The days were getting shorter, and colder, the ground now littered with leaves that had given up the fight on hanging on through the frost. There were times that a light dusting of snow would cover the ground, but it never stayed for more than a few hours when it reached the daytime high. Tonight with the moon hidden behind the clouds, steam billowed from the leader’s nostrils with every breath, twirling around him as he moved before dissipating into the cool autumn air.

He had thought he had explored all of the forest near the territory, but tonight was proving that wasn’t true. The thicket was plain, wouldn’t have really been of note if he wasn’t surprised by its unfamiliarity. It was enough to rouse him from the comfortable numbness he had allowed to once more envelope him the moment he crossed the border for his nightly outing. He could hold it together for everyone else at home, but as soon as he thought he was alone and outside the borders he let himself fall into the depression of it all.

That Vanadis was gone, and Sephrina, and Archer, and presumably his father who had been missing for months. That he knew he couldn’t keep Atlas, Kalysta, and Hera safe. It was all so unfair, and so he took a moment to lay near one of the Laurel bushes and looked around, a brief break in the clouds of his mind.