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+---- Thread: Whisper Marsh wild hearts can't be broken (/showthread.php?tid=18090)
wild hearts can't be broken - Skoll - Jul 18, 2018
July 17th; Well past mid-night/early morning; Overcast Clouds; 66.2 ° F, 19 ° C.
Skoll's nightly vigil brought him to the northern edges of the Lagoon; it was only by chance and by sudden realization that he had not seen his brother in some time that he wandered further out into the Marsh. Several times over, whenever there was a sound - the rustling of leaves, the snapping of a twig, the creak of a branch - just beyond his peripheral vision, his breath caught in his chest. Several times over his hopes were dashed. Wide ghost grey eyes blinked and he let out a small sigh in desperation. "Oh, Niles," he whispered barely under his breath. "C'mon, Niles. Don't do this to me..."
His lanky legs eventually started wading through the half-submerged reeds, but he had to talk himself out of it all. Niles' scent had not been peppered around the territory as it once had. Hell, he was not even sure when he last even saw the Archer-Lyall. There was no telling if Niles was even around anymore. It hurt, to think that his brother would even leave without saying goodbye. Even after all they had gone through together. He winced. It hurt... if only because he knew that Niles was still hurting. He was out there, all alone and in undeniable agony.
Loss did that much damage. Skoll should have known. He had definitely lost more than he had gained, but unlike Niles, he dusted himself off and willed himself to walk away. Niles... he was trapped and there was nothing Skoll could do for him but to let him go.
The shores, as much as he could traverse, were at least clear of the Lyall's scent. If he could have followed his brother to the ends of the earth just to keep him safe, he might have, but he was stable now - with young cubs to raise, a mate to dote upon, his sister's protection, and a pack to fall back on - and he had to tend to the roots he had put down within the Scowle. He blinked into the night, the waxing crescent moon unable to shine a path for the Archer to follow through the cloud-filled skies. Perhaps that was what Niles needed: to be free, without his siblings at his back, without ties or even the confines of the forest. He had to find his own way in the wilderness.
Wild hearts couldn't be broken.