All in all that had been a terrible adventure. The worst she'd gone on, ever. Period. Pretty much everything that could have gone wrong, did, and the moment she was offered a little glimmer of hope it was all ripped away from her with no rhyme or reason. Or mercy. By the time she managed to slouch her way back to the Armada her breathing was painful and wheezy, at first her ankle had been the main cause of discomfort but yet again things started to go downhill. Quite quickly too. Who knew creepy little dolls could pack such a punch? And they'd gotten her real good too, she couldn't see it but they'd left some nasty bruises along the lines of her ribs and along her chest.

More than that her once beautiful coat was stained, RUINED. Dried clumps and smears of yellow and brown marred her coat, she was hideous and quite franky...she stank. Both of rotten flesh and vomit. A terrible, awful combination if there ever was one. Every time she inhaled her chest ached and then to add salt to the wound she'd smell herself and gag in disgust- only for that action to make it hurt even more. She was a gagging, wheezing mess as she slouched over the border. She couldn't decide what she needed more, medical attention or a bath.

While he was still technically off duty while the skin around his eye healed, Azure couldn't help but walk the borders of the tall grass plains. Being left without a job to do made him feel powerless and useless, and with knowledge that the Keepers were on their way he couldn't be too careful. There was no wolf he trusted in the Armada as much as himself, and while he knew his family were formidable warriors he couldn't allow himself to sleep the days away in the den and have faith that they'd keep his friend safe. Her smell hit him, and it was very, very wrong. His nose wrinkled, brows pulling downwards in concern as he headed off to track the scent. Every worst case scenario was circling in his mind like vultures, picking away at his security and confidence until he was running at her in a sprint. It wasn't until she was in sight that Az was able to shove his possessive need to murder down and away, giving in to his sympathy rather then anger. "Oh, Hana." He frowned, sighing softly. Whatever had happened, it could wait until she was cleaned, comforted, and resting peacefully under the watch of one of their healers. Besides, his own recent maim had shown him that not every enemy could be conquered. Az moved up alongside her, moving to brush his forehead against her own and then leaned his shoulder down towards her. "Come, hop up." She was not as far from his height as some wolves were, though it wasn't far to the northern river regardless. Without knowing her injuries, he'd be damned if he let her continue to walk even if it broke his own back to carry her. Surely his year of rigid training had given him an advantage enough to manage the distance. "I'm not taking no for an answer, by the way." Just in case she had any ridiculous ideas. "Speech"

Hanako almost leaned away from Azure's touch; she was a stinky, sticky mess but try as she might she just wasn't strong enough. Too selfish and needy for reassurance. Shame and embarrassment coursed through her system, faster and thicker than blood. She didn't want him to see her like this, at her worst, but now that he'd found her there wasn't really anything she could do. If she tried to send him away he'd refuse, not that she wanted him to leave, not really. She glanced up at his face, expecting to see the wrinkle of his nose or a disgusted sheen in his eyes but there was nothing but soft and earnest concern for her. And it made her heart hurt a little, but in a nice way.

"Guh I'm so gross." She complained, her voice a scratchy far cry from her usual sweet and bubbly airs.

She eyed him with an obvious sense of alarm as he hunkered down and waited expectantly her to climb up onto his back. Any other time she would have leapt at the opportunity, seen it as a fun game, a chance to get Azure to wind down and relax a little but- She knew for a fact he meant what he said, that he wasn't gonna drop this no matter what she said or did. And in part she found herself leaning back on an old mantra, who was she to deny him? She was torn between doing as he said and clinging onto what few shreds of dignity she had left. In the end her loyalty and affection for the prince won and she struggled up onto his back. The pressure against her chest made her wheeze in discomfort, the air shoved right out of her lungs, as she kicked and wiggled into place.

Though she was light and dainty on her feet she was smacked with an overwhelming worry that he'd find her heavy, fat, and her ears flicked back in panic.

"Tell me if I'm too heavy. I can walk."

Her absent bubbly air was concerning to him and he frowned, though from her position it was thankfully hidden. Az was supposed to be the serious one - the downer, generally - while Hana had the spirit to to liven up the mood of any wolf she ever met. "You won't be gross anymore once I drop you in the river." He responded good naturedly, attempting to keep the worry from his tone. If she couldn't produce her own smile, he supposed it was his responsibility now. Not something he'd attempt with many other wolves, but for Hana he'd try anything. With her upon his back the smell intensified, though he forced the discomfort away. He'd never been one to flinch from blood or gore so why should vomit and mud be any different? He'd get his own fur cleaned off after she was looked after. And then she commented on her weight and he lurched to a stop (perhaps too suddenly, he wasn't well-versed in taking care of injured pack-mates) to glare over his shoulder at her. One brow raised in silent reply, and then he turned back to the task at hand and continued walking. "Well I suppose if you're that heavy we'll know when you start sinking." He said off-handedly. They were nearing the river soon, and once she was cleaned up he'd summon a healer to her. The least he could do was allow her to keep some dignity while being tended to. "Speech"

Hanako exhaled in amusement. Yeah, she'd give him that and she should have seen it coming to, he'd always been so blunt and on the nose about things, why would he stop now? But still! Knowing that she was safe she had the time to mull over her past decisions and quickly came to the conclusion she'd been an idiot, that it was a damn near miracle she'd escaped in the state she was; more or less intact. That place had been evil, nasty and she was fairly certain it would have taken even more from her given the chance. She let out a wistful sigh, only to wince and gulp her breath back in halfway through, the air tasted foul on her tongue and her brows furrowed so sharply it looked as though she was pulling an Azure impression.

He didn't seem all that pleased with her heavy comment and Hanako's ears flicked back a little, a silent take back. They were beside the river now and despite her protests Hanako was dreading climbing down, the water looked inviting and all that but the thought of her weight shifting back to her exhausted paws made her just want to close her eyes and sleep forever. To pretend all was well and good in Hana land, except that it wasn't and she stunk worse than any skunk ever could. She was quick to fill the silence with a babbled explanation as she carefully eased herself off of Azure's back, he deserved to know and it helped take her mind off of the pain.

"So.." She trailed off, biting back the urge to sigh. "I was out on a run and there was this creepy house and I thought oh why not have a look inside? Which is stupid I know but I'd never seen anything like that before and I thought it could be an adventure." Her paws finally met the ground and she deflated, eyeing her reflection cast in the rivers surface. It was hard to describe, so surreal and strange, that her words and memory hardly did it justice. "It went really bad. This voice from somewhere was telling me to find it and whenever I tried it just- I dunno everything went really bad. I hurt my paw. Got covered in this and I-" She gestured to herself, to the browny red stains that smeared her coat and then paused, unwilling to admit she'd literally thrown up on herself cause she'd dug through a corpse. "Then these doll things attacked me. In all I've had a really bad day, not going to lie."

But she did feel a little better now, that Azure was here.

He brought himself (and Hana) as close to the water as he could so she could slide off of him safely, his attention locked firmly upon her while she explained the ridiculous set of events that had lead her here. When presented with a story that involved doll-things and creepy houses, his first instinct was to come back with something more insulting then comforting and he bit back the response and hid his smile. The water was cool and refreshing, and he lowered his towering frame into it until it covered his shoulders and neck to wash away whatever of her vomit might have transferred, all while trying to come up with a response that wouldn't make his friend cry from embarrassment. When he felt he'd been properly soaked, he made his way towards her and aimed to drag her into the water with him so he might be able to wash the sick from her coat. "We'll get you cleaned up, have your paw seen to, and get you a warm place to nap." He started as he worked. "Then when you're rested I'll take you on a real adventure, one without dolls or spooky houses. Okay?" Az hadn't the faintest idea where to take her, but he supposed it should involve fish and sunshine and excitement. Firmly shoving the idea of shark wrestling out of his mind, he returned his attention back towards her and leaned in attempt to touch his nose gently to her own. "Speech"

The water rippled around her as Hanako pawed at her coat, shooing away the stubborn chunks that still clung to her fur. She was fine-ish- with doing it on her own but the fact that Azure stooped down to her stinky level to help out made her heart feel all fluttery in her chest. From the beginning she'd been trying to worm her way around his defences, to be someone he genuinely wanted to spend time with but now that she'd more than achieved that goal she couldn't help but feel a but unsure on where she stood. On where she wanted to be this time next year. Though she admittedly hadn't thought much about it her mind went back to their conversation in her den, of the words they'd exchanged and the implications. Wasn't it only natural then that he helped her out like this? That he was able to look beyond the ick and still see the pretty Hanako beneath? Her face flushed hot and she nodded mindlessly a this words, not really hearing what he was saying.

Or at least till he made a promise to her. For the first time that day Hanako really smiled, wide and beaming as her eyes creased at the corners. He offered her so much and being the selfish girl she was she wanted to take it all, to be the only one who could make him happy.

"I'd really like that, Az." And it had been a long time coming too, had they ever just done stuff together cause they wanted to? Not that she could recall, busy heir that Azure was. "We can finally go fishing, like you promised." She teased, only to drop the matter as she met Azure in the middle for a very sweet, if not chaste nose boop.