Where was he?

He couldn't be gone. Idalie couldn't bear to lose someone else, couldn't bear the thought of a world where Khyan did not exist. She had even forced herself to be brave enough to weather the breaking ice upon the ocean's surface to reach the mainland in order to try and find him when her search on the island turned up nil.

The journey was arduous and exhausting. Her body burned with fatigue and her paws cracked from the terrain, bloodied footprints staining the earth in her wake.

It would be worth it though, if only he would appear.

And then,

A howl.

Proof of life, painfully familiar. Idalie tried to return it with her own, but she wasn't sure she was loud enough. There was still quite some distance between them, but Idalie was determined.

The sight of him, even so far away, was recognizable. Idalie let out a dry sob as she sprinted the rest of the way to his side, careening without abandon into him, aiming to unify their two bodies into one.