[private] I'm feeling this deep, aching sense of dread

[Mazikeen]

mazikeen

Mazikeen goes to the lake first but she soon finds Sabal’s trail leading away from it and towards one of the mountain passes. She hesitates only for a moment before shifting into a wolf to better follow it, the furr along her spine upright and rigid as she thinks of the Curse’s promise to be watching. She doesn’t look around to see if she can spot him, doesn’t know if he had meant that or just said it so she would keep him in the back of her mind.

As if she needed help with that.

She does her best to focus on this one single task, catching up with Sabal. One thing at a time. None of her usual storming thoughts, none of her million emotions pulling her apart. She shoves it all away and succeeds for those few moments where she is alone. Where it is nothing but her paws on the rocky Hyaline soil and her nose searching the ground.

Her steps falter when she sees Sabal ahead and that new heart of hers skips a few beats. She wishes it had taken longer to find her friend. This needs to be done, and the sooner the better, but that hardly makes it any easier.

“Sabal!” Mazikeen calls out and winces at how harsh her voice is, how strangled it sounds. She tries to make up for it as she approaches, shifting back into herself with a sad smile in those bright orange eyes. The bloody mask has been washed off but the scars around her eyes remain - crisscrossed patterns from where they had been eaten and the fresher, healed wounds from where Mazikeen had freed this new set from the scar tissue.

To make up for the rough start, her next words are a little too casual. “Heading to the border? Want some company?” She asks, as though this is just any other day where she is looking for an excuse to stretch her legs. As though nothing is terribly amiss in their home, and as though it’s not entirely Mazikeen’s own fault.

@[Sabal]