The World Is Crashing Down Around Our Ears

Mercury thoughts were an exhausted fog. For a while, his winged friend had flapped about his head, trying to get his attention. To get him to stop. He wasn’t entirely certain when her efforts had ceased. His sharp and clear grid pattern search had started to mender somewhere along the way. Had he walked this path already? His blurry eyes searched the floor, pawsteps in front of him. A spark of home in his chest, before he realised the marks matched his own pads perfectly. He blinked blurry eyes, squinting, and struggling to focus. Focus, focus. Wren was out there, waiting for him. She had to be. The alternative couldn’t exist.

He didn’t realise another wolf was with him, not until she was already alongside him. That, more than anything else, should have told him what a fool he was being. How could he find Wren, when he could see a wolf five steps behind him? He blinked, red-rimmed eyes turning to the wolf beside him. His eyes settled on Keahi for a long moment before he spoke. “...Keahi?”


"Speech"