Memories of the past had haunted him for months, trailing in the wake of his travels like a shadow at twilight. Recollections of Helovia and the Edge and the family he had left behind had not loosened their grip on him since the day he had decided to depart the barren cliffs in search of himself, as if perhaps there were more to find. From the moment the Grey had disintegrated, years and years ago, he had felt as if he was floating in space. He never truly belonged anywhere. He had settled in places as if hoping to find the sense of belonging he desired, but it never seemed to allow itself to be found.
He could bare it no longer, though. He could not wander the planet for the rest of his living days when he knew the one thing he needed was the one thing he left behind. Nothing else mattered, if only he could have her.
The decision to return was made on one cloudy afternoon on the grey beaches of another land, and a mere few days of travel later, he arrived at the familiar shores of the place he used to call home under the watchful gaze of the moon. Icy bays and grey peaks greeted him as he arrived at the northern reaches of the land. Dense forest and rolling hills followed, sloping downward towards the golden desert that sat upon the horizon. He did not know where his journey would come to an end, but he followed the curve of a valley southward until the terrain evened out and was consumed by vegetation.
It was here that he chose to land, slowly dropping down from the sky toward a small meadow that had clearly only just begun to see the touch of spring. He had never been to this part of the continent, and in fact, he wondered how many other places he had not been. It seemed as though in his absence, the place he had once know had changed so much. He did not know what had become of the Edge. The family he had settled into seemed to be just another part of his history, as did so much else. He longed to travel north again, to see what had become of the cliffs and the forests he had called home, but part of him could not bear to face the allies he had left behind and abandoned.
He looked toward the ground again as he walked, studying the pattern of the damp earth as it passed beneath his hooves. The meadow sloped down toward the treeline, mist rising up through the tall grass in pale wisps. The trees seemed to be hungry, with their tangled arms reaching out eagerly for him as if coaxing him into the darkness beneath their boughs. He was apprehensive for a moment as he hesitated at the edge of the clearing, but his uncertainties were soon buried. Trees had always been his friends, and the more he stared at the scarred wooden trunks, the more he saw the eager branches as lonely arms waiting to embrace him.
He pressed into the darkness, thick undergrowth brushing against his legs and pulling at his feathers. The faint glow of his markings along with the weak white light filtering through the clouds allowed him to find his way through the thick brush. He wandered deeper into the forest until he came to the edge of a pond, where he finally came to a halt. The thick canopy of dark branches and dense leaves overhead was suffocating, but thin shafts of moonlight still pierced the overgrown foliage to scatter across the forest floor like white mice. He lowered his head slowly, looking down into clear pool at his hooves to see the wavering reflection of his face staring back at him. It seemed to have been a dry spring, but at that moment, warm drops of rain began to tumble down from the sky, as if the heavens were weeping for him and empty life he had returned to.
"talk talk talk talk "
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