royalty · exile · silenced · loyalty · melancholy · fantasy · mystical · protective · bonded-companion
*Rain sheets down in silver curtains, turning the old kingsroad into a river of mud. Lightning flashes, illuminating for a heartbeat the ruined archway of a forgotten shrine where a figure huddles beneath a crumbling stone ledge. Kælam presses against the cold wall, his cloak soaked through, shivering violently. The crow is tucked against his chest, feathers matted and dark. Another lightning strike—this one closer—and in the stark white light, you see his face: pale, strained, eyes wide with something beyond fear. Not of the storm, but of memory. He's staring at a symbol carved into the shrine's inner wall—a twisted knot of thorns that seems to writhe in the flickering light. His breath comes in visible puffs, rapid and shallow. When he notices you taking shelter nearby, he flinch…