Heartleaf Creek love is to die

Noon; Freezing fog — 9° F/-13° C;
@Karpos Lol she's such a drama queen

At first Nova waited for him to return. The first day passed by in a crawl, and the second moved even slower at an excruciating drag. Every moment she kept her senses tuned for her beloved, listening for every whistle of wind through the trees that might sound like his voice, every rustle of grass that could be his pawsteps. She didn't know when he would return, or even if he would. For all she knew, he was gone forever. He said he would come back, but a small part of her wasn't so sure anymore. Up until their fight she had been so sure of their relationship.

A hollow feeling had taken up residence in her chest, somehow both empty and impossibly heavy. Her limbs ached and she wanted to do nothing but lay in their den, bury her nose into the tufts of fur @Camio had left behind and inhale his scent. She had gathered all the stray bits of golden fur into a little pile, weighted down by a strange looking stone she had found that reminded her of a lynx's eye.

By the third day, Nova wasn't feeling much better. She didn't want to do anything, but knew it would be best if she at least got up and took a look at the world. Nova finally dragged herself out of the den, facing the cold, bright white wall of fog that had settled over the land. It was odd, but beautiful in its own way. Slowly, with no life in her step she shuffled towards the border, purposefully avoiding the patch of land where they had fought. She tried to smash down the hopes that she would see him just outside the borders. She figured if he wanted to be found, he would be, and if he didn't he wouldn't.

Nova found a trickling creek and followed the water upstream. She really looked at it, tried to pretend to be the water. She followed it as it rushed over rocks, eddied past fallen logs, grew still in pools, or froze solid at its shallower edges. She followed it until her paws grew sore, and the sun weakly beamed through the fog as it drooped lazily at its low southern zenith. As she slowed to a stop, the illusion was lost. She didn't feel ever changing and adaptable like the stream. She felt stuck, mucky, dirty, worthless. She was a worm perhaps. If she had done things right, Camio would still be here. She was a gross little worm and she didn't deserve him. Nova collapsed onto the ground beside the creek, listing onto her side as she whined.

kiss the ring and let them bow down

Karpos had snuck away from the borders that day for some peace and quiet as he nimbly moved his way around the trees near the creek. His focus had been focused on Jynx and Adsila. He had grown concerned when his sister had not shown up at the last hunt and so he searched for her. He had not found her in the den so he had decided to check the outlying territories. He narrowed his eyes when he saw a dark form next to the creek whining at the water where she though no one would hear her. The problem was that it wasn't Adsila's voice. It was a voice he did know though. Oh where did he know that voice?

It was then that it hit him. That was the voice of Nova, Aponi's sister. Concern flooded him as he remembered his friend the last time they had met. Nova had been so happy and cheerful and had helped him out of a funk. He needed to help her in a similar way. The dark Slayer boy approached her with a small bark in a greeting. "Nova, what's wrong?" The concern and protectiveness over his friend, who was truthfully more like a younger sister or something, was evident in his tone as he sat down beside her and looked at the side of her face. Why was she away from Keep lands? Word had not yet hit him that the Keep had fallen and that Thorpe was dead. Word had not yet hit him that Nova had a mate and that they were in Secret Woodlands.

A bark drifted towards Nova through the mist. At first she simply flicked an ear towards the sound, before she realized what it was and scrambled up to a sit. At first she was embarrassed that someone had seen her whining and flopping around on the river bank like some sort of dying moose. She was a little confused by the voice at first, not usually hearing Karpo's voice but familiar enough with his cadence. His dark form quickly materialized from the white shroud and she watched as he sat next to her. There was something nice about seeing him. He was a little ray of something nice that remained from her past, and she considered him a friend. But even that wasn't enough to replace the sense of despair that hung over her like a dark cloud.

It didn't take long for Nova to notice the pink mark that slashed down through his eye. She couldn't help but stare at it, concern making itself evident in her expression. That hadn't been there the last time she had seen him, had it? It was enough to distract her from her troubles for a moment as she puzzled over it, and his sudden appearance, before he asked her what was wrong. Then it all came crashing back down again. Nova gave a long sigh, her shoulders practically deflating as if the weight of the world sat upon them. "Oh Karpos, everything. Everything is wrong." She wailed dramatically.