She is afraid, that much she can summize and yet, she can barely fathom why it is she feels such a way. Her heart seems to pound constantly against her breastbone; her stomach knots and frets, and yet, it is the fear that feels so very wrong. She feels it and yet, her body rejects the mere idea of being afraid. In fact, it craves what it is she runs from and at times, she does not believe that she can trust her paws as she roams the night, staring at the stars in hopes that they give her some answer. It is a feeling she has felt before, only this time it feels so much more
alive. Malum, she thinks, and so, she fears that loss once more. How sick fate must be, she thinks, to curse her twice within her lifetime. Did Ambrosia give her this? Did she impart the crack within her soul that should have been hers unto her sister? Why else would Elara's soul be so incomplete? Elara, it seems, was not born missing one half. She is missing more and it terrifies her.
She feels him first; her fur prickles in the wind, her body suddenly light above her paws, as if she is the wind herself. She feels her heart lurch back in some desperate ploy to be closer to him and yet, she lopes onwards. Her ears push back however, desperate to hear the rhythm of his paws and the sound of his breath as it fights against the autumn breeze. She hears him, she feels him and yet, she thinks it best to not look at him. As he increases his pace, she even closes her eyes, her brows furrowed in deep wrinkles as she blacks out the world around her.
Such is her mistake however. He runs suddenly, so suddenly that she does not react, before she feels him so very close. His fur mingles with hers for a moment, his breath on her as he nips and she cannot help but let out a surprised yelp. Yet, she does not flinch nor cringe. Instead, her eyes, yellow like an owl, suddenly burst open and she curses herself with a hiss as she finally sees him in his entirety. He is everything she did not imagine. He infinitely dark and yet, marked with the very same silver light as the stars. She gasps in surprise as he continues in front.
It proves her theory: she cannot trust her paws.
She is barely aware that she has begun running, her strides effortlessly long and smooth as she takes up the chase. Her expression is one of bewilderment as she crunches through the fall leaves and over twigs and stones; she calls out to him, a brief, haunting howl of summoning. She wants answers. She needs them and yet, she fails to recognize that it is not answers she needs but rather, him.