Sex: MaleIt had taken much longer than Adelard had anticipated. Traversing these lands on the cusp of Spring's arrival was rough on the middle-aged man. Alongside the characteristic red slopes of the Sierra Hills, he came home to Fools' Gold Chasm. He had come for one thing. A memory. Something near and dear to his heart...
It was surprising that the old raccoon pelt was still there. Parts of it had been chewed up by mice, some of its fur tufts were long gone. But, for the most part, it was still. The only thing missing was the fact that it no longer smelled of his mate. In his jowls, he carried the tattered treasure across Relic Lore.
He had not been there when Woya had fallen and, for that, he was angry with himself. For the past six months, the stages of grief had come and gone six times over. He was tired. This had to stop and the only way he could think of consoling his aching, bleeding heart was this...
The wilderness that was the Shroud of the Lost was just as he remembered it. Misty, disorienting, and full of mysteries no one wolf could discover alone. He picked his way through the evergreens until he found her. Or, at least, the place where Woya had fallen to her death... the shallow grave he had reluctantly dug up seasons ago and the rock that had ended her life. He had refused to bring Brielle and Anatole here, wanting to shield them from the pain of loss. At the time he felt like it had been the right thing. He knew now from personal experience that it had been stupid to keep them in the dark. Not only was he missing his partner, but he was also without the last two of his children. They, too, were lost to Relic Lore's badlands.
Snow still clung to the ground here. Her resting place was still shadowed by the trees and the crest of rock from which she had fallen. Adelard placed the old raccoon skin over the jagged ice-covered rock and then sat. His head bowed and he closed his eyes.
"Hello, ma petite femme," he whispered. His teeth clenched together as he forbade himself to cry. He had spent the last half a year doing that and it did nothing to bring her back. He could have apologized over and over. For everything. But, the truth was, he didn't want to. Everything had happened for a reason.
He sniffed and cleared his throat, "I just wanted to let you know that I love you." A decent pause and the straightening of his head with a slow exhale, "and that I'm ready to move on... with your blessing."
(This post was last modified: Mar 04, 2024, 08:30 PM by Adelard.)
ADELARD GERAU
black smoke, I take it higher