He’d been watching them from afar, this entire time. Not once had he abandoned them (though often it felt that way.) It tore at him, the feeling that he could be so close but he couldn’t do anything about it. The first week without her Zeik had remained solely in his predatory form, tearing through the woods and clawing at small animals in flushed anger. How he could have deserted her, he’ll never know. He didn’t even show face, couldn’t stand against the white terror that had torn his life to pieces. Zeik knows now that it was foolish to open his heart up, to try and experience life. Makai’s outburst suddenly made so much sense.
But it wasn’t enough to keep him away for long. He’d come back in the shadows at first, under the cloak of night. He’d watched Felinae grow rounder until his daughter had been brought to life, watched as she and the pale flecked mare grew a connection, even watched as the horned stallion had caused so much unrest. He was biding his time, waiting for the opportune moment to retrieve what rightfully belonged with him. Little did he know that there was someone else waiting in the rafters for the same moment.
The night Magnus had stolen them away Zeik had watched with his throat in his mouth. His blue-grey falcon body was tense the entire time as he watched Felinae slip from the mountainside with Minette and escape to the safety of the Gates. There was nothing to be done - Felinae had made her choice and she’d made the right one, she had Besra to think of now. But the ache that burrowed somewhere deep within his marrow began to seep out into his thoughts, and some nights Zeik awoke with a burning sensation to be near her again.
So he’d abandoned his perch on the outskirts of the meadow and shifted into his raptor form, wings pumping soundlessly into the morning light as he flew across Beqanna. He’d never felt such urgency before, and the fire that ignited his journey sent him spiraling into a mad haste that soon had him panting from the exertion. But Felinae could not wait, Besra could not wait. As the sun breaches the horizon Zeik crosses the border without so much as a blink. No one will think twice about an ordinary falcon and his concern was pointed for Felinae alone, the Gates be damned.
He screeches, the call intended for her and her alone. He knows that she will understand, that she will seek him out. He’d gone too long without her.
Z E I K
-everything we are and used to be is buried and gone-