In all honesty, Sohalia rarely crossed his mind anymore. And why should she? Oh, her presence drifted through his thoughts occasionally, when he looked in upon the plethora of children they had created together, but that was only as sort of passing nod. She was a ghost to him, figuratively and, he figured, literally. She had been gone for seasons now, years. He was sure that she had died, for endless searching - both inside of Helovia and out - had revealed no trace of her.

She had left him, their home, their children, seemingly without a word. It wasn't the first time, but there was a slow drawn-out finality in it, it had seemed to him. Indeed, whenever he searched for her, he had expected to find nothing. It hadn't ever felt like that before - before, he was always so sure that she would return.

He didn't feel that way now.

Gliding through the Flats, Gaucho allowed his dusky blue-gray gaze to survey the area below. The dun felt a sort of kinship to this land, a protectiveness stemmed from the first Riftian battle here. He often found himself here, wandering through the reflective expanses, keeping an eye out for invisible monsters and the like. Today, he was just sort of drifting. Unlike Sohalia this was not the happiest that he had ever been. Ampere was ... as explosive as ever, but seemed deftly distant as of late. Mesec had turned into a monster and attacked his family, and his two latest additions - Tae and Grusha - had a penchant for getting themselves into enormous amounts of trouble. He didn't necessarily mind it, but Ampere did, which meant part of that responsibility fell back to him. The weariness of his long years as a Sultan had worn into him steadily, like waves crashing onto and slowly wearing down granite.

Nothing held any electricity for him anymore. There were no battles he feared losing, no children who needed him anymore. Not even any lovers within whose company he could lose himself. He had been, in his own way, entirely faithful to both Ampere and Sohalia during his time with them, and despite the oddness of his monogamy, they had both fulfilled him. Well. Until lately. But, like all bodily indulgences, the long-standing warrior had long ago learned to tide most of his cravings.

It just left him feeling weary, and tired.

A million listless and unimportant thoughts might have flowed through his mind, but all were halted. The trajectory of his body, his thoughts, and potentially his future halted when he saw her.

It couldn't be, and yet he knew that his eyes did not deceive him. Likewise, both Mara and Vorsa confirmed the sight of The Transcended. For a moment he was dumb struck.

Soh alive? He thought, his lips pursed together. When she had come back last time ... she had lingered in the Falls to heal herself. Was that where she was heading now? Where she had been? But-

no

He thought immediately, cutting off that line of thinking. If she had been in the Falls, Kaj would have told him. And, if she was out flying, she would already have been well enough to travel back to the Throat.

That only left one possibility, in the dun's mind: she had just come back.

"Soh-" His voice reached out towards her, as his mammoth body swung in the air to intersect her trajectory. There was hesitation, a sort of upward scoop in his rich vocals that indicated uncertainty, as if he was half expecting her to turn and turn out to be someone else entirely. But a much larger part of him knew that it was indeed her, and that when she turned, he would be greeted with her bi-coloured sea gaze, her delightful and serene features. Her smile.

Gaucho's heart ached painfully as he waited for her to turn towards him, years-long expectation and missing-her and love suddenly bursting to be set free inside of some hidden and chained box in his soul.


[ACK. -rambles back-]