How long had it been since he’s woken up here? This strange land, in this even stranger body, a wolf at that. At first he figured this was an afterlife, heaven or maybe even hell? He deserved that side more, and if this was a heaven he was in the wrong spot, how could he not be? His daughter wasn’t here, the purist soul he ever had the blessing of meeting.. However this didn’t quite seem like a heaven or hell to him. It’d been about a week or so now, and within that timeframe he’d eaten, slept and wondered aimlessly. Getting hungry and sleepy was something of a regular lifestyle, something that’d only happen to a living, breathing being, and he was definitely breathing.

Though truly couldn’t quite say how much he cared for this whole ‘breathing, living’ thing. For a time, before now that is, he was elsewhere, not heaven, nor hell. A simple middle. There was nothing there, an infinite emptiness and the lack of thought to go mad about it. A peace was there, and he embraced it as the end.. until it wasn’t.

Suddenly he had awaken in this body, as if taking nap for far too long. It was strange walking on four limbs and yet he picked up it up effortlessly, perhaps it was simply because he didn’t completely remember the feel of standing on two legs, or maybe he just didn’t have a choice. However he knew best.. there was always a choice.

Thabanus didn’t quite recall the entirety of his former self, of course there was still an image, but as if looking through a dirty lens that’s exactly how he remembered it. He was a king, with a kingdom, power, subjects, responsibilities and a daughter. That image he remembered clearly, she was never too far from his mind, held in the last shred of light he had within. Her memory was safe there, it’d forever be safe there, no matter how many lives he’d be forced to live, that was just a simple given fact. Though just as much as he remembered the light she brought, the shows from such a glow was never far behind. He remembered her death as if it were his own, and yet that part was still a mystery on his side?

He couldn’t recall his own death, who did it, where, and barely when. Regardless though, he wasn’t too interested in remembering something so pointless. It wouldn’t change his current position, nothing would, all that he decided to concern himself with was getting somewhere warmer before the snow fell harder, and maybe grabbing a meal on the way.

[she doesn't know that the world is turning just for her]

skill: [none]

He was dark and strange and new. He didn’t smell of these lands; the mountains of the north had a distinct scent, one which Euphemia assumed she was fully saturated with having lived amongst them most of her life. He lacked it. He seemed to walk without purpose.

The silvered maiden was fully intrigued. Mir had wondered about souls and bodies; but it appeared that this body moved, yet was completely inert energetically. Almost as if undead.

Euphemia, devoid of fear, pranced right up to the abyssal creature. Hello? she questioned in a form of a greeting, not sure if it could (or would) talk back to her. Mir also had questioned why some creatures possessed the ability to speak, while some didn’t. Was this brute a talker, or one that was silent?

Hello, sir?

---

For a while he just walked… and walked.. and well, walked some more, there were no unique scents of food, however the ultimate goal was to find a cave of some kind, something that would keep him from what was to come. His kingdom was in such climates as these, he was used to this bitter and unruly weather, though that didn’t mean he wanted to lay in it.

Obviously if push came to shove him harder than normal, he would simply find a big enough tree to sleep under and call it a day, it definitely wouldn’t be the first time he needed to do it, though the slow train in which his trivial thoughts came and went, there was an immediate pause, a voice.. an annoying one at that.

His gaze had no choice but to lower, she was small, right in front of him… and a child? In other words, she was in his way.. for a moment he stayed silent, ears flickering, and brows twitching ever so slightly, his face remaining in its unbothered and ever lingering expression.

“Go back to your parents..” His voice was hollow and deep, a mere grumble beneath his breath before continuing his steps around the dame.

[she doesn't know that the world is turning just for her]

skill: [none]

If Euphemia had ever seen a therapist, they would have quickly realized that Euphemia lived a life where risk was relatively minimal. She was born amongst a strong pack, had lived her entire life amongst the same mountains, and had never once experienced a visceral sensation of hunger or chill. Threats such as the bear that entered the Vale, and the fires that threatened her sisters, were omnipresent but easy to keep at arm’s length. Perhaps that’s why Euphemia didn’t think, not once, that this brute might cause her harm.

Anyways, he barely reacted, and Euphemia narrowed her gaze in consternation.

Euphemia couldn’t do much more than stand there as he simply stepped around her, and kept moving, but not before instructing her to go back to her homeland, to her parents. If Euphemia had been allowed to steep in this command, she might have cried for her own lack of a mother and father, but instead she felt the fur at the back of her neck prickle. All she said was

Oh.

When the leviathan had walked several paces away from her, Euphemia managed to wipe the dissatisfaction from her face and walked up beside him, maintaining an upbeat demeanor. You looked lonely, the maiden suggested simply. Wouldn’t someone lonely want some company? Euphemia raised her silvered brows, assuming rather quickly his answer to be no.

But if he was going to be rude, Euphemia wouldn’t allow him to get away without telling her why, and to her face.

---

His steps continued their normal pace, wide and steady as he was in no real rush, he figured a few feet ahead the dame had gave in to such a request and left him be, it was an easy task getting rid of a stranger, or at least he thought it was. His ears would soon twitch and shift to the pattering of paws once again heading his way. A heavy sigh left his chest and for a moment he let his eyes fall amongst the eager body beside him before shifting to the trees ahead, mindlessly scanning for potential food and or shelter.

There she went again.. talking. Such behavior he wasn’t quite used to, he had told her to leave, usually he didn’t have to say anything, the creatures would already be kicking up snow to get away from him with just a glance and yet.. she was still here. Lonely? She called him lonely, and offered ‘company’.

He didn’t doubt that there was someone out there that desired such ‘company’, however he wasn’t one of them. Even before coming into this new body he was alone, kings were destined to be alone while ruling weren’t they? It was simply fact, they are what held their kingdom together, and they did it by themselves. He wouldn’t call himself lonely, just alone, and he liked it that way.

The little silver sprite seemed to keep pace with him, and for a while he ignored her inquiry, hoping the silence of it all would be answer enough and yet.. she was still there, looking at him. It made him uncomfortable in a way, maybe an answer was all she wanted? Perhaps giving her one would satisfy this need to stay beside him.

“Maybe someone lonely is simply alone.. and wants to stay that way” He huffed, his gaze flickering from the sprite and back up again, hopefully his disinterest would deter her, it always drove his subjects away.

[she doesn't know that the world is turning just for her]

skill: [none]

Euphemia knew alone, and Euphemia didn’t like alone. She knew loneliness intimately when she was spirited across universes, and then once again when she was subsequently restored to this one. She knew loneliness when mother died, when father disappeared, when they buried her brother. She knew loneliness deep inside the confines of her den, while her sisters all snuggled close to their respective others.

Unfortunately, with Kuhn long departed and Genghis washed away, loneliness was her closest friend. That's why, when she stared loneliness right in the face, she didn’t let it off the hook easily.

Euphemia quirked up a brow, looking at him as he looked down at her. He didn’t appear to want to answer her now either, and Euphemia was already mentally preparing her dissertation to Mir on how voicelessness appeared to be a learned trait, a choice, rather than one inherently imbued by a cruel god. Just before she almost gave up and pealed away for a fairer victim, he responded.

Euphemia couldn’t hide her smile. That’s fine, she surmised. but you're probably going to die out there. Bears are waking up from hibernation... a bear took on four or five of my pack, and it almost won. This fact isn’t what made her smile, for the idea of his death nor the injuries of her packmates made her happy, but he gave her all the positive reinforcement she needed in order to continue this one-sided conversation.

Is that what you want? the maiden questioned intensely. to die?

---

Within seconds he found that staying silent would’ve probably been the best solution for this situation.. she didn’t shrink and return to whatever den she pranced out of that day, and she didn’t scowl at him for his vague response and crude behavior, instead she skipped all of those and smiled. He held this passing glance a little longer than the others, confused maybe, perhaps even unsettled by her persistence. She could’ve easily left him to wallow in his darkness, finding a much easier, more willing victim. Just what was her motive?

Another sigh passed his lips, and he couldn’t help but fear she was becoming more comfortable with her steady pace beside him. She spoke of her loss, death and bears returning from their slumber, was it almost spring time here? It simply had to be if that was the case.. “Is that so?” A rhetorical statement of dull curiosity, however the thought of a run in with such a beast startled him not, instead it could even be welcomed, maybe a hungry bear would finish him off..

However with her turn around question, it truly gave him a moment to think. Did he want to die? His previous thought said yes, but was it true? “Death comes to all in the end, we can’t run from it, or hide like rabbits and birds, we can only embrace it“

He had nothing to live for, and some sick being who pulled the strings sent him here, he was an adult in this body, he could feel it, so just what was he here for? He was perfectly fine in that middle place of emptiness and peace, he could’ve stayed there, he would’ve stayed there.. and yet he was here, looking for shelter and food, and now newly ‘accompanied’ by this silver child who would only take his lack of voice as an invitation to fill it with her own. “One day she’ll come to get you too, maybe tomorrow, next week, now even..” He paused for a moment, looking down at her once more, his ear flickering and his face remaining emotionless with only the slightest touch of something more.

“Are you scared of her?” He inquired, truly curious. He didn’t fear death, not before, not now, for she would come regardless of his feelings or circumstances. Though he knew some who did fear her, his daughter did and there was nothing he could do about it, he couldn’t fight her, nor conqueror her like his many battles and trials that put him on his throne, all he was left to do was hold her little hand. The sudden memory of his little one made the skin on his back prickle as if tiny knives were tapping upper layer of his body, not enough to bleed, but just enough to make him terribly uncomfortable. “If it’s my fate to be eaten by a bear then there’s nothing more to do about it, maybe it’ll even use you as a toothpick to pick me out of its teeth when it’s done..”

[she doesn't know that the world is turning just for her]

Skill: [none]

When he started talking, he didn’t stop talking – apparently she only needed to coax him towards his preferred topic of conversation, which apparently was death and dying. She listened intently, intimately interested in this topic and perspective. He was like a spectre, all cloaked in shadow blacks and speaking of having no fear. Who’s to say he wasn’t? Perhaps this big, silent, brooding man was the grim reaper, roving the land for its next victim, and she had walked oh-so-willingly into his trap.

If she had, Euphemia wondered with astute curiosity what world she might be cast into next.

Now, Euphemia had a stark lack of fear within her as well, but it came about from a lack of knowing. For being so wise in the ways of horticulture, she had relatively little real life experience. It was rare that she left frostfang; for what did the outside world offer her, that wasn’t already within the Vale in heaps and droves? But still, she didn’t know enough what about evil existed in the world to know exactly what to look out for, which perhaps is what resulted in the interaction at hand.

But, strangely enough, the more he talked and opened to her – the more he proved her hypothesis wrong, that all things outside the Vale were threatening.

He spoke of willingly submitting to death – as if, in the end, there was any other choice. However, Euphemia’s truth about fear of death was a bit of a devils advocate. Of course. It would be insane not to be afraid of what I don’t know. It was just nature, wasn’t it? To resist change, and continue on with one’s hard-earned momentum? As much as her studies had taught her, the conscious brain was hardwired to seek safety in sameness and self-preservation. However, it was possible that this inherent fear of death was holding back her full experience of life.

Euphemia glanced down, pondering quietly before she offered an addendum. I don’t want to die, but as you said… it is a necessary part of life.The maiden hauled a deeper breath, recognizing easily what the truth of it was. I just hope it doesn’t hurt. It was the factor she thought most about, when her memories forced her to relive her many losses.

She just hoped that they didn’t hurt.

---

Again she continued talking.. maybe he was hoping the in-depth voiced opinions about death would scare her off or simply make her uncomfortable enough to where she didn’t want to be around him anymore, and yet again she stayed. However it seemed she feared the pain the end brought more than the actual end. Fearing what she didn’t know? It made sense, though he couldn’t himself remember the last time he truly feared death, he knew her intensely, like a reoccurring memory she would always surround, taking from him bit by bit until he was next. Though he wasn’t interested in continuing this conversation any longer, the main purpose of this walk was to find food and shelter, yet he still didn’t know why she continued following him even now.

Were her parents not worried about their missing child? Or even this pack she spoke of, apparently they’d lost more than a few members to said hungry bears, wouldn’t they need all the help they could get at this point? Even if it was from a child, she was definitely capable of talking the enemies head off.. stubborn little sprite she was.

“You don’t think your pack will be looking for you?” He questioned, his steps keeping their natural pace, wide and steep. “We’re further from where you started; Go back while you can, before the snow covers your tracks” He insisted deeply, his ears flickering to the heavy snow flakes that seemed to only fall in thicker clumps, and much faster than before.

He didn’t know how long he’d have to continue walking before finding somewhere to stay, he didn’t quite care either, he would walk until he couldn’t see ahead of him, as if the weather conditions ever got so severe, it would only be smart to stay put and wait it out.

[she doesn't know that the world is turning just for her]

Skill: [none]

If Euphemia had any idea how often this man was mentally referring to her as a child, she would be so embarrassed that she might actually leave him well enough alone. It was indeed a bit of a complex she had; that her sisters could be so prestigious and lead the masses, while she often shrank and existed in the background, unhappily led but unwilling to take the responsibility. In comparison, she always felt childish and left behind, and was embarrassed that her demeanor often led others to not take her seriously.

She was a very serious soul, after all!

Instead the maiden simply trotted along beside him as he let the spaces between his speech grow larger yet again, and when he made reference to Dawnbreak, she tossed a glance over her shoulder to espy the jagged outline of the vale. Eventually, she responded simply, thinking about how often her sisters and fellow pack members took brief hiatuses to travel, and not all required their astute investigation. But they were not all that far from home, so he must be attempting to shirk her yet again.

Something about it made it appealing not to give in just yet.

I know every nook and cranny of these mountains. I could never be lost here, she detailed for him, beginning to experience a bad taste in her mouth as she recognized the depth of his stalwart nature. ...but I have a feeling you are, she said softly, certain he would refute this statement even if it was true. But if he would not proffer details on his own, perhaps he would be more responsive to questioning. At least, she knew by now, he did not shy away from the dark and uncomfortable side of things.

You don’t smell like a pack. You don’t smell like anyone.

---