Raineyes sighed wearily as she slumped under a tree, her hair fluttering around her ears in disarray. She was sleepy, tired, and Whitecross shared her feelings as he lay next to her and placed his head in her lap. Both the old wolf and the young elf maiden let out a miserable, long sigh.
Raineyes felt as if she had been running for moons. Her body felt weak, as if she might fall apart at any moment. She knew she needed rest, as did the wolf, but her heart told her she would never get to sleep now. The warm rays of sunlight beat through the trees, warming her almost uncomfortably; Raineyes had never been a day-person and the light of day gave her body an uncomfortable chill.
She wanted to sleep; she longed for the chance to drift off into the dream-world, to be lost in the NOW, with nothing behind her, or ahead to worry about. It would have been so much easier had Lakefrost not shared with her. Now she held a part of him that refused to let her move on.
"Father must be worried about me," she said softly, scratching the wolf behind the ears. Raineyes, however, seemed to be talking to herself more than the wolf. "And Brightmoss. We should go back to the holt."
Raineyes shook her head angrily as her plan to turn her thoughts to more practical things failed. His face lingered in her mind, but something gripped her much stronger.
"Teva."
Her voice barely came out above a whisper as the name found its way to her lips. No longer able to control her feelings, Raineyes buried her face into her lovemate's wolf-friend, the faint smell of Lakefrost and her uncontrollable tears coaxing her into an uncomfortable sleep.
Raineyes jerked awake as the feeling of day shifting to night entered her soul. She was still tired, and had a pounding headache to match, and sat up with a slight groan of pain. Things were not going her way.
Standing up, Raineyes began to pace around in a circle as she contemplated her options. She could continue to wander around, in search of nothing, or go back to her home and the holt and those who loved her, and were worried about her.
Sighing, Raineyes pushed a lock of her red hair away from her eyes. Well, she needed something to drink before she could make any decisions like that.
Raineyes called Whitecross to her, and she waited for the wolf to join her side before walking towards the stream she heard in the distance. The sounds of night approaching grew louder in her keen elven ears, and she sighed, though this time feeling a bit more comfortable. The night was her friend. It would clear her mind, send her to the NOW, and help her think of what to do.
Kneeling down by a small body of rushing water, Raineyes dipped her hands in to first splash herself awake. The water felt cold and clean, and it brought life back to her face, and a bit more confidence. It was foolish, she decided, to remain gone much longer. Her father might think she had been captured by humans and Woodsmoke would venture after her. She couldn't let that happen.
But going back would bring questions, the want to hear what had happened. Lakefrost's howl. The young elf wasn't sure she could face all these things. She had lost friends and lovemates in the past, but none of them had ever touched her this deeply - none of them had ever given her their most secretive, most wonderful part.
"What should I do?" Raineyes said softly, speaking to nothing and no one, except herself. "Someone tell me what I should do!"
Looking down at the water, Raineyes let out a frustrated sob, then suddenly opened her eyes. The colours of sunset, reflecting brightly on the water, had caught her attention as swift as a piercing arrow. Deep red and orange; they had always been her favourite colours. And Lakefrost, since their lovemating, had always seen it fit to call Raineyes his 'little sunset'. Words and colours that
meant so much to her.
The feeling of the summer night on its way filled her bones, and suddenly, the elf knew. Standing up, she smiled through her sorrow and gave her lovemate's wolf a gentle pat on the head.
Hopping onto his back, she smiled as the sun settled farther in the sky, the bright red and orange driving through the air like thousands of arrows and spears, reflecting off Raineyes's face, hands and body. It was time.
"Whitecross, let's go home," she said to the wolf gently. He needed no other words to know where to take her.