the GoldenShade

Clouds rolled overhead, grey and fat with unshed rainwater, but I knew that it wouldn't stay that way for long. It felt like I had blinked my eyes and Tallsun had already given way to Orangemoon and it was already cold. Over and over I thought that it already felt colder than normal, but I had spent a majority of my life tucked away safe and warm in the Dragon's Throat, so for all I knew the already chilly temperature was normal for the mainland. I hoped that the rain would hold out long enough for me to make it back to the Edge because the idea of travelling in the pouring rain, cold, pouring rain wasn't something that I was looking forward to. Of course, a second later a cold, fat raindrop hit me squarely on the nose.

"Wonderful." I sighed, exasperated at my luck. Mara, however, couldn't seem to care less that it was starting to rain. She bounded ahead of me on long, thin maned wolf legs. She disappeared into some bushes, my last glimpse being the white tip at the end of her tail. I didn't bother with asking her where she was going, because usually when we left the Edge she would spend most of her time hunting. She claimed that the food in different places tasted different. It was something I was just going to have to take her word for.

"Oooooog?"

I almost didn't hear it, but the sound was so out of place in the Threshold that I couldn't help but notice it. My ears flicked back and I looked around, but when I didn't hear it again I shrugged and continued to walk, chalking it up to a strange bird singing. 

"Geronimo!"

That was loud and close enough to make me flinch. 'Hear that?' Mara was asking, and I could feel her alertness and curiosity through our shared bond. The voice sounded childish, scared, sad, tired, or maybe it was excited?  .... it reminded me of Ryuu and I for a brief second I wondered if it was him, but it couldn't be. He'd be full grown by now, an adult. The little voice called out again, and it urged me to move quicker through the foliage -- around trees, under branches, through bushes -- until I found him.

"Geronimo?" I repeated the word that he'd shouted, head tilted. He looked pitifully thin and malnourished. How long had he been on his own? Where were his parents? Other questions ran through my mind, but there were other matters that needed to be attended to first. I approached him slowly, a friendly, if concerned, smile on my lips. "Are you hungry?" Letha was still nursing, so I had food to offer because I wouldn't let him starve to death, alone, in the middle of the forest.


"."