who we are and all that we're trying to be
If one was sharp, intuitive, and willing to learn, ignorance eventually bled away into understanding, comprehension, and experience. Deimos had none to offer Chulane about Halo, save for the multitudes of dangers, but the Hollowed Grounds held enough sagacity and wisdom to spread to other regions. Should they all survive, the leopard would be welcome, as most were, to the sights and sounds of spring, to things not so immersed in bloodshed, monsters, and misery (one hoped; and he thought that with a vivid grain of salt).
And he should’ve been getting back, it was true; before snowfall, before Deepfrost settled its chill into their bones, before brief, stark reminders of worlds the Sword had held before (aloft and beholden), were sunken and forbidding. The offer extended towards him caught him by surprise, noted by the tilt of his hound head, the confusion circumventing through; never quite knowing what to do when kindness was bestowed in return. Just survive. Take care of yourself. Who knew what could happen amongst the mountains.
Who knew what would happen here, really. They could predict and strive and attempt all they craved, wanted, and yearned, and sometimes it still held no meaning.
See you in Flowerbirth sounded like an oath, a promise, a conviction he’d made one too many times. He still immersed it within the bond though, in case he could ensure it would ring true.
Then he lifted his head in a silent farewell, and meandered back towards home.
{FIN}
It takes dying to know
How to live as ghosts
