It was probably a mistake to have gone to the Basin, but Mesec felt lighter for it - the knowledge of his children secure in his heart and it made him feel lighter, lighter than he had in so long. Even under the weight that he should not have gone, that denying himself that knowledge and visit could have been one thing crossed off the list for his quest. But, he thought, it would be easy enough to find other things to control, to deny himself, as he continued to wander across Helovia.

He needed to be more careful about running into others - it was reckless of him to get drawn into conversations, into a family when he still couldn’t control his emotions and the very dangerous creature that emerged when they got out of control.

How he ached to go back to the Basin, or to go to the Throat - even the glimpse he got while waiting for Megaera on the southern shores of Helovia had been agony. He wanted to go home, to find Gaucho and Zero and Ampere and apologize to everyone for what he had done. What he had tried to do.

But he couldn’t. Not yet, not until he had control again and he was so close now.

It was getting easier to think about them, about that family, with each day that passed - albeit in a detached, hazy manner. Easier to think about the family as a whole, to be happy that they were a family, if he did not think about any of the individuals.

They travelled east - Mesec still bound to the ground as Lucius flew ahead. The zephyr pointed out frequently that if they flew together, a stray thought could trigger Mesec’s transformation and then the warg would go crashing into the earth.

Briefly, a few seasons ago, this outcome had been considered favourable.

Briefly for it was quickly followed by a series of sharp nips from Lucius and a volley of harsh language that Mesec was quite sure he had not taught his companion.

Now they travelled in peace - matching drops of night in the fresh dawn as they weaved through the forests on the eastern side of Helovia. This had been the last place Mesec had seen Ampere but though those thoughts tickled at the back of his mind - with all the finesse of a rusty blade - now his mind was full of a small colt and filly, blanketed with stars... and of whales that looked suspiciously like zephyrs.