She waited for what felt like ages before he finally spoke, his mind working out all that it needed to in order to right itself. Riopat could feel the gears shifting in his head as he tried to process what she told him, as if everyone in his past had always told him he was nothing. Was he abandoned too? Was he told from birth he was different, as she had been told she was cursed? For so long things had gone right, until Tesseract gave Mortz the assignment to leave for Diveen. Then, Mortz stayed gone more often, even after promising never to leave her again. Perhaps, he had more assignments, but I simply couldn't bear it any longer. I couldn't stand not seeing my Story again, my Novel and Rune had become veritable strangers, and I was alone in my grief.

I mourned the loss of my little Story, and my heart still ached from the thought of finding her, flashes of her little broken body on the border came into my mind. All this in the time for him to respond to her. His voice filled her with joy, he would go with her, run with her! And untold, unfathomable joy spilled over and she had to move. Her soul burst with the color yellow, the bright color of her own personal happiness, or how she saw it anyway. She unwound from her curled position at his front legs and returned the comfort of his kisses ten fold over his brow and on his ears, tucking her back against his chest as his leg rose protectively over her.

"I do not know where to go, away from Glorall or Diveen. I wish to go somewhere we can disappear."

She never wanted to be found again, never wanted to be known again. She could not go to Diveen because Mortz would visit his imprint after he learned Riopat wasn't coming home. Her heart lurched when she realized her last words to him would be the ones she spoke in the heat of everything. That Mortz would go home believing a lie, and she would be the one who told it to him. She loved her mate, but could tolerate his broken promise no more. So she fed him a lie.

For now, she wishes to roam once more, to learn of her imprint and explore the lands around them. Maybe find a way out of the snow storm that would be heading their way soon. There was something intense about being this close to his warm, and faintly lavender scented, body. She could feel his heart beat struggle to catch the cadence of her own, and she could feel all of the movements of his muscles on her back. Hormones surged and she reached up, licking at Mockingbird's lower jaw before she forced herself to move away from the intimate embrace, every inch of her willpower forced herself into motion and toward the mouth of a cave tunnel that led to the grotto beneath Susil.

"There is a storm coming, so we will hide for the day."

Her dainty white paws moved gracefully against the face of the stones as she moved, those dark eyes checking where she had come from toward the one who captured her soul. They were both broken, from shattered pasts, and both hearts were made of splintered glass. Perhaps, if they put the pieces back together, they could be whole together. Riopat silently hopes they get snowed in for a while. She could hunt rats, bats, and all random assorted cave life. Perhaps a rabbit or two would get lost inside, or some small cat?