Don't leave me alone,

Aries, like many of the Duskguard wolves, had heard and seen the visitors of Elysium. An ally to the vale, she had met only one and the rest were unknown ; but if Olive and Tiberius had deemed them good and safe, naturally the snow-maiden felt an ease. She didn't know the packs enough, not like how she knew in Winterglade. There was a wariness due to the factor war was about, and hearing how the tiger of Duskguard was nearly assassinated by a pack as well.. The land wasn't safe.

She kept her chin high, supporting as she could — but Aries was awfully curious about these allies and heard as well, they had young children that were near the same age of the leaders, albeit lightly older. It was a wonder who she would meet first. She traversed through the vale, the owls high within the sky and hooting lightly within greetings ; there was a whole flock around.. Almost welcoming the new wolves. The sun as well was bright and clear, where effortlessly helped Aries find someone from the allied pack.

---

looking for any in Elysium!

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It reminded her a little of home.

Her first home, anyway. She and her parents had lived within their pack's borders encircling a high range of mountain peaks, overlooking a vast tundra below. Childhood had been kind to her up to a point; she loved to sit at the edge of her favorite rocky crag and survey the gentle snowy slopes dotted with tall, pointed trees, remembering how her mouth had watered whenever the caribou would converge below.

She would love a caribou right about now.

Wandering through Duskguard's claim, she took extra time to explore any strange new plants that came across her way. Some jogged memories from long ago, certain leaf shapes triggering happy recollections of time spent with Harper and their mother foraging for herbs. Valeska had been easily distracted as a child, and didn't pay nearly as much attention as she should have during their lessons - but it was a memory she would never trade for anything.

The silver wolf stopped at a cluster of small tundra roses - known better as Shrubby Cinquefoil, a name she thought rather unfortunate - and felt a warmth surge through her chest.

They were orange, just like the ones mama had found for them as pups.

She thought to pick a few to bring back to Harper, assuming it would be cold enough for them to survive the trip, when she spied Aries in the distance.

“Ah - hello!” she called, broken from her reverie. “I was just reliving happy times. What is your name? I am Valeska, High Priestess of Elysium, and child-herder supreme.”

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The air breathed of the coming season, autumn that was slowly arriving to them all. Many flowers were in full bloom but just as they came, they would wilt for the upcoming snowfalls. Some were scattered about the vale ; a plethora of flora always took the frostfang, despite it being of the clear north. Life always found a way even through the ice and snow — and there would always be a variety around. Even as well the fauna, for wolves would make homes wherever they can. She heard that some made homes within the hottest of regions, where sand is all around. 

As she thought of so, similarly gazing at some roses within that distraction of a search ; Aries was pleased that someone called her out first. She fitted well to the tundra backdrop, both within grays and whites of a thick coat that showed off her arctic origins. If the snow-hare remembered, those who came from Elsyium were but a bit of ways down, and yet just on the edge of what was the snowy-land, "hello!" Aries cheerfully greeted back, "I am Aries, a regular member," she put a paw on her chest and bowed to the other in a light greeting, before rising. She would hope that the other would not take offense with their more light-hearted nature.

There was a slight chuckle to the other title she gave, "I heard you come with children! I do hope they enjoy their time here."

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The stranger offered an elegant bow, long fur sweeping against the tops of the flowers and plants beneath her in a smooth motion as she did. Valeska dipped her head in return, not really the bowing type herself, but perfectly happy to impart respect. The woman possessed a gentle voice as she spoke, airy and soft as the fresh snow, and the Priestess briefly wondered at her origins - was that a hint of an accent?

“I am most pleased to meet you, Aries of Duskguard,” she returned cheerfully, impressed that they had already recruited such a number of fine individuals to their ranks. It seemed like only a few weeks ago the pack had just begun forming, but time passed so much faster than any one of them realized - they were already very well-established in the Tundra, now, if the numerous scents pervading the territory were anything to go by.

“Oh, thank you - it is only by the grace of the gods themselves that we arrived in one piece,” she chortled, half-joking, half-serious. The little wolf loved her brood and would fight tooth and nail should anyone threaten them (besides herself). “Many an hour spent in tumultuous prayer begging the Five to keep them from slaying each other. I am trying to teach them of the gods, but it is difficult; they do not have the attention for anything but dramatics, unless we are speaking of my firstborn, Dimitri.”

She sat, then, content to chat for the meanwhile as the pair got to know each other. “As I have grown older, I find that many share spiritual beliefs even in light of their differences - Olive and I have similar feelings and faith, yet our beings go by different names. I wonder if they are the same after all.”

With age came experience, and with experience came wisdom; Valeska was now coming upon her fifth year, and found herself growing more open-minded as the seasons rolled by.

“What of you? Do you hold a particular faith?”

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Winterglade was not entirely religious, but it still had it's own beliefs of the heavens and the gods. There was those of the spiritual level and even Priests as so — but Aries never dwelved too hard onto those studies or side. She had her own beliefs, but wasn't entirely religious about it.. It was strange to come upon a land, and across a wolf who was quite devoted to the life that was. Olive was named the Priestess and served as a Duskguard leader, and although prayers and chants, it never felt like one was being stuffed down by so. It felt otherworldly, as if it wasn't sacred speech but talking of nature itself and the way it strung in the air.

It shouldn't be so surprising that her allies and friends were also on the spectrum, "with time i'm sure their belief will solidify. I remember as a child I often didn't cater toward the Gods.. Only wanted to play and study other things." Such a times that were.. Aries hoped she wasn't simply being an annoyance on saying that ; especially since she was not a mother, and maybe that Valeska was not a new mother as well. She sat on her hunches and felt a bit of nervousness to be out of place, just as she felt with Olive when attempting to help as a midwife. Aries tail curled around her paws.

"I am not deeply religious, but I do believe in the Gods and the heavens."

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Aries appeared pensive for a few moments, digging through memories of her own childhood and experiences as she wrestled with her thoughts on the subject. Outwardly, she looked the part - the pale wolves she'd encountered thus far had been more spiritually-inclined than most, and the woman before her carried a similar air to Olive.

Valeska grinned, chuckling lightly. “I was no different in my youth,” she stated glibly, remembering how often she had hid from her father and his lessons in favor of play-wrestling her siblings. Harper had never taken to religion at all, however, and for good reason - the very memory of its origin was stained by the looming shadow of Dimas and his banishment of the dark child. “It is only after I grew older that I learned just how much the Five weave their influence in our daily lives, pushing us toward goodness and inner strength.”

She tilted her head to the side curiously, noting how Aries sat before her as if she were the stranger and not the other way around.

“I ramble,” Valeska admitted kindly, settling down as well. “I believe it is a miracle from the gods that I and my friends were given a second chance here, wherever this... is.” she finished with a quick glance around them to better demonstrate the strange nature of their arrival.

“What, or how many of, your former memories do you retain?”

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"I do believe that fate has brought us here, though I could not say. As much as I trust the heavens, I cannot deny there is some anxiety of what the true reason might be." There was a strained smile when she admitted this, a swirling in her heart and not of the doubt to the Gods, but for what purpose she was here for, and what she was supposed to fulfill. Was there a reason they were sent here? She looked at Valeska fondly, a woman who looked to be assured of herself and her place in the world — something that Aries admired about the Priestess where she struggled to know whether there was a belonging here. A cherishment of Duskguard, and perhaps it was her destiny to come here ; but what if there was more? More she could not see with her untrained eye, one that lacked the holiness many presented in the north.

"Do others not remember?" her eyes fluttered in surprise at this question, "I remember as if it was yesterday to what happened, and my life before that." She was leaning, almost an expectation to know more of what Valeska meant by it.

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Some struggled to pinpoint the truest source of meaning in their lives, trying to understand how every minute thread worked and weaved together to create the singular point of existence that was - them.

Valeska once felt that way, particularly after the fresh sting of her father's passing, adrift and alone in a world without anything but the shining hope of her own faith to guide her. Every stumble, every moment of pain, every single instance where fangs had been turned against her or her stomach shrank in on itself with hunger, she would justify it all; like a mantra, she held firm to the belief that every inconvenience simply led her one step closer to her true path, her true home.

Years passed, and she had grown to a point now where she could experience a stomachache and realize it was just because of the spoiled meat she ate earlier that day and was merely suffering the consequences - not because the gods thought staying inside with cramps would save her from a worse fate, had she ventured out.

“Although I cannot pretend to know their reasons, the gods have seen fit to place me here - whether it is to do good in their name, or to simply experience a different taste of life, I could not say. All I know is that the Five are generous, and they granted me my greatest prayer -” she faltered momentarily, the emotion behind her words welling up in a knot at the back of her throat. She swallowed it back down painfully. “A family. I and my wife - we wished for children, and through prayer and fasting and the light of a full moon, we were blessed. Until I perish, their praise shall be forever sung from my lips.”

Valeska collected herself, a little embarrassed at how even now the feelings surrounding her pup's coming into the world were so able to take her by surprise.

“Ah - that is correct. I would say half of the strangers I meet recall their lives before, and half do not remember anything at all - if you speak with Tallulah while she is here, she is one of them, though her memory seems to be returning over time,” she responded sorrowfully, feeling regret for her friend's plight. “Some - you would not believe me, but it is the truth - have perished here, and then also returned here in a new, unblemished body, but without any idea of who they had been before.”

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"You are blessed," Aries said as though her heartache came and the struggle of words, it seemed in the end to whatever God that she believed in ; The Five she proclaims had thrown her in turmoils that in the end had blessed her with so. A home to call and children to adore, though she was amiss of the rather struggles of those young.. She was not wholly naïve how children were quite terrors, but the one's in Duskguard were relatively tame then any who claimed to a rougher, or meaner nature. She would hope and pray that Valeska's own were on the similar course of such peaceful and blissful lives.

"In another time, in another life, I would have trouble believing if I did not fall to this region myself." Aries voiced that she believed, wholly so, even though she had yet to meet one that proclaimed of so. She couldn't imagine such fear to.. Experience one's own death that for a moment her face crossed with that blight before looking at the other with a comforting gaze. To even imagine one's own was a fearful endevour, and the pains that came ; if time so sought her life she wasn't sure how it'd be dealt if she woke up somewhere else.. The Gods, the Heavens, mysterious as they are she could not say what their whims are.

"That must be a dreadful moment for those who are friends and kin," but what is worse she imagined is the mind that forgot, not for the foe who died, but for those who lived and loved them so. To not even be remembered ; Aries heart hurt to think if her own had forgotten her, to either her mother or sister, and even those of Duskguard..

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She was blessed.

Not in exactly the ways she had planned - for example, when praying for children, she had only asked for the actual pups themselves. There had been no criteria concerning temperament or general behavior, but if she could go back in time without any consequences and just tweak one or two things, she might have chosen to be more specific in her pious request for children.

Nevertheless, the whole gods-damned thing was done now, and she was 'blessed' with five beautiful, screaming, murderous, anxious, self-esteem-issue-riddled pups that, coupled with Amaranth, comprised her entire world.

Valeska tilted her head ever so slightly. Aries' choice of words over her arrival had her curious - she herself had actually fallen, and it was a miracle she didn't suffer from a fear of heights after the fact.

“I myself died, which was... unpleasant. I recall it very vividly - all of my packmates and I were home, busying ourselves with our own lives, when suddenly the earth opened up in a thunderous sound and -” she paused, feeling her heart begin to race, remembering the rush as she had collapsed all at once into darkness. “To feel every bone in your body break, and then awaken unharmed but for a general soreness... it was terrible. Yet, strangely, we all arrived here; my entire pack had entered the same realm, which leads me to believe that this might truly be a second chance.”

Or Purgatory, as she had thought for a long time, but that seemed less likely. She felt like the gods would have passed judgment by now if that were the case.

Valeska wondered if all wolves came here, or only a chosen few - not that this seemed to be paradise, as one could still experience pain and death and sorrow - but she couldn't wrap her mind around how it worked. Did Aries have family that she left behind? Would she see them here someday, or would whatever qualifications necessary to come here prove too steep? What were the qualifications?

“Did you leave many in the Land Before?” she asked gently, not wanting to stress the woman, but curious nonetheless. “What was the last thing you remember?”

Some perished, while some simply went to sleep and woke up in this strange place. The little wolf had striven for the better part of two years now to find out if there was any pattern or reason behind it all, but she had yet to discover it if so.

“Houtu teaches us to have faith and trust in all things, but she did not necessarily say they would be pleasant,” she continued softly, lifting her head as a light wind tickled her cheeks. “There has been mention of a place of punishment, and a place of eternal peace, but never has my faith stated a place meant for rebirth in this way. This land does not bring to mind anything I have ever heard before, and although I have asked the gods for clarity, on this they remain silent.”

Her father, Dimas, had been the most devout follower from their tribe, carrying out rites and rituals that were so numerous even Valeska had long forgotten. She felt as though she were clinging to spider-webs with her paws that fell apart and drifted ever further away, try as she might to hold on - perhaps that was why she had grown so accepting. The gaps in her knowledge that had been left over from her first life needed filling, so the silver wolf had built her own narrative over the years.

Funny how the mind works.

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Her gaze was one of sympathy, silent listening to the other as she explained of her death. It was hard to truly respond to such an incident, for Aries was fortunate enough not to experience so. All that had been done was falling, and falling.. Part of her wanted to ask how did she die? Was it truly fate or a memory not worth knowing? It did bring a question though: what was this afterlife? Aries couldn't call it heaven or hell, or even purgatory, for she knew she never died, and even now remained in flesh and blood and the beauty of it all. However.. Everything was strange. The toils of animals that once could talk and now not, and the factor of wolves coming from different realms altogether, it truly made a wonder: what are the God's planning, and what is their plan for them?

"I am sorry that has happened to you," Aries could only give words of condolences to the pain she experienced, but knew words meant little to so. There was some brightness in that dark tunnel, for the Priestess was reunited with packmates of the same land and now blessed with young cherubs. But why have Valeska go through so much pain, one that she did not deserve, only to give her blessings beyond?

Aries felt like a heretic thinking on the words and reasonings of Gods.

"My family had long passed away, I only had my sister with me. Before I had fallen, I was preparing for my upcoming marriage within the weeks coming," she flashed a smile of reassurance that it was not a sore subject, "it was arranged, so I did not know the groom. It was then a large hole came from the ground, and took a few with, but I woke up alone." To those who fell with her, she couldn't even say how many did or who they all were. There was only few faces to be recognized.. But none came to this land that she was aware of, and did not know their fates. All except one.. "My sister had also fallen, and we had reunited some time ago."

"The region seems like..." she hummed lightly in thought, "like the land of old. A primordial time before any touched.. From what I understood it seems that none were truly here until only the recent years. It's strange, isn't it?" As she listened and learned, Aries came to understand that none of the packs were those who had long-standing roots. No.. In-fact most and if all were of recent ones, where they were still the first of their kind and creation of ; wars and battles were so fresh and everyone settling upon their claims. Battles, of who was who and the continual..

Was it absent of wolves? Or was she stretching of it? Many she spoke continued to mention how they were not here, nor' born here, simply arriving. The snow-kissed woman, Aries, as absolute in her claim that by every means, this was not a heaven, or hell. Yet something whimsical, something magical — something that mortals could never know.

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Aries offered her words of sympathy with the practiced grace of one who was long used to feeling and understanding the pain of others, her head dipping ever so slightly as she bowed it in shared sorrow. Words often meant little in the face of loss immeasurable, but Valeska appreciated them nonetheless, especially from someone as gentle and sincere as she.

The woman spoke of her own troubled past, of both a sister lost and only recently recovered, and then also of a terrible union between two souls who could not be farther apart. Sure, there was the chance they might have found happiness together by some stroke of luck, but the odds were slim and the High Priestess could not imagine taking away the freedom of choice from her own children.

Love was the greatest freedom ever to be gifted by the gods - to snatch the most basic of mortal rights away through selfish intent was an impossible thought.

“You were betrothed for - political reasons?” she ventured, not wishing to upset her, but still craving more information. She couldn't believe it. “I have heard of one other pack to practice such barbarism, and they are our neighbors. I am so sorry you were forced to pledge yourself to a stranger - perhaps your wayward arrival to this place was not such a terrible thing after all.”

She smiled faintly, wishing she could have gone back in time to that other life and vanquished her troubles for her.

“It is,” Valeska quipped, recalling well the colorful array of characters she had met so far on her journey. “Not a single soul I have met originated from this place - I wonder if there are any native-born wolves at all, apart from my own brood.”

Which... was an interesting thought.

What if they were pioneers, adventurers so fresh to this land that her own children were among the first natural inhabitants to emerge? She had never considered it before.

A little thrill went up her spine.

How exciting!

“Primordial - unblemished by any paws, by any sin,” she mused in return. “The more I am here, the more convinced I am that the Five have created this to be a second chance. Perhaps not heaven, yet - but a way to change ourselves for the better in preparation for Life Eternal within their embrace.”

Valeska looked toward the pale sky, flourishing with vibrant hues of pinks and purples and the hazy rays of morning. “I have been taught that Heaven and the Other Place have remained since the dawn of time, and that we will all go to one or the other eventually. I wonder if I have committed sins that must be... not reversed, necessarily, but erased or thought over more thoroughly before being allowed to pass into the next life.”

The little wolf shifted her gaze back to Aries, flashing her a quick smile. “I am pleased you have found your home in Duskguard - they are some of the finest souls I have met.”

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She assured the other warmly, feeling touched by her care, "It was not with a force. It was an offering to strengthen ties with the pack, as I was not born there, but raised within. It would help strengthen our position and bonds. I especially hoped it would help with my sister to adjust more." If she was welcomed to another family, to a court to join ; her sister naturally fell along and would be introduced to that step-family. She worried though if the other were not especially nice, but Aries was assured it was a nice family simply looking for a bride.. And she was a choice, where though love was wanted and sought, the time was short she supposed, and lineages had to be fulfilled. Now that she thought of it, the snow-kissed mistress couldn't say the age of what her partner was.. Was she ever told?

"I was allowed to reject, but I had wished to serve the pack that accepted my family, especially helping my sickly mother until she had passed." It was a bit regretful she could do no more. Although there was always the off-chance Aries could find them, a part of her new there was but an endless aim if she tried. Travelling through time in a never-ending path, the chances of returning were slim. She had to do a new pledge and vow, especially to the pack that held her and took her in when she had no where to go ; just as Winterglade did to the Winterwalds.. Where her mother even embraced the packs name to the surname in an honor. And she too, was holding it firm as a reminder of her family.

Now she was finding another place in the world, and a struggle to where she belonged in Duskguard.. It was her own feelings that led this despair ; of who she was, and what should she do?

"I do not believe this is a place of hell or other sins. I would like to think it is as you said, a place created for new beginnings, where we could originally not do within the past time." She wondered why Valeska was so intent to believe she had done something wrong to be here — Aries thought the place was all the loving, although.. Troubles were here, but even in the before times it was always like so. Packs versus packs, blood to be spilled ; she could remember the screams of a fallen kingdom and the blood that wept through the snow. But the woman she saw before Aries was someone blessed with a pack and a family.

"They are. I would hope I am serving them well enough."

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Regardless of intent, the thought of handing over a soul - a person - an individual, with their own thoughts and dreams and desires to another without their full say was incomprehensible to her. She abhorred the thought, and remembered distantly Ira's firm stance of inter-pack ties to solidify alliances. It was savagery - barbaric. Old ideals from a long-worn past that should surely by now be laid to rest in the pursuit of light and freedom and goodness, but some still remained keen to cling to their dark traditions.

Valeska shook her head in disagreement. “No,” she said with a finality, her jaw tensed but her expression remaining gentle, “Love, real love, would not ask such things of another. You are good, and kind, but the practice is old and cruel. It was the will of fate and the gods who watch over us that you escaped.”

The one practiced teaching of the Five was the mortal freedom and choice of love. They did not necessarily speak of inter-species love, which may raise some curious questions for Valeska should she ever learn of Valmua and Kuhn's relationship in full, but perhaps the mere admission of such a specific rule would be their blessing. At the core of the matter, however, love was love, and that was the one decision mortals were given to make without consequences - they deserved the right to choose for themselves.

“I am sorry that happened to you,” she said. “There is little option to reject a request that would better one's family. It was unfair of them to even suggest it - they knew, I am sure.”

There were no such practices within Valeska's first pack, her home, her original family.

She shook her head, laughing, then, at Aries' suggestion she had ever mentioned this to be Hell. “I did not say this could be Hell - but Purgatory, perhaps. I once thought this the waiting-place for eternal judgment, but it seems a terribly long time for the gods to decide, so that surely cannot be the case,” she chuckled, waving a feathered paw dismissively as she gestured at the world around them. “I assume true Purgatory would be a quick affair; but since my arrival, I have had time to take a mate and birth five children.”

The silver wolf smiled wistfully, then, gazing into the sky with a wondrous expression. “No; I do like to believe this is a second chance, as you say.”

Valeska shifted her gaze back to the woman, releasing a soft sigh. She had unfortunately made a few unpleasant encounters with certain individuals here, which seemed far more grounded in reality than a true final, spiritual destination, so she was happy enough to ascribe to the 'second chance' mantra.

It soothed, in a way. Even her children struggled as they grew, navigating their own challenges and grappling with decisions they would yet soon face. Purgatory would not be so quaint - nor did she think it would offer a chance to create new life.

“Duskguard is blessed to have you,” she said reassuringly, vehemently. “I can tell already that you are a woman of good standing and honest intent. Tiberius and Olive have surely recognized this in your time already spent within their borders; they would not trust you with the lives of their pups if that were not the case.”

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"I cannot find fault in a place that took my family in.. Although I wish I could of said thank you, before my departure." That was her lasting regret in another world, the other universe and pack altogether — she knew in her heart she would not seem them again, but wasn't too stricken but such a factor. Duskguard had quickly filled that hole that once was, and the reunited with her sister ; she had all the desires in the world that she could ask for. Maybe.. Aries misses her mother, but she had long passed away.

"I too, would want to believe it's a second chance." She smiled brightly, a nod within so as believing everything was.. Meant to be, in a sort of way. She was no means a religious wolf, and yet somehow it all felt like the Gods were playing a paw on it. To the way the world warped, to the ways wolves meet, and even how the region itself formed.. Learning that this mountain, the vale, did not even exist until recently. She could not imagine a wolf denying the existence of a greater power, when such power has been seen.

"Thank you, your words are kind. You are a very pleasant leader, and i'm sure that your pack flourishes with your guidance and warmth. It is pleasant to know that our two packs mingle, and will meet more in the future." Alliances were a wonder, but not every pack that held these alliances also continued with a friendliness that was presented. She would hope to see more of the High Priestess.

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She returned Aries' longing statement with a sorrowful smile of her own, knowing well the feeling. Closure, she had found, was something that no one else could give you - it was a gift you gave yourself. Valeska wished she could have said her own goodbyes before being thrust down a stony chasm and into the new wide world, but there was nothing to be done about it.

Life moved inexorably on, and it was pointless to waste time over what might have been.

“I like to think that they know,” she said softly, reaching out a feathered paw to touch that of the maiden's. “Given your disposition, I do not doubt that for a moment.”

The conversation dwindled shortly after that, having exhausted much of the heavier topics already, and now they found themselves engaged in a comfortable sort of silence together before Aries spoke again.

Valeska grinned at her generous words, dipping her head in a polite gesture of mutual respect. “I could say the same for you and yours - you are a most wonderful lady, and I am certain we will see each other again, and often,” she replied merrily, not thinking of the trauma her children would inflict with their repeated exposure, “It has been lovely getting to know you. I pray for your happiness, and that of all of Duskguard.”

The little wolf made to leave, then, giving Aries a gentle brush with her shoulder as she walked past.

“Come, let us enjoy the morning.”

 

{Exit Valeska}

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