As the heavens wash down upon my face, I feel more content in this moment than I have in a long time. Despite the dark and stormy sky, I can see clearly for what feels like the first time in ages. This storm, the river, even Jericho, seemed to have washed away all my sins. Maybe this was the point where I started anew, opened the door to the new beginning Natu had spoken of. As I stand alongside this wolf that seemed to have somehow nudged his way into my spirit, nothing else mattered. We could stand here forever and just soak up the power of the storm. A single ear swiveled towards him as I felt the reverberations of speech pass his lips, and my own eyes open slightly, tilting my vision towards him as he asked something that might be seen as simple, but felt quite grand to me. Could we be friends? The words were barely a breath on his lips, but I heard him, and answered. “Always,” I whispered back. And then my eyes slid closed once more, letting the prickle of our fur barely grazing together further exhilarate me.

After that we both lapsed into silence, letting the rain cleanse us. But as much as I might have desired to simply stand here and soak up the storm, a strike of lightning cracked through the sky, accompanied by a ground shaking roll of thunder. I could deny it all I wanted, but we could not stay here any longer. Before I am even able to react, however, Jericho shifts himself and my eyes pop open, seeking him even as he presses his chest to mine. I lean into the embrace, my bodice afire even amidst the chill of the storm. As he tilted his head up towards my ear, I folded into him, placing my nose at his ear. But I said nothing, instead simply blowing out a soft puff of air from my nostrils against the tufts that edged his ear. It is only then that I withdraw slightly and our eyes lock once more. Something about him entrances me, and I force myself to remember that we must move. So I reach out to him and touch my nose to his scarred cheek before pivoting my bodice so that we stand side by side, pointed north.

It is pure assumption that we will move together as I set off, strides elongating to match his as we lope through the saturated grasses that border the river. The reality that we really should find shelter to weather the storm had made me flash through the nearest locations within Spirane where we could dry off. Though I determine our course, I never step ahead of him, adjusting every stride so that we remain side by side as we flee from the river. It does not take long for us to get away from Aplos altogether, leaving the waterway’s head in our wake as we come upon the borders of my home. My own scent rises like a wall before us, but I never hesitate, crossing into Spirane without missing a beat.

Only then do I begin to angle my path slightly to the east, as the ground begins to slope upwards into the foothills of my mountain range. When first I had reclaimed my home from Purge this area had not been marked out as part of her reign. But I had quickly subsumed it once more, as my mother had before me, including it in that which was known as Spirane. It is not long before we are moving down a slight decline of the foothills that the mouth of a sheltered cave becomes visible. Only when we are within do I slow, a laugh escaping me as I circled the cave and then came to a stop at its mouth, tail erect and waving back and forth as I watched the storm continue to assault the earth. I glanced over to Jericho, wondering what he was thinking in this moment, before unexpectedly bracing myself and shaking the water from my pelt.

With that, I took a couple steps backward, away from the mouth of the cave and the wetness I had now created within. I lowered my bodice to the floor of the cave, softly smiling up at Jericho. “It may not stop until morning. We may as well rest here for the night; it is dry…and warm.” Warmth, I wanted to feel his again, and part of me hoped he would come and lay beside me.