Finding Nanok

Aine was used to strange dreams, so that was not why her mind kept returning to this one like a finger picking at a scab. No, it was the vividness of the dream, and because it involved Nanok. She had a soft spot for the creepy old man, in part because he was the only person in the clan that was not scared of her magic, but much more importantly because he forced her to face up to the truth of her power. The responsibility to make a choice that is true to herself. The guts to confront the clan with that choice. The arrival and subsequent attack by Fennic and Mina during that conversation with him still plagued her. In hindsight leaving with them might have been the wrong decision, even though the bonds of clan seemed to be the right choice in the moment. It was a matter of days later that the Dark Rider killed Fennic and Morag, and that the remaining members of the clan fled in their different directions. It was proof that simply being Cimmerian was not sufficient to uphold the old ways - it needed blood bonds and growing up together to be willing to die to avenge a clansman no matter how strong the foe may be. She had not seen any of the old clan since the fall of Caelmoor, and Nanok's hiding spot in the volcano was empty. She only heard a rumour that he was seen far south of the wall. Which brought her back to the dream. In the dream a raven appeared, and it felt as if Nanok tried to speak to her through it. The cawing of the raven sounded a bit like his hallmark cackling laugh, but it struggled to form words with its beak. Dark purple swirls of mortal danger engulfed the raven, and then it exploded into a ball of feathers and gore with a scream of frustration. She was engulfed by sadness for a great deed left undone and woke up to cold, dark mists swirling through the forest. Not a sound to be heard. The sound of a forest where all the creatures are hiding from a dangerous predator that stalks the night air. It seemed to be an omen.