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For Elisabet

Although it nearly tore him apart, Alder finally had to return to Northfall.

But when he did leave the Vale, he was positively glowing.

After what seemed like an eternity of dancing around feelings and assumptions and expectations for the better part of two years, at last, Alder had cracked - he'd said the words, felt the weight of his heart lodged up in his throat as they spilled out - and against all odds, Sølvi reciprocated.

More than that! He blushed to think of their passionate night together spent in each other's embrace.

Solvi. He and Solvi. Someone out there loved him! Not just that, but she, the greatest of all women on earth, loved him, and the feeling had him on cloud nine.

He had to tell Liss! Last they'd spoken she said she would keep an eye out for the missing sylph, and now he could formally call off the search. There was also the matter of that strange fellow who'd been looking for her - he regretted not finding her sooner, but maybe it was nothing after all. He decided to take a (moderate) detour and head up toward Camhanaich before making the lonesome journey home.

Alder couldn't wipe the smile off his face. It was almost painful.

He stood at the border of Druid's Rise and tried to steady his still-hammering heart, struggling to come to terms with his disbelief that this all wasn't a dream from which he might one day wake.

It was real. It was real.

He tipped his head back and called for Liss, barely able to contain his excitement.

Alder's call pricked Liss's ears. She pulled her head out of a half-dugout rabbit warren, covered in soil. Quick to answer in kind, her howl echoed off the moorlands and she pitched into an ecstatic run. Alder! You came back! Spring was bringing all kinds of friends to her doorstep! Maybe it would eventually bring family, too. Maybe they had passed the test, and now only good things would happen!

Bounding like a fawn fresh proud of its legs, the sight of Alder's hollyred pelt was easy to trace between the green. She skidded into a playbow, and then, because restraint was not in her of late, leapt to embrace him and lick at his muzzle, You look great! You look happy! Where have you traveled? I went North, I meant to visit you! But then the earth broke up and those — those tunnels opened, that took everyone everywhere. And when I came out again I was back on the moor! Did it send you here, too? Tell me about your adventures! I've had so many!

Gods, she was fast. An answering howl sliced through the air with the familiar enthusiasm that always seemed to accompany Liss, and he braced himself for her very sudden and impending arrival, shoulders squared in case she didn't manage to stop in time - a habit left over from every visit he ever paid his mothers, and Valeska's poor ability to brake.

He relaxed.

She was merrily leaping through the air rather than carving a vicious path through the lush grass, and as she stopped only a short distance away, he couldn't suppress a broad grin as she immediately flung herself into a play-bow - he was going to mimic the movement but she was too quick, and already she was lapping at his muzzle and wiggling all over him like an excited puppy. Alder strained to lift his head above the assault, fumbling for his bearings.

Agh - yes, of course - I meant to a while ago, but a lot has happened - he managed to break away, panting as he recovered from her enthusiastic greeting. Alder at least did her the service of offering a few tail-wags and an awkward muzzle-lick in return to reaffirm their friendship (though he wondered if she would hold him hostage anyway should he ever decide to end it), and let her speak.

Oh, yeah, the world splitting apart and - all that. Yeah, it was pretty crazy, he agreed quickly. Truth be told, the end of the world paled in comparison to his latest discovery. He could hardly contain it, and then the words spilled out unprompted. I found her, Liss! I found Solvi! She was half-dead in the snow and she doesn't know what happened, but she's back, and Liss I told her I loved her and did you know she said it back?

Alder, a very masculine wolf about to enter his fourth year, nearly swooned.

Sometimes I think I'm dead, he said. But! Um, sorry, I'm very glad to see you're okay. I did mean to come by sooner, but...

A very strange encounter flickered to attention in his memory. It seemed pertinent enough to mention, and anyway, maybe he wasn't the uncle that went crazy she'd previously spoken of. The odds of Nerio being that very specific wolf were slim. He was probably someone else.

Do you know of a Nerio? Son of... Adipose... Adi... Adevidar? he asked. I ran into him, and he talked about looking for a 'long lost princess of the Vale'. He said her name was Elisabet? Is that you?

Finally leanign back to tippy-tappy on her paws in front of him, tail wagging at limb-breaking speed, Liss listened with wide eyes. Rapt.

You found her! She interjected, echoing him like some holy choir. You found her! Oh Alder, that's amazing! That's wonderful! She was going to jump on him again. Of course you couldn't come by sooner, Liss agreed, grin turned manic with impending tease. She wagged her brows, Bet you two were showing each other just how much you love each other, huh? A remarkably unprincess-like snort followed.

And there was an kind of ringing in her ears which she didn't care to examine, the faintest memory of a soft touch and a secret bower under the willows. It wasn't important. Why isn't she with you! I want to meet her! The play bow again. Liss couldn't decide what to do with herself. You'd think it was her lover that'd confessed, she was so invested. You have to bring her by! Otherwise I might think you made her up! She giggled.

But Alder wasn't done talking. Cut from her train of thought, Liss stared at him. He got silence and stillness for a whole seven seconds — enough for the faintest glimmer of blue to peek it's head out behind her ears before she was, again, jumping right up onto him, An Ade! Alder they're gods! Wolf-gods! I don't know that one, but I'm from the Vale, that's me! And my mother's clan didn't have the only Ade, maybe they found more kin somewhere! Maybe that's why they never came back, their pilgrimage led them to cousins! To an Adevidar, and a Nerio! They've been looking for me all this time, they must have been! Where is he! Did you tell him where I am? What did he say? Tell me exactly! Tell me every word! She whined, yelped, squealed. It was hard to imagine being able to contain so much energy without combusting.

Heat flared into his cheeks like molten lava. Well, yes, they had spent some time - ah - demonstrating their love for one another - but he surely hadn't expected Liss to say anything about it. Alder grappled with an awkward smile he could feel twisting at the corners of his mouth, mind racing as he clawed for some kind of response to that.

Thankfully, she kept talking.

Oh, well, she's back at Dawnbreak, he said, kicking at a stray pebble with his paw. There was still the matter of who would eventually go and live where, and it was a question he preferred to avoid for now. We'll figure that out... later, probably. Alder then brightened. But I'll make sure you get to meet her soon.

Seven seconds was an awfully long time for Liss to remain completely inert, and for a moment he wondered if she had malfunctioned - was that a glowing orb? The hell? - but he needn't have worried. She leapt up to him like a wolf-sized grasshopper.

There was a lot of information dumped all at once, and it took him a second to process everything she'd told him before he could get in a word edgewise.

He was in uh, the Strand, a ways southwest from here, he sputtered. Gods? Wolf-gods? Nerio was the son of a wolf-god? Alder was skeptical at best (and completely unbelieving otherwise), but Liss sounded so thrilled about his encounter he didn't want to rain on her parade. I - to be honest, I wasn't sure if I believed him, and I got a weird vibe. Unfortunately I didn't tell him where you were, but he did say he'd leave a clear trail of his whereabouts if I came up with anything later. Maybe it's still there?

The Strand! Liss turned her attention to the southwest horizon, as if the answer to every question was there waiting to embrace her. The impulse to run after it, immediately, was all but all consuming.

You sound like my sister. Liss giggled, throwing a playful pout at Alder. I guess they might be kinda strange if you never met a Havirian before! They usually don't talk to heathens, and it makes their manners a little, er— She lifted a paw and waves it side to side, grimacing. One time! A loner invaded my Grandpa's territory — he was an Ade, too, Adesaurugol! Well, the loner attacked one of his people so he killed them and then tore their body into pieces to leave legs and stuff scattered on the borderline, as a warning to tell other Outsiders to keep out.

She nodded, lips pursed under furrowed brow.

Shaking it off, she shrugged back into a smile, But they wouldn't do that to me! 'Cause I'm family, and I know about the gods! It was nice of you to look out for me, though! I'll have to go see if I can track him down! But oh, just knowing he's out there! It means I can go home!

She bounced forward again to give Alder a kiss on the cheek. Thank you!