You are very gracious, Kirain. My thanks to you and... Camhanaich. A language different from his own, it passed his lips at a slow crawl to keep his tongue from twisting the sounds.

Lifting a paw to his face, Ujurak rubbed at his left eye. The cold fire that had been lit in skull burned ruthlessly. Blinking away snow as it swirled, Ujurak kept his gaze on the resident to these stones. His stomach tossing and turning as both relief and dread flooded his senses. The stones he had been born were not defaced and scattered, the stones surrounding them were not his at all. Simultaneously, that meant he was not anywhere close to home.

Kirain denied seeing his brother. He was the only wolf she found this day. Ujurak shut his eyes at this statement, as though he could block out the reality of his brother's absence. The muscle in his jaw tenses and he swallowed down any more helpful descriptions of his dear brother before they could be spoken.

I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this— Ujurak looked once more to the small woman, brows knitting. Had she not already given him the worse news she could? —but you are no longer where you once were.

You have been stolen away by this land, Mythris.

That makes no sense. A land is capable of a great many things, but it does not steal the living as we would pick a berry bush.

The furrow in his brow growing, a small frown settled upon the stone prince's face. A flash of shame burned in his mind as he considered that Kirain might be lying to him, but he couldn't even pretend to find a reason for such a thing. The idea was outlandish. Impossible.