Through The Dark Side

Fall had fully shifted into winter in the northern territories of Boreas. The days grew shorter, the air colder, and every morning greeted the dawn with frost or a thin dusting of snow on the ground. Many of the birds native to Alias Island had begun to fly south to escape the cold, and soon the full brutality of winter would be upon them all. Alastor had occupied his days with Saracyn helping to keep their larders stocked and full in preparation for the harsher later season, as well as tending to Manea and their new daughter. But even with his preoccupations, it hadn't escaped his attention that Relm had been mostly absent from pack life. Every so often he would peek glimpses of the cloaked woman slipping off the island across the land bridge, but he never saw her return. Every time he went to check her den, it would be empty, though he knew she was returning sometime at night. The shift in her behavior worried him. Relm was a reclusive creature by nature, but even this seemed like an extreme avoidance of everything and everyone.

With preparations for Avacyn's festival all but completed, it afforded the black-furred dire a bit more free time. This evening, he decided to head across to the mainland to try and find Relm as she eventually came back home, hoping to intercept her to check and make sure she was all right. He was a bit concerned that he'd done something during their hunt together to turn her off from him, but for the life of him, couldn't think of what it could be. Twilight gripped the land by the time his paws touched the rocky shore of mainland Boreas, and it was soon growing dark by the time he'd scoured the Rock Garden. Relm was nowhere to be found in pack lands. Alastor pursed his lips in pensive thought, trying to suss out where she would have gotten to. After some time thinking, he turned in the direction of Firefly Lake, heading to where he had found the pink woman before.

Sure enough, his hunch had been correct. Coming up to the lake, he spotted the dark form of Relm beneath the moon and starlight wading slowly out into the water. He cocked his head; surely that water had to be freezing cold. This wasn't like before during the summer, when it was hot enough to justify the swim. What was she doing? Alastor prowled along the shore, making his way across the rocky ground until he came closer to where Relm stood in the shallow water. He didn't say anything while he waded out into the water with her, and while his height prevented the water from coming up quite as high on his body as it did hers, it was still frigid and biting cold, cutting through his fur like it wasn't even there. Relm would catch her death if she stayed out here for too long. Alastor remained quiet as he came up beside her, dark eyes scouring her face for some sort of reaction or explanation for her behavior. He fixed her with a confused look, waiting for her to fill in the blanks for him.

"Alastor"