It was a strange thing, being back in Novus. So much had changed, and yet a lot of things hadn’t changed at all. As he walked through familiar paths, Pan is struck by the thought that the faces might be those of strangers, but the land evolved with little regard to who roamed it. The same trees still guarded his cave in Rapax River. The same sea cliffs watched the same tides. And the Day Court was still a harsh and unwelcoming place (albeit a place of great intrigue for the boy, just as it always had been).
A lifetime ago, Pan had come here in search of healing plants. After what seemed like days of scouring the desert, he’d emerged successful with his nightshade agave in tow. Long before even that, he’d been here after worshipping Solis, welcomed by the pious and brought before then-king Maxence. That had been when he’d called himself a member of the Dawn Court, before his vagabond heart had been set free once more. Now, Pan was free. To come, to go, to worship as he pleased. Yes, time had marched steadily on, but the lost boy remained very much the same.
He knew enough of this place to draw a crude map in his mind. To the east, far beyond the mountains, he would find the seat of power here in Solterra – but not before passing through the harsh desert and sidestepping the rich oasis. It was a harsh path getting there, but Pan liked to believe he was a brave adventurer. As he quested across the endless sands, he could imagine that he was looking for secret treasures, haunted burial sites, or even a cave of wonders hidden deep in the dunes.
The boy is distracted as his imagination runs wild, dodging wind-thrown sand and singing loudly to pass the time. No one was here anyway, at least by his own estimation, as he could see nothing but sand and sky for miles ahead. Pressing onward, he would stop from time to time, picking at jeweltoned beetles as they crawled lazily across the red sand, or peeking a bit too closely at the burrow holes of sleeping serpents. With a determination to find something interesting, he sidled toward the south, nearer to the oasis where he’d once encountered a curious horse-fish. But instead, he finds someone else.
The stranger is little more than an approaching dark spot on the horizon, and the boy squints to get a better look, pressing forward even as Oliver chirps a warning from his shoulder-perch. Pan quiets his companion, too curious to keep himself from approaching the stranger with a hearty Hello!, his voice the only sound to pierce the silence. I… I don’t mean any harm… only after a brief pause does the boy remember that not everyone was a welcoming sort. That, and he was technically trespassing. Forcing a careful smile, he stepped closer to the approaching stranger, dipping his head a bit lower to show deference – for Pan was never looking for a fight. Only an adventure… only another step in his journey.
