I had kept my hope up for so long, wondering when he'd show up again, that over the months, I'd slowly started to give up, letting go of all that. I had talked to the ancestors more and more, trying to find my lost hope, because lets face it, loosing hope meant I would be loosing myself. I needed to hold onto that, to hold on to who I truly was. To give up on myself wasn't something I was raised to do, I was raised to believe in certain things. I was taught to believe the gods were ubiquitous, all mighty, all knowing. So when the ancestors spoke to me, told me that my time was going to come, and that I had to believe in them. It was hard to do that, to give up all of my trust to someone I couldn't see> It made it hard to believe in something that was greater than the air, greater than the life we live.

There were plenty of times when it crossed my mind, about what had been so important to take him away from me, why he never said a word. But I never knew that my chance to ask was around the corner. I believed he was gone, and while the ancestors told me they'd try again, I refused to let them, knowing that I'd never be able to live with myself knowing I'd given up that easily. I couldn't do that. My mind told me I was being foolish, childish, but my heart and soul spoke to me, telling me to keep waiting, because somehow, some way, things would be okay, they promised.

So waiting was what I did, living my life in the free lands, hoping that I'd find him one day, or he'd find me. But then that steal had happened, and I felt panicked for the first time in forever. I would not be stolen, my freedom would not be ripped from me that way. Traveling at night was the safest thing for now, mainly because I had no one to watch out for me, I had to watch out for myself.

The smells that reached me, some were strange, but there was that underlying testosterone smell that caused my heart and soul to skip a beat, without fail, and it was then that my heart began to race, as if a million wild horses were running through my heart. I fought to school my facial features, knowing he was close. But I felt like a fool, until I heard the scrape of his nails against the stone. He was here! It was almost as if he'd heard my thoughts, and appeared out of thin air.

He didn't speak, just stood there, so I let my head turn slightly, my fire eyes opening as I looked at him...And again, my heart skipped. "So you are alive after all" Simple, to the point, for now.