6/4/2025, 2:03 AM
Skill:
![[Image: dccl3rf-fe99107c-9ee8-48c2-99b3-c3fb6528...jZ3v-rBgC8]](https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/57b946d3-87b5-4dc3-9af4-7b8c23022bbc/dccl3rf-fe99107c-9ee8-48c2-99b3-c3fb65284f0c.gif?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7InBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcLzU3Yjk0NmQzLTg3YjUtNGRjMy05YWY0LTdiOGMyMzAyMmJiY1wvZGNjbDNyZi1mZTk5MTA3Yy05ZWU4LTQ4YzItOTliMy1jM2ZiNjUyODRmMGMuZ2lmIn1dXSwiYXVkIjpbInVybjpzZXJ2aWNlOmZpbGUuZG93bmxvYWQiXX0.04j-zGe3NSnIgtKBVulEhHM-sC3zZyA6mjZ3v-rBgC8)
Hawthorn was never much of a wanderer. There was no need to be, after all, not when he could be so delicately entwined with his mother. When he was with her, he didn't need to wander. She had taught him everything. She had nurtured him and protected him, even when he'd consistently proven to be weaker than his sisters — well, one sister in particular.
So it had been strange when she'd said that they were going on a trip.
And it had been even more strange noting her anxiety surrounding it.
Even now, as they walked together, he could feel it seeping from her skin. Despite the beauty of the forest around them, he could practically taste the waves of haste and fear rolling off of her. Bright eyes would blink, a frown cascading across his lips as he followed his mother through the maze of unfamiliar vines.
Hew as concerned ... but ... he was also childish in his awe as he gazed through the hanging red plants and emerald webs of fern and branch. He'd never seen anything so lush and beautiful. Home was ... dark ...? Cloudy? Hazy? Of course, they made do, but this place ... this place ...
It's beautiful, isn't it, Mom?Hawthorn would look to Freya, trying to disguise his concern with a smile before she looked back at him. He would be smiling by the time she saw him, flicking his tail and nudging her shoulder with his nose in encouragement.
It's far prettier than—but he would freeze, hearing the voice of another. The fur along his nape prickled, though not out of agitation, but out of surprise.
He would halt next to Freya, taller than her now but somehow still lanky with the inexperience of his youth. And he would wait.