It’s not often he leaves the confines of his mountainous home. But as he had grown familiar with every ridge and every tree, he had begun to crave more. Had begun to desire something beyond the familiarity and the hunt. He had become so adept at disconnecting from his own emotion that he struggles to recognize it, but recognized or not, it still spurs him forward.
With the blood of his latest meal still staining his lips, invisible against the pitch of his fur, he steps from the foothills. It has been so long since he has tread these lands that he takes his time. The night is deep when he finds himself in unfamiliar terrain, twining amongst strange columns risen from the sea when the south had buckled.
Many might find themselves uncomfortable in the darkest hours of the morning, but Ion feels only the power of it coursing through his veins. Wren flits amongst the ruins, an occasional chirp breaking the stillness of the night air. Though he often sleeps tucked against Ion during the night, the thrill of something new had driven him to wakefulness. He is unusually brave for a creature that would be little more than a single bite to a creature like Ion, but living in the shadow of a predator had taught Wren much.
With a leap, Ion draws himself up on a large edifice overlooking the eerily still land. From this vantage, a glow brings his attention to another lingering within the ruins despite the darkness of the hour. Ion would normally ignore them, but he finds the face surprisingly familiar. Familiar because he has seen it within his own home.
Curiosity swelling, Ion leaps from stone to stone until he draws near enough to watch the winged woman comfortably. Though he tells himself it is only feline curiosity driving him to see what might have drawn her here, a distant part of him knows it is more than that. He has been alone so long that the pull of company, even during this hour when most would be sleeping, had proven irresistible.
Wren, realizing his companion had disappeared, swoops through the air above the woman as he loudly trills his alarm. It’s only when he finds Ion that he calms, fluttering to the panther with a relieved chirp. Ion releases a sharp chuff in response, abandoning any pretense at stealth as he rises from where he’d been crouched atop a stone to eye the pale mare warily.
ion
in the empty of the grave, only distant dreams remain
@Ryatah