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Time Together, Time Apart

Part one of seven

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Written by Arian Mabe (Amethyst Mare)

Commissioned by Adagiodajiang

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Herring Archipelago was a lively, bustling place, known as a Resort City to many and one that was primarily reached by boat. There was a narrow jetty of land that could be used to get to it via the land mass that Sandor and Alyssa lived on, but it was a longer, more harrowing journey - and hadn't they both had more than enough of long, harrowing journeys by that time?

No... Oh, no. It was more than about time that the doe-taur and the white fox had some rest and relaxation, even though Sandor still had not found an answer to his infection. Or was it perhaps a curse? Sandor hadn't found the right word for it, not quite yet, in his mind, though the fox checked the bags strapped to Alyssa's body as he fussed and fretted over her, far more than he had done in the past when they had lived together. Before he had disappeared for...too long.

"Are you sure that this is okay?" He said, though it was all the fox could do to settle his still queasy stomach as they waited near the docking ramp of the ship to disembark. "It's...unff...not too heavy for you, is it?"

Alyssa chuckled and shook her head, even though there was rather a lot of luggage strapped to her, hanging down on either side of her admittedly light body. Being a taur meant that she had plenty of back to strap backs to and they hung down over her deer shoulders, the barrel of her stomach and her rump too, though not in any way that they impeded her ability to walk and move easily. She still felt the weight of them, however, especially the ones on top of her back, for they had had to make good use of every inch of available space on her body to get the luggage to where it needed to go. She had not wanted to leave something behind that she needed and knew the capabilities of her own body.

"It's fine, Sandor," she said, the doe-taur still marvelling at the fact that she could have those conversations with him, for he was there, with her, and not off somewhere else, not somewhere where she could not reach him. "I can even take more, if you think that we should strip the bedding from our room on the ship and perhaps take the lamp and the chest at the bottom..."

Her eyes twinkled with mischief, feeling more like herself than she had in a long time. The fox scoffed and pretended to swat her playfully for teasing him with the notion of piling even more on her back (things that they would have never brought with them anyway), but he was still too nauseous to really do much. It was only playful, after all, but he had not realised just how queasy he would get on the boat. Alyssa had a little more of her deer heritage to help her out there and, despite the difference in their physiology, the deer-taur did not often feel like she wanted to empty the contents of her stomach. Stomach pains, if she was unwell, were more common for her.

Still, it had been strange, very much so, for Sandor to feel so weak on the boat, not even able to use any spells to help himself. Out on the water, even though his ability to cast spells stretched far beyond his affinities, he was away from both fire and nature, though the former had fallen by the wayside as the dark influence of the ancient tree and spirit had corrupted him further.

Hm... Maybe corruption was the right word for his condition. Like he was rotting from the inside out, a beast caught by the need to devour. But Sandor had the pills that had been given to him by the naga and, well, he only had so many of those left. They had settled down that raging hunger in him, at the very least, for which the fox was eternally grateful. Yet little did he know that distracting his attention, even then, was perhaps not the best course of action that he could have taken.

There were actions that needed to be had and steps that needed to be taken, regardless of what he craved and the time that he desired to spend with his sweet doe-taur.

Oh, how he had missed her... Even looking at her as she stood there, the breeze ruffling her hair back from her shoulders, the brunette strands longer than they had been when he had left. Sandor had tried to encourage her to get them trimmed, but they reached down to the midpoint of her back, lightly curly and wavy, the doe-taur taking good care of herself without spending much of her money. She had suggested to him that she could trim her own locks, if he would like the look better, but Sandor had baulked at that. As handy and as skilled as the doe-taur was, she could surely use his money, what he earned as a mage and beyond, to take better care of herself, even to treat herself more kindly. She might not have earned as much for herself but his money was her money - and the fox wished he could find a way to truly convey that to the doe-taur.

His eyes roamed down her body, waiting to disembark the ship, noting how she braced and spread her hind hooves apart a little more, the little, dark cloven hooves so delicate in their framing, even though the fox knew that they were so very strong too. The bags covered her, but she wore a soft, white tunic-like shirt that hung down over the deer part of her body, across what was the deer's chest above her front legs. It flowed and rippled, catching the breeze, yet was cinched at the waist to make sure that it would not fly up. The top of the bosom was exposed, though Alyssa was usually quite modest in her style of dress, the deer-taur having grown in confidence and styling since having to take care of and look after herself.

He only wished that it had never come to that, though Sandor knew that there was nothing he could do by wishing that he could go back and make a different decision. There had been few decisions that he felt he could make back then, when his fear of giving in to the devouring and doing the worst to Alyssa...

The fox sighed, shaking his head. No, it did no good to linger on those thoughts. He had the pills and he could use those to control it all, at least for the time being. That would have to be enough for him, all while he made up for lost time with Alyssa.

Pushing down his stomach, trying to quell his nausea, Sandor smiled and put his arm around her shoulders, hugging her gently to him. She was so strong and had been so strong through their time apart too. He could hardly believe that she was able to avoid seasickness while he had bounced all over the cabin of the ship even while trying to use his flying magic to float. He had thought that he would be able to better control himself and his stomach if he was not on the timber of the ship itself, but the problem therein lay where the ship was still moving, while Sandor was trying to stay still.

It had been nice though, when his stomach had settled some, on the ship, and the waters had been less choppy, to talk to Alyssa, even in explaining, simply, that one of his teachers at the grand academy had told him too that flying was one of his gifts. It had been strange, those first few times, to lift off from the ground without anything holding him up, a strange sense of weightlessness tugging at his fur, though he had latched onto it eagerly. Who wouldn't have wanted to fly?

Yet it had failed to keep him from seasickness, even though Alyssa did not need his help at all, and the vine-bed, a hammock-like contraption where they could sleep together, didn't help either. Mostly, Alyssa soothed him and laid cool flannels on his forehead, trying to distract him from the seasickness. When it was at its worst, even his magic did not help him and he couldn't even reach for it, despite it being there.

They disembarked, slowly going down the wide gangplank that connected the boat to the shore, the docks heaving with life. They had docked in the tourist section of the harbour, for travellers of their kind, and water lapped at the golden-brown stones of the harbour wall, seeming a very long way below them. Sandor had never been at any great height over water before and he gulped, straining to keep his wobbly stomach in place, Alyssa, for once, taking the lead.

Oh, it was good that he could trust her to take the lead, that he could have that faith in her again. It had been terrible on his own, not having her there to support him, but the fox understood more and more how that was meant to be a two-way street between them. Their upbringing together, with Alyssa being a servant of his household, had warped their relationship. Even if Alyssa seemed perfectly happy with the arrangement still and did not open up to any prying questions that he offered her, he knew that he had to do something to change the order of things between them, in their relationship.

Down on solid ground again, he could breathe again, though he still took a moment while Alyssa looked around, never going further than a couple of metres from the fox.

Herring Archipelago was so...big! She hadn't expected so many people to be there, even after moving to their new town where she had even lived on her own for that time without Sandor. But everyone came there, anthros of all species and even taurs like her too! Horses pulled carts of tourists from place to place, some taurs, taller, stronger ones, leading the way in carriages, though they were dressed as if they were a part of the show, their clothes light and fine, suited to the warmth of the air.

It was not too hot there either, the air dry but not too dry. That had to be the effect of being so close to the ocean, the Resort City bordering the sea, which was why so much of its business was done through the expansive docks. The harbour was made out of golden-brown stone with blue-green water lapping at the small beach and around the hulls of the boats, masts rising tall and proud.

The harbour was broken up into sections with tall outcrops of stone walkways - which were needed for the greater height of the tourist ships clearly, the kind that brought a lot more anthros and other creatures along with them. Further away, the fishermen and the tradesfolk with smaller boats had wooden jetties separating their boats and docking points, where they could tie up in the harbour to ensure their vessels were safe at night. But Alyssa could not see that far with the taller, grander tourist ships and big trading vessels between them, the air crowded with masts and rigging and ropes. She didn't know much about boats but, from what she had been able to see on the transport ship, it had been fascinating to watch them work, men and anthros. Of course, a taur couldn't get up in the rigging with their hooves, or at least not with the amount of agility and finesse that seemed to be required, leaving her firmly with her hooves on the wooden decking.

The landing point itself was such a throng of people that Alyssa hardly knew where to look, her hair brushing back from her ears. There was a lot of noise too, a lot of loud conversations going on all around her, but maybe that was an instance where her being a taur allowed her to be invisible. However, no one bumped into her, moving around her like a river around a stone in the riverbed, flowing easily.

Exotic trees with long, flat, draping leaves bordered the harbour prettily and a wide street seemed to lead down to a shopping district set with bright merchant carts and the banners of shops that she could not tell the produce of, not from a distance. Spices and herbs and incense coloured the air, floating from that area, as she inhaled deeply, trying to make sense of everything around her at once.

And then there was a restaurant - not an inn, something grander than that for the tourists who came there to spend their hard-earned money - near the seafront too, away from the harbour but still well in sight of it for those that liked a view. A grand canopy was stretched out in front of it to shade patrons from the heat of the noonday sun, though it was mid to late afternoon at that time and, thankfully, a moderate day. Yet the aromas of richly cooked food, thick with cream and perhaps even mouth-watering dishes for the vegetarian Alyssa to enjoy, teased at her senses and forced her to swallow.

She likely would not be able to suggest a place to eat there, considering that that place looked to be far out of their price range. But she could, at the very least, get Sandor safely to the inn, if she was careful about it.

Looking down at the white fox, Alyssa smiled and ran her fingers through the fur between his ears, her fingers scratching and tickling soothingly, drawing him back to her and the present. He had longer white hair there, though he had had a trim before they had left, which at least made him look a little tidier and more presentable, despite his state of queasiness. But they couldn't stay down there on the bench forever...

"Sandor," she said, stroking his muzzle as he turned his cheek into her hand. "Are you okay? We should go to the inn and take off my luggage... She flinched and half-shrugged, giving him a sheepish smile. "There may be pickpockets and I can't keep an eye on all of the luggage when it's on my back."

"Yes, I know... I understand... Sorry, Alyssa..."

The fox laughed sheepishly and stood, rubbing the back of his neck. Well, they _were_a pair, weren't they? But he'd rather think about them both there with affection like that rather than not at all, for he had come back to at least be with her. Maybe that was the best that he could offer her.

He stood more easily, taking a deep breath of the fresh, ocean air, even though it was still lightly coloured and fragranced with Herring Archipelago. The afternoon would wear on into dusk if they stayed there and forgot about checking into the inn and he shook his head slowly, managing to at least clear it a little. That was all he could do sometimes, but he hoped to never again fall seasick, even if he was well enough aware that they had a trip back to take too, when the time came. Perhaps there were some remedies for seasickness sold in Herring Archipelago? He could only hope.

They headed through the marketplace first, Alyssa reading the map that Sandor held for her, though even his vision felt a bit shaky still, as if he was still imagining the ground moving and shifting under his feet. That was very much a disconcerting feeling, one that he didn't want to return to at all quickly. Damn, those boats...

Alyssa seemed spellbound by the sights and sounds, even pointing to a live performance that was taking place on a stage at the end of the marketplace. They didn't know what the performers were trying to do, but they could, at least, be amazed by the flips and jumps they were making through the air, acrobats of some kind. His stomach eased a little more and they found their way through the crowd to the inn, though there were several there - presumably to be able to better serve all the tourists that visited the area. There were so many there, many more than Sandor had even anticipated, but he did not mind too much. It reminded him of the big city and all the time that he had spent studying and working with his fellow mages. Being along in the quiet was nice, but that did not mean that the world there was not one familiar and comforting to him too.

But there were a lot of others around, other taurs and anthros too... He swallowed hard, shoving down his worries. No, that wasn't something that he had to think about, no. He had the pills. Everything would be okay, as long as he had those.

"Good afternoon!" The receptionist manning the front desk at the inn, where they would go up to their rooms, greeted them warmly. "Thank you for coming here today and for choosing our inn! What name is your reservation under?"

Of course, the wolf anthro only spoke to Sandor, though Alyssa was not surprised at that, even though it annoyed her very slightly. She didn't mind some things in life, but looking back on how she had handled and managed herself as a lone doe-taur during Sandor's time away had given her a lot more confidence in handling herself. She could manage the mindless things, like booking into an inn, and Sandor didn't have to.

"Sandor Everlast," she said, resting a hand in the small of his back, meeting the wolf's eyes. "We have a double room reserved under his name, for fourteen days."

"Ah, yes, of course," the wolf said, smoothly transitioning; most likely she thought that Alyssa was merely a doe-taur looking out for her master and taking care of his affairs as he wanted her to. "That is all set up and ready for you. Will you be requiring a maid service in the morning?"

Sandor smiled and nodded to Alyssa, more than happy that she was going ahead. He was still not quite feeling himself. Thank the ancestors for Alyssa, truly.

"Yes, we shall," she said. "We will decide on the services required for the rest of the stay after the first night, however. Is there anywhere that you would recommend we find food for the night?"

"Yes, of course!" That seemed to be something that the wolf receptionist wanted to tell them, for she most likely had an agreement with local eateries to send them business. "Our inn, of course, has a wonderful selection, though we focus mostly on ales and beers imported via our docks and tradespeople. Two doors down is a parlour with fine wines and, if you continue on down this street, towards the tower, there is a restaurant very well known for the fish delicacies that they offer."

"And what of the vegetarian options?" Sandor said, butting in while Alyssa did her best not to make a face at the options that have been presented so far. "Alyssa does not eat meat."

She was vegetarian, of course, but she still didn't mind preparing Sandor's meals with meat all that much. Frankly, for her, it would be strange for her to not be preparing her meals, though Sandor had insisted on them only getting a room and not a place where she could prepare food. The doe-taur did not honestly know whether that was because of any price difference or Sandor just wanting to do yet another thing to make up for his time apart from her.

There were only some things that she could do, after all, to tell him that everything was alright now that he had come back to her.

While the wolf fumbled and tried to find somewhere better to recommend to both of them to eat, Alyssa took the room key from her with a smile.

"I am sure we will find somewhere absolutely lovely to dine," she said, smoothing over things, as she did quite often. "It is of no consequence and we may also try your delightful inn and the food on offer tonight too."

Sandor nodded and smiled, glad that his doe-taur was at least happy too, for that was all that he had wanted. With the key in his hand, they made their way up the stairs to their room, Alyssa taking a moment longer. Even though she was fairly good at carrying the bags with her, they were still quite difficult to carry when she was going up and down inclines, or stairs too, for that matter.

There was only so much, after all, that she could be physically capable of, even though she wanted to be her best for Sandor.

In the room, she breathed a sigh of relief as he unloaded the bags from her, with her help too. The weight off her back was very much a literal one as the bags were all carefully unpacked and folded, though Sandor came back to himself more and more as they went through them. It was much better for him, after all, to be on solid ground once more, but he didn't quite know if he was going to be able to either find some seasickness medication or a suitable spell to make the journey back any easier. To say that Sandor was dreading it was an understatement indeed...

But there was much to be had in the interim as he stretched out a little, working his arms above his head, light muscle flexing and pulling. There were too many kinks to be eased from his form after being knocked and bumped around the boat for the days that the travel took and, privately, he had wondered if, one day, he would possess the magical ability to fly both himself and Alyssa there.

"Here, Sandor," Alyssa said with a smile, handing him some of his shirts and tunics. "We can hang these in the wardrobe so that they are fresh to wear."

He appreciated that she liked to have no creases in his clothing, but, even as a mage, Sandor didn't see where the concern was in that. He did miss his robes, the thicker folds of fabric falling in such a way that he had never really had all that need of ironing or steaming them to make them look presentable. He had tried, once with a shirt, to dry something with his fire magic but...hm. The result had been just as expected with a singed, burned shirt and a room that smelled of smoke for days.

"There we go," he said, dusting off his hands with a smile, already feeling so much more himself again. "Everything is unpacked, that didn't take too long at all!"

Alyssa smiled, relieved to see him in better spirits. It made her feel so much lighter too, a sense of ease in her simply for the fact that she had her fox at her side once more.

"Yes!" She agreed. "Shall we look around the area? We will need to get something to eat and..." She checked outside, through the window where the curtains were still not yet drawn. "It is dusk already, Sandor, the time went very swiftly today."

He nodded and drew her to him for a brief kiss, though the fox would have wanted nothing less than to allow his lips to linger on hers for longer and longer. Oh, it had been so hard to be apart from her and to not taste the sweetness of her kisses, not to mention another kind of sweetness under her tail. Yet the fox thought, for once, that the doe-taur may have not been quite as amenable to those kinds of jokes and flirting as she had been in the past. The distance between them had been great while he'd been away and there remained a sense of "otherness" when they were together.

Yet he could be content with what he had as he took her hand and gently led her down the stairs, which were more difficult with her legs. The doe-taur made a face but leaned heavily on him to get down the stairs. She'd never liked when she had to go "chest first" like that, her forelegs suddenly much lower than her hind ones.

"Oof, I'm glad to be back on solid ground again," she joked, though for a slightly different reason than Sandor was glad to be on land once more. "Where do you want to go first?"

"Hm..." Sandor peered out the door to the inn, no one at the desk that time, walking out into the moderately bustling street. "I don't think we should have a drink yet - well, you would manage it, Alyssa, but I wouldn't. That's certainly not changed with me."

Alyssa grinned and poked his shoulder playfully, though the jab was nothing more than a light tap coming from her.

"Yes, I wouldn't have wanted to be carrying you back to an inn that I am not familiar with over my back tonight, Sandor," she teased him lightly. "I know so well that you cannot hold your ale as I do."

The fox chuckled and bumped her with his shoulder playfully, weaving back and forth across the street as the doe-taur squealed.

"Yes, but I have such a sweet doe to take me home," he cooed, "that why wouldn't I want to be weak and helpless, just so she can rescue me?"

She made a face at that, but Alyssa was not quite quick enough to hide the blush on her cheeks. Oh, Sandor knew her well enough by then to know that she didn't mind helping him out if he did slip up with how much alcohol he consumed, but he didn't want to put her out either. Plus, remembering spells for hangovers when one had a hangover was nigh-on impossible. The doe-taur and her physiology, however, seemed to be immune to the ill-effects of alcohol, even able to consume far more than him without feeling inebriated at all.

It was cute. Very cute.

The marketplace beckoned them, seemingly still bustling at the late hour, the sky dusky with blue and purple, stars popping into existence as the evening darkened enough for them to make themselves known. The buildings in Herring Archipelago were not particularly tall, most at best being around three storeys high and many only being a single storey, so they had a good few, trees planted throughout the Resort City so that they could still have an air of nature about them.

"Everything is so strange here," Alyssa murmured. "I'd never seen the sea before and now...I feel like I've seen rather a lot of it. Though you must be ready to wash the salt from your coat too, Sandor?"

She rolled her shoulders back, her tail flicking. The salt that had clung to her fur during the voyage was difficult to get out without a full shower or bath, neither of which had been present on the ship. Still, she didn't feel unclean, even if Sandor felt like he was missing out on those finer comforts.

"It does feel like it clings to the fur," he said, muzzle twitching in an odd grimace for him. "I hope there are soaps we can buy here to wash it out."

"We can look through the market now," Alyssa said. "They will likely have something, there are a lot of other anthros here and they will have all the same problems when it comes to fur and hair coats."

"The others on the ship didn't seem as bothered by things," Sandor commented, musing over a stall of fur and hair washes, though they seemed to be branded as more luxurious items, not the practical ones that he was looking for. "Hm... I suppose skin does wash off easily."

"There was an elf on the ship too," Alyssa reminded him. "He didn't say much though, he just kind of...sat outside and stared at the ocean. I thought that was a bit weird of him, but I didn't like to say anything while we were there."

Sandor chuckled lightly and rested his hand on her back, making sure that the others flowing and moving around them did not try to step between him and Alyssa. Nobody seemed to look at her, though that would forever be something that he was confused by, considering that she was the most beautiful creature in the world to him. He didn't want them to get separated, but he had found himself more protective of Alyssa than ever too.

Maybe some things ran deeper than expected.

Music flowed through the air and they paused, hand in hand, to listen to a lyre player strumming, a melodic voice singing in another language. The wolf musician leaned back against a stone wall as he played, relaxed and at ease. Sandor dug in the purse that was tied at his hip, where he always rested his free hand on it so that he could ensure it would not fall prey to a pickpocket, for a few coins to toss him, for the musician had a collection pot set out before him. Alyssa smiled, swaying back and forth lightly to the music, her eyes half-closed.

"Are you okay, Alyssa?"

"Mhm... Yes, yes, I am," she said, though her voice was softer than usual. "It's just... It reminds me of my mother's music, when she used to play to me and sing to me. The ukelele... I never had the heart to truly learn how to play with it as time stretched on."

Sandor swallowed hard. He hadn't expected a lump to rise in his throat at that, feeling like he was trying to choke something down. Never one for emotions of the negative kind - he had always been lighter of heart and mind - it was unusual for him to feel like he was trying to force something down. And, for once, it was not the devouring that he had to worry about. He saw all the anthros and people around him and they moved through one another as if they were a shoal of fish, no one bumping into the other, just mingling and mixing fluidly and softly.

"Maybe, one day, you will play - but not for anyone else," he offered with a smile as she leaned into his shoulder, needing that comfort. "You will play for yourself, Alyssa. For I think you may have set yourself aside for far too long."

Alyssa started lightly and shot her partner a strange look. That was unusual, quite so. She should have been focusing on him and, although she had never voiced it out loud, she felt that she had spent too much time alone. Sure, she had made a couple of new friends while Sandor had been away but so much of her life had been spent in service to him and his family that she couldn't imagine anything else. That was why it had been so disconcerting, as if she had been dropped into someone else's life, when everything had disappeared, simply falling out from under her. As there had been no Sandor there, no fox to look after, no one to ensure she was assisting and caring for...

But the market moved on, the light dusk making the city take on a strange sort of glow as the lanterns were lit. They didn't find any soaps that they wanted or liked, not for the purposes that they needed them for, but someone assured them that there were communal bath houses there too where they could soak in the naturally rejuvenating waters.

"That'll get the salt right out of your fur, good sir!" The squirrel reassured them, his cheeks round and plump, his body comfortably well-fed. "Speak to Sindra, she'll make sure you get a good deal."

"Thank you," Alyssa said to Sandor, for the fox didn't seem all that enthused about the idea of a communal bathhouse. "We will take a look!"

"It sounds..." He said, as soon as they were out of earshot. "Hm... Lots of people bathing together? Is that going to be clean? Enough dirt comes out of my fur when I bathe!"

Alyssa giggled. Oh, he was funny!

"You shower in clean water before going in, Sandor," she said. "But there are private rooms and baths too, even if you have to pay extra for them. They are quite lovely, though I have only heard other taurs talk about them and some of the noble folk too. The taurs were in more basic accommodations, of course, for the bathhouses, but they still had ramps to get down into the waters and ensure they were fully cleansed. They were the travellers that talked about that."

Her tone grew wistful and he smiled.

"It doesn't matter how much it costs, Alyssa. I'll make sure that you get plenty of time in there, don't you worry at all. If that's what you want, that is exactly what you shall get."

She blushed heavily and waved her hands, trying to shake him off, to dissuade him from spending money on her. The doe-taur, however, should have known that her partner was not to be put off from doting on her, even if she was still getting used to the new-old order of things returning. It was kind of him, however, to look after her so well and she did not fight him on it for long, despite not exactly agreeing to go either.

Sandor squeezed her hand, pleased to have found something that he, at the very least, felt that he was able to do for her. That was all that he had wanted, to be there for her and to be with her. Was that so difficult? Apparently so, the turning and twisting of his stomach reminding him that there was a deeper, darker part of his psyche that was hungry for something other than food.

Well, the kind of food that he shouldn't have been taking, involving other anthros, other creatures... He shuddered at the memories from his self-imposed quest of need. No, he would not go back to that. He was avoiding the issue in being there in Herring Archipelago with Alyssa, but he still did not know what else he could do in the immediate moment.

What was that?

Something caught his attention, something that didn't look quite right. There was a creature standing at the entrance to a dark alleyway (nothing foreboding about that at all) with a draping, green cloak over their shoulders and a rug over the back half of their body. With how they stood, they looked like a taur, but they had their hood up over the top of their head. Well, as much as they could, seemingly, for their long, lightly wavy, purple hair spilt out of it nonetheless, a brilliant blue flower protruding out from under the edge of the hood.

His heart stilled, pounding, aching, driving, the roar of his own body stunning his ears. It was all he could hear, ringing through, as if the marketplace itself was falling away, feeling out of place and ungrounded in his own body. The ground was stable, yes - but it was no longer holding him in place where he needed to be, not anymore. His ears twitched back and forth, little ripples pulling at his muzzles and lips, feeling even the sensitivity of the few whiskers on his snout while the air and breeze licked around them.

The doe-taur...but not his doe-taur. The ancient being that had been spoken of... She was there! Everything matched up, even if he could barely believe that he had stumbled upon her, right there in the Resort City! It didn't make sense, no, not at all, but the rug covering their body too showed that they were more than what they seemed, for it was by no means cold enough there to require any kind of extra covering or warming at all. There were even a few curling strands of blue hair too, poking out from her hood, woven through the purple, just as had been spoken of.

He ran through the features, taking a shuddering breath. Alyssa paused when he stopped dead, turning, lips slightly parted. She didn't know what was wrong with him but neither had she seen where his gaze had landed at that moment.

"Sandor? Sandor, what's wrong?"

But he couldn't answer her, not as his heart lurched, blood rushing back to his body, suddenly breathing again, though every breath that he raked into his lungs felt hard-won and pulled at the muscles of his chest. It hurt, physically, yet the creature the ancient doe-taur, looked at him with piercing, amber eyes, eyes that looked like they had been cut from the purest of gemstones dug up from the deepest of mines, so sharp and so clear.

They caught him, captivated him. His heart skipped a beat, yet not for the reasons it usually would have done such a thing.

And then she was gone! Whipping around, the deer-taur spun into the alley behind her, diving out of sight in a light clatter of hooves that was swallowed up by the din of the marketplace. He and Alyssa had not even eaten yet and he knew he had to go, that he had to follow her! It was the only chance he would get, he was sure of it, racing after her, Alyssa's hand ripped from his as he lunged.

"Sandor!"

Alyssa called out after him, but there was no use in any of it as the fox chased down the ancient being, even if the doe-taur who was left behind did not know that that was who he was chasing and following. He had to find her! That was all that was on his mind, sadly not even thinking of Alyssa, who was left behind him. She cried out, but her voice was whipped away by the wind, not to be at all caught by the ears of the fox.

But he had to follow the doe-taur, he simply had to, even if she... No, he couldn't think like that. Sandor huffed and panted as he chased her down, shoving through the crowd, ignoring the annoyed cries and grunts of those that, sometimes, he half-barrelled out of the way. He couldn't think that she wasn't the ancient being, for she was his last chance, his only hope, the one that he had to find for any chance at a cure.

He dove down the alleyway and...darkness enveloped him, his white tail whipping out of sight.

And Alyssa stood there, her hands clasped to her chest, heart pounding, tears that didn't have any place there prickling and tickling at the corners of her eyes. He was gone... Again. And she was there, helpless, left behind as she had been the first time, ignored even when she shouted out after him.

Alyssa truly had thought that Sandor would have stopped for her, that he would have turned back, that he would have taken her along with him, wherever it was that he was going. She had never thought that he would run away from her again, shoving his way through the crowd. It was not somewhere that she could not follow, yet the doe-taur did not know the city and it was so big and daunting that she very much did not want to get trapped down a dead-end with someone that wanted to hurt her. She was capable enough to defend herself, of course, but she did not have her bowgun with her, on which she had come to rely on rather heavily.

Perhaps it was time to learn some more taur-like manners of defending herself, if it ever came to that.

But that wouldn't help her in that moment, frozen in place, an icy-cold chill trickling down her spine. The crowd moved seamlessly around her as if she was not even there, though Alyssa did not think that they saw her at all.

It had happened before. To be so alone... It clawed at her, sinking into her, lonelier than she even had been in the past, for all that time that Sandor had been away, the months rolling by, long past the time that he had said that he would come back to her. Did he not realise how much of her life he was wasting, when all she wanted was to spend it with him? For the doe-taur would not have as many years in the world to live and enjoy as the fox anthro, not by far.

She wrapped her arms around herself again, trying to calm her breath even as it snapped at her windpipe, her chest feeling tight, too tight to even think of breathing comfortably.

It's okay, everything's okay.

_ _

She had to trust him, but...how could she think only good of her lover when he had run off and left her behind, just like that? As if it all meant nothing at all to him?

There'll be an explanation, she told herself, rubbing her arms, shivering even though she was not cold. You've got to calm down, please... You've got to work out what to do next.

That didn't make things any easier for her, however, uncomfortable, feeling well and truly as if the ground had changed under her, as if she was sinking, unable to scramble back to the surface of a particularly cloying boy that wanted to drag her under. What if he didn't tell her the truth about why he had been gone for so long when he came back, why he had run away then? There were so many things still left unsaid and she didn't know how to make her peace with them. As much as she wanted to believe all the good in the world, she was a doe-taur that had seen the darker underbelly of it, even if she was well enough aware that she was fortunate too to have been protected from a great deal of it. Still, she wasn't seen as a citizen but often lower-class, simply because of being a taur.

Did Sandor see her like that too, truly? Was that why he didn't talk to her, even though he said he loved her?

No... He loves me.

_ _

That much she knew without a doubt. But love could not carry them through all things.

Am I not trustworthy? She thought, turning back sadly to the inn, though she did not think that she would even have the inclination to fill her belly at all that night, no longer hungry. Does he not want to share things with me? If he talked to me, I could help him... But maybe I'm not good enough to help him. I couldn't help him, not really, in the forest when he was darted.

_ _

Of course, Alyssa conveniently "forgot" that she had been the one who had mixed the potion to save him after the dart in the forest and the encounter with the bandits, the guards who had believed that all spellcasters were wicked. She had been of help, but her mind was too dark and clouded with doubt to see that at that moment, frustration snapping at her heels. Down and down and down, sadness pulled at her, a heavy weight upon her shoulders, much heavier than any luggage that she ever could have carried for herself.

He'd left once before and not come back to her, not told her where he was, not even talked to her. And it had happened all over again.

Sandor, on the other hand, didn't have Alyssa on his mind at all. Maybe that was wrong of him, but the problem there was that he couldn't control the devouring - not when the pills that he had ran out. So, he had to find a way to stop it, through any means possible, even though those very means seemed to be running shorter and shorter with every turn that he took.

His stomach rumbled and he ignored it. It had been doing that a lot lately and he didn't want to consider why, not even as normal food proved to be less and less satisfying. He had not taken a pill that morning, for he had not felt the need to, but he had them with him at all times, just in case, always wanting to make sure that he could use them when needed. He had to ration them too, for they would, one day run out.

"Wait! Please, stop!"

He shouted after her, the flying hooves of the doe-taur, but she made her way down the winding streets of the residential part of the city, skittering and turning, though she leapt on a dime as if her hooves had been given wings. Like Alyssa, she had cloven hooves, though there was something strange about how the doe-taur moved, as if she was carried by the winds of another time, light on her hooves and dancing across the cobblestones.

In the back of his mind, he was reminded of a tale that his mother had told him, when he had been nothing but a young cub, of how a group of foxes had chased down a stag. Yet the stag had been an angel and, with its death, had brought ruin upon them. That was all he remembered of the tale, but he had remained in trepidation and apprehensive of stag anthros ever since, even if the story had been about a wild one, nothing more than a fairy tale. Yet even fairy tales held warnings in them and the flower on the top of the deer-taur's head could be an allegory for antlers, if one pressed the issue hard enough...

It was too much, too far, even as his chest heaved and he strained to scrape every last scrap of air that he could into his lungs. It wasn't enough as he chased her all the way out of the city into a more agricultural area, where there were fields and vegetable plots, though the fox dimly wondered how well they even grew there, considering that they were within reach of the salty sea air.

But it was not for him to worry one bit about how things like that worked as he panted heavily, air raking and clawing through his lungs and windpipe, winding but...he had to keep going. There was nothing behind him - yes, Alyssa, but he couldn't be with her if the devouring overcame him. Which was why he had to keep chasing her, down past the farmhouses, down past the fields, even where some cows were grazing in a fenced-off area.

He heaved and gasped, but he still managed to see her face, even as the air shimmered around her. Her face was glorious, narrow with a delicate chin, her eyes glittering with a faint sheen of magic sparkling around the outer edges of them, as if it was flowing outward from her, even then. Her hair spilt from her hood as it fell back from her face, revealing the blue flower with the fine, pink lines tracing down the petals, seemingly designed to lead pollinating insects to the bright orange stamen in the centre.

"Please... Wait..."

But the ancient being had no reason anymore to lead him on a merry chase as the world around him shimmered and ripped, taking him into a dark place, a place where he didn't even seem to be standing on the ground anymore. The fox gulped and looked down, shaky from running so far and so hard, but the doe-taur wasn't fleeing anymore, which was something at least. Underneath him, it was as if mist swirled, but there had to be something for him to stand on, even if there didn't seem to be any substance there.

"Is this your realm?" He asked, trying to be respectful, even as his heart pounded and he sweated, fur damp and clinging under his arms and at his groin. "Or...is this an enchantment? I did not... I did not..." He still had to gasp for air between words. "I did not intend to scare you, there is no harm that I could ever do to you..."

She was breath-taking, bluish-grey mist swirling around and around, though it did not cloak her figure at all, oddly enough. She looked at him, appearing taller than she was, and the fox gulped hard, licking his lips, even though there no longer seemed to be enough moisture in his mouth for him to comfortably do that.

Yet, she did not say anything, shadows dancing and flickering behind her, the ghosts of laughter flirting with the air. The fox's ears twitched back and forth, swivelling faintly to catch the sound, yet Sandor could not make any sense of them. The voices did not seem to be ominous or menacing, at least from his perspective... He could only hope.

The mist swirled, drifting around her legs as she smiled, spreading her hands out before her body.

"Oh... This is just a special place, yes..." She said, quietly, as if she didn't want to raise her voice. "I hope you like it. I didn't want anyone else to come to our meeting. I wanted to be safe - and I am safe here."

His ears twitched. She didn't sound at all how he had imagined, especially from the sense of "other" that lay about her. The fox shook his head, trying to appear as unthreatening as possible, holding his hands out to show that the wasn't holding any weapons, that he was not a threat.

"It's okay," he said, trying to reassure her, though his voice still wobbled a bit. "I just... I was told that you were the only one that could help me, a powerful healer. I have...a mental poison in me and it's corrupting me, from the inside out. I'm afraid...of what I'm becoming."

It was hard for Sandor to speak so frankly, but, even then, the fox did not know how he was going to get her to help him, somehow, if he was not honest with her. She was only the second that she had been honest with about his condition, how the devouring was corrupting him, his very soul. At least, that was how it felt to him, for he was not himself, not at all, not when the hunger lay upon him.

She peered at him, fingers brushing her lips, and he tried not to stare at her too much. She was beautiful, even her eyebrows fine and delicate. However could he have thought that she was strong? It must have been the strangeness only of her being an ancient being, yes, it had to be that.

"Oh... I see," she said, tilting her head a little. "That is a new one... I have not had anyone come to me for a while saying that their mind is poisoned, though I sensed that you were searching for me the moment you set paw on this land. Even the causeway is cut off now, you can no longer walk it at low tides."

Sandor started.

"So, there is no way to reach Herring Archipelago than by boat now? I didn't know that."

She nodded, her expression soft and gentle, so kind that he could not help but trust her. And, honestly...Sandor had no choice but to trust her. She was his only hope.

"Can you help me?" He asked, trying to breathe deeply and evenly, to somehow release the knot of tension in his chest. "I don't want to hunger for others anymore, I want to devour them... I can't do that, it's the ancient evil of the tree, how it has corrupted me. It was triggered, I think, but a mana-suppressing dart, for I never had any urges before them. But I can't continue like this, I'm afraid I'm going to hurt someone!"

"It's okay, it's okay..."

And then it was the fawn who was offering to help him, to comfort him, her smile so light on her face that he exhaled softly too. It was easier, yes, for him when he was not holding so much tension in his chest.

"You..." He could barely believe it, though she had been what he had sought so very desperately. "You will? You can help me? You have something to get this sickness out of my mind?"

She nodded serenely, folding her hands before her.

"Yes, of course, I am a healer," she murmured. "It will take a little time only for a poison this corrupt, for it has come from another ancient being, an ancient evil. I will help you. Before you leave the island, I will come to you and heal this poison from you. Until then...remain on the island, enjoy your time here. Relaxation is good for the soul and the soul needs to be in good health for healing too, you should know."

He exhaled. Oh, such a weight, such a burden... He didn't need to be there, didn't need to be burdened anymore... And she would take it from him, everything from him! He couldn't help but beam, clapping and clasping his hands, twisting back and forth. Oh, how he wished that Alyssa was there so he could throw his arms around her! He would have hugged the ancient being, but well...she did not seem at all like she would have wanted his touch. He didn't even know her name and maybe it was better that way. There was power in a name and she didn't want to impart hers to him.

Sandor didn't realise that she already knew his name.

The ancient being approached him slowly and softly, still not able to see the ground as the mist swirled and danced with tiny particles of light, brightening around her. He blushed and tried to automatically turn his muzzle away as she touched his head, stroking down from between his ears to his muzzle and the end of his nose.

"Everything will be okay," she murmured, making him blush even harder. "I will take good care of you."

And then everything fell dark, the mist closing in and swirling around Sandor all over again. He felt as if he was falling, weightless in the moment - and then the fox knew nothing at all.

He woke back in the alleyway that he had first started chasing the ancient being in, though she had offered him far more than he had ever imagined or dared to expect.

The fox groaned as he dusted himself off, though it took a while for him to return to full functionality. Darkness had fallen and he sat up, coughing into his hand, groaning.

"Oh, my head..."

What had happened there? He could not say, did not know, shaking his head slowly from the left to the right and back again. It didn't seem right and it all felt strange, so very strange... Even his head felt heavy as if he was waking from a very deep sleep. His neck ached so badly that he reached up to brush his fingers over it lightly, though he didn't find anything there. That was almost more surprising to Sandor than anything else.

His fur was dirtied with dust, the dry air there seeming harsher at night than before. He didn't know where he was, disorientated within the alleyway, heartbeat fluttering, blood racing through his body as if his heart was working overtime to pump it around his form.

He could still feel it... The impression of the ancient being's hand on his cheek, how his fur had stuck out through her fingers for that so very brief moment. It had been so warm, far warmer than any hand had any right to be at such a time, and the feeling of it lingered, despite everything.

He hoped that that wasn't a bad sign, though he couldn't look at anyone other than Alyssa with love in his eyes and filling his heart. It was more that he had been both awed and cowed by her and her presence, for one who had lived for as long as she. However had she lived for such a long, long time and remained so kind and genial?

It was impressive, truly. He sat there for several long minutes, though his mind was back on Alyssa. He needed to get back to her. Heaven only knew where she had thought he had gone off to, considering the fact that it had been dusk when he had left. Guilt pulled at him, but Sandor could not feel too guilty. Not when he was doing it all to control the devouring, to make sure that that terrible, dreadful, vile thing would never, ever happen to Alyssa while he had any power to control it, to do anything at all about it.

"Alyssa..." He whispered, pressing his head into his hands, even as his heart beat more and more strongly. "I'm doing this for you, my love, I'm doing all of this for you... Even if you don't know it yet. Because... Because I don't know how to tell you."

And that was true, even if not fair. Yet Sandor was starting to wonder, much the same as Alyssa had done, many years ago, whether everything was fair, in the end. There were different walks of life and ways of being...and he had only experienced some of them. Things that he wanted to do were not fair to others - but he wanted to give everyone around him the best chance possible too by not submitting and giving in to the devouring!

Oh...it was all so confusing...

Sandor exhaled softly, thinking of the ancient being, how gentle her smile had been, how she had caressed his cheek, how she had reassured him.

"If she says that everything will be okay, then everything will be okay," he said, convincing himself, settling his mind by saying it out loud. "She has lived for so long, she has done so much... And she is a healer. She knows better about these matters than I do."

He smiled, standing slowly, feeling steadier.

"And now, I have to find Alyssa."

If he could find his way back through the bustling nightlife of the Resort City and back to the inn, that was...

Continued in part two...