreas and Auster at some point, but she hoped that perhaps they would wait until things went back to normal.

The rest of her chosen family had laid down for the night, but she was having a difficult time sleeping. It wasn't uncommon for her. Since she still didn't have much physical strength or endurance she didn't expend a lot of energy during the day and because of that she had a hard time sleeping through the night. She was up again, slipping through the now familiar, misty forest, casually wandering between the trees. It was very, very rare she found anyone else out here, especially not this late at night, but the sound of voices made her stop and listen for a moment. They were far enough away that it was hard for her to pick up exactly what they were saying, but she caught snippets about asking the other if they were okay and some questioning statements about finding who they were. Chrystelle was certainly not a social wolf by any stretch of the imagination, but the words she caught had her curious and she found herself drifting toward the voices, straining to see who it was through the dense fog.

Peeking around a tree, she finally found them. Her amber eyes went wide with surprise at what she found—a very small wolf with multicolored wings growing from his back with a pair of companions with him. It was almost as if a small wolf and a large bird combined into one being and made a wolf entirely unlike anyone she had ever seen before. She thought that if she simply saw who it was that she heard talking she could be satisfied and go back to the den, but now she was even more curious than she had been before. She hesitated behind the tree that had become her hiding spot, watching the winged wolf uncertainly and trying to gather up the courage to approach him.

"Chrystelle"