As the sound and smell of his companion’s sickness passed, Seiya’s unhelpful answer permeated Rökkvi‘s brain. He didn’t know if they were dead or not! Well, Rökkvi took a moment to assess his own body status and, based on the rapid thrum of his heart in his ears and his lungs catching wetly on the water he inhaled, he had to guess they were in fact still alive. How… that was another matter entirely. Gingerly, he raised his head and found no pain in his neck, shoulders, and spine. Nothing in his hips or ribs or limbs, no discomfort save for a chilling cold that bit through his fur. He hadn’t broken anything. Maybe they didn’t fall from too high? Maybe the water broke their fall. He didn’t remember the sound, or that they’d been traveling near water in the first place.

The weight of Seiya’s paws drawn closer prompted Rökkvi to sit up proper. He swallowed, searching the faint, blurry darkness until a moonlit cloud denoted Seiya before him. Rökkvi‘s ears turned to regard his apology. Sensitive to the fearful strain in his friend’s voice, Rökkvi rumbled his unspoken forgiveness, a reassurance first that no matter what, he and Seiya were still together and he didn’t blame the other wolf for what happened. There was no explanation it seemed, not even to Seiya.

We must have fallen through… something… The ground? Ice? The veil between the living and dead? Rökkvi couldn’t claim to know what, just that something had collapsed and sent them hurtling into water below. He coughed and cleared his throat. Did the water take us far? From the mountains, that is. Rökkvi tried to never stray far from home. It would worry his family if he was gone for long.