Lightning burst across the dark sky, momentarily lighting the castle grounds. Thunder rolled and shook the windowpanes. Normally, Elinor would have been in the great hall meeting with the clansmen, but the storm was bad enough to keep them away. Instead she was sitting in one of the upper chambers, attempting to do some needlework but mostly just standing by the window and staring.

A gentle knock came from the door, and Sir Arran stepped in.

"How are you, m'lady?" he asked, clasping his wrinkled hands. Elinor smiled.

"As well as can be expected." She turned back to the window as another boom of thunder sounded, one of her hands rested at the base of her throat. Sir Arran came up behind her so he could also see out the window.

"I'm sure he's fine." He said, quietly.

"He hasn't returned for supplies in almost three weeks…"

Sir Arran was silent and they both watched the rain pour.

"…you had better leave, Sir Arran, I'll be very poor company this evening."

He bowed his head. "If you wish, your ladyship." He turned and went to the door, closing it behind him.

Elinor stood at the window, losing all track of time. The rain continued to pour, the thunder continued to roll, and the lightning continued to crash. Her mind was miles away, deep in the forest in search of Fergus.

Suddenly, lightning flared and lit up her whole view from the window. When it darkened a second later, Elinor thought she saw a shape near the forest edge. Surely she was just wishing of things that could be, surely she was mistaken. Lightning struck again and there was definitely a shape; large, matted, bulky and moving very slow. Elinor pressed her face against the glass, attempting to find it in the dark. When lightning struck again, it was nearing the castle wall. Her eyes widened and she ran out of the room.

"M'lady?" asked the guard at the door, but Elinor didn't stop. She was halfway down the hall and to the stairs. She ran down the stairs and another hall, practically knocking over two maids and a cook. She finally made it to the great hall and she pulled open the large front door.

Cold air rushed over her and rain began to wet her shoes. Wrapping her arms around her, she ran out into the night. Rain soaked her immediately, and the muddy ground pulled at her feet.

"Who's there?" she heard the guardsmen at the gate's voice in the distance. Elinor pushed herself to run faster.

"Open the gates!" she shouted, thunder rolling again. She finally neared the gate and slowed to a stop.

"Lady Elinor?" the guardsmen turned to look down from his watchtower.

"Open the gates!" she yelled again.

"Yes, my lady!" The guard turned away again and slowly the gate began to roll up in front of her. As soon as it was high enough for her to fit under, she ducked underneath the gate and walked out slowly. The path stretched out before her and she started down it.

It was completely dark, and she couldn't see the shape anymore. Part of her wondered if she had begun to go mad. When she reached the bridge, she stopped. The seas roared somewhere below. But there was no shape. All around her was just the rain.

She looked back at the castle, several torches were lit along the walls and some windows glowed warmly. A cold wind blew and she shivered. Berating herself for being so foolishly hopeful, she took one last slow look around her and turned to go back.

"Elinor?" a coarse voice came from the darkness. Elinor swung back around as lightning struck again.

Standing on the other side of the bridge, looking like a Wildman and with a bear carcass behind him, was Fergus. He staggered forward and Elinor slowly met him in the middle. They stared at each other in disbelief. Elinor felt as if the wind had been knocked out of her. Fergus searched her face, reaching out a hand hesitantly towards her. But he stopped and withdrew, dropping his head.

"I'm sorry, Elinor." His voice broke and he shook his head. "I'm so sorry." He fell to his knees in front of her.

"Fergus, no." She dropped to her knees as well. "It's alright, Fergus. Everything's fine now."

"You were right." He said, burying his face in his hands. "Finding the monster didn't help. You were right all along."

"It's fine, Fergus." She pulled his hands away and looked into his eyes. "You're here. You're safe. You're home."

She wrapped her arms around him as best as she could and held him as the rain continued to pour.

The next morning Elinor opened her eyes slowly. A warm comforting feeling was in her chest as she remembered Fergus's return the night before. She turned and a smile spread across her face as she watched him sleep. His broad chest rising up and down with each breath. Though she could have happily lain there all day with him, she got out of bed and quietly dressed. She shut the door behind her as quietly as she could before going down to the kitchen.

Elinor opened the door

"I'm telling ya just what I heard, Maudie. Lor' Fergus returned last night-lookin like more bear than man-"

"Aileen!" one of the kitchen maids elbowing her friend as she noticed Lady Elinor's entrance into the room. Elinor nodded to each of the girls and picked up an apple, before turning to go.

"Milady?" Maudie timidly asked. Elinor turned back around.

"Yes?"

"Is it true? Is Lord DunBroch back?"

Elinor tried to remain dignified but the smile that spread across her face betrayed her. "Yes, yes he has."

Taking another bite of her apple, Elinor pushed open a side door to the great hall. It was still empty, save for Sir Arran. He looked up from the ledger he was pouring over and smiled.

"Is Lord Fergus still asleep?"

Elinor nodded as she walked up to the dais. "I thought it was best he rest as long as he needs. There will be time enough to reintroduce him to all of this." She gestured to the stacks of ledgers and records.

"Today should be easy enough. The people will be pleased that their Lord has returned."

"Or they will find a host of new problems that they thought I couldn't handle." Elinor chuckled. Another side door opened and one of the guards walked quickly in.

"Milady, Sir Arran." He bowed. "There's a problem in the courtyard."

"Tell the clansman we shall be ready to see to them in a few minutes." Sir Arran said, sounding very exasperated.

"No, that's not the problem."

"And you just left it here?" Sir Arran asked.

"It was storming and my husband had finally returned. I apologize if the bear carcass was not at the top of my list of priorities." Elinor retorted.

The two of them stood a few feet away from the hulking animal.

"We'll have to have it moved before we open the castle for the clansmen." She continued.

"Captain. Gather some men and dispose of the…beast."

"Yes, sir."

Elinor walked around to the head of the animal and stared into its face. She frowned as a small sinking voice told her that this wasn't the bear that had killed Betha. It was just another animal. She looked up to the tower where Fergus was still resting and frowned.

"On the count of three, men." Four guards gathered at different sides of the bear. "One…two…"

"Wait." Elinor said. The group turned towards her. "Don't dispose of it, take it to the furrier. I have a plan."

The day passed more joyfully than the ones before. Cheers of "Fergus has returned" echoed throughout the castle for the rest of the day. There were some that demanded to see Fergus immediately, but Elinor fought them off. At the end of the day, before returning to the bedchamber, she stopped off at the kitchen to get some food for Fergus.

She pushed open the bedchamber door open and noticed that Fergus was still in bed. His eyes were open and he was staring at the ceiling.

"Good evening, m'dear." She said quietly. He blinked but didn't look over at her. "I brought you your favorite sweeties…and your favorite Sweetie."

She laughed lightly but he didn't join her. She set the plate down on the table, and sat down next to him. She searched his face but he continued to look at the ceiling.

"Fergus, please sit up and eat something."

He took a deep breath, as if to gather together his strength, and slowly inched until he was sitting upright.

"Here." She said, handing him the plate of food. He ate very slowly.

"If you want to," she began hesitantly "Sir Arran and I would welcome you to join us tomorrow when we meet with the clansmen. It's been hectic with your…absence. There are always the usual squabbles. Though there have been some reports of raids on the coast, and the Dingwall border has been giving us a little trouble. Not a lot, just they seem to have known you've been gone. But now that you're back, everything can return to normal. …and we can pick up where we left off." She reached out for his hand, but he didn't take her hand in his. There was no twinkle in his eye, no reassuring words on his lips.

He set aside the still mostly full plate and sunk back down into bed. Elinor stood up and let her hair down, folding her gown over the chair. She blew out the candle and crawled under the covers.

Though he was right next to her, Elinor felt like Fergus was still miles away from her. A part of him had been left behind in the forest, and she hoped that it would find its way home quickly.