Sex: MaleMuch like a colossal guardian guarding a mystical treasure, Fenru Tainn prowled along the borders of Swift River, following the icy stream around his mother's territory in a wide arc. Every step that brought him through the Grove made the icy mist swirl around his paws then give him a wide berth as he pressed onward along the familiar path. Usually he would have marched along his routinely beat, stopping by his landmarks in a timely fashion; but since he had returned, practically empty-handed, from the heights of Mount Dire, he had longed for something he just couldn't pin his paws on. He found he could not let himself rest, to let his mind fall prey to the maddening silence around him. Aside from his casual duties as his family's keeper, Fenru found that Aiyana barely needed his supervision anymore; and the journey with Ice and Jessie had caused him to drift away from not only them but the rest of the pack - something he had not anticipated and thoroughly anguished over. Pausing along the frozen river bank, he stared at the thin coat of ice that covered the shallows.
Where his reflection should have been, a sheet of frost that held the blurred and distorted silhouette of his head greeted him instead. He sighed, wondering for a moment what he would have done if he could have seen himself. What would he have countered? Or, who would he have come face-to-face with? The fact that he still barely knew who he was made whatever anger and sorrow bubble upward from the depths of his chest. It only took the memory of their faces - Prosper, Rihael, Torrel, Rissa - to calm him down some, but what emptiness and uncertainty had been there seconds before gave way to misery. For the yearling, it seemed as if things were just as they had been a year ago when he was not sure about fitting into the adult ranks... when Indru had abandoned him, when his very first friend had died, when his brothers had disappeared.
Through the gloom and lingered darkness of the hours before the dawn, it occurred to the young Tainn that he had not properly grieved over the loss of his baby sister, let alone the loss of half of his immediate family. He forced himself to sit, his large frame folding as his neck craned downward to face the glassy surface of the river. A few deep breaths later, his ears perked up and he glanced up toward the treetops, suddenly concerned. There was a quality to the silence that had enveloped him that made all the hair along his spine stand up. The birds that should have been chirping happily amongst themselves as they foraged for food were absent from their perches. Fiery orange eyes quickly scanned the forest's edge, raking across the hushed murmuring of the River to find that he had let his guard down at a very inconvenient spot. Everywhere around him fog was closing in.
He blinked, hastily steeling himself against the fear that had taken root within him. "Hello?" the word fell from his tongue like a stone sinking into the sea. One glance over his shoulder and his tail warily lifted from its place at his heels. Another word warped his mouth but the name was barely more than an audible whisper, "Mum..."
Taekwondo (M, W, F) | Rapid-Response Day (Tu) | WoW Nights (F, Sat, Sun)
![[Image: jessiehotei-greysig01.jpg]](https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-i11e9hIy644/VCc-WLUgtMI/AAAAAAAALao/WLDrtPYzJQg/s0/jessiehotei-greysig01.jpg)