Another one of his father's golden boys, another one of his father's sons. Older brother. He should have known. The flashing of teeth and the ringing in Dread's ears. Ears? Ear? There's only one left, though he doesn't know it yet. The other wasn't long for them. Tattered, hanging on by a thread. It wouldn't stay attached, hell, it's in Dread's best interest that it's more cleanly removed than whatever mangled mess is up there now. He doesn't know that. Fuck, he doesn't know that yet. Dread had limped from the battlefield with Deluge, each leaning on the other. His sister had gone after her, too. It hadn't been that deep, but here they were. Here they were, rebuked and bloody, his siblings had taken things that deep. Something acrid and burning in Dread's chest, something terrible and stinging within his chest. There area too many feelings, rearing up and baring their fangs. It's too much. Too many parts of the boy ablaze, on fire. The horizon seemed to bob and lurch in a way that he's not so used to. It looks... incorrect. Wrong. Why is it moving so violently? A strong wave comes from somewhere behind him, and at once, the boy is sucked under. Dread fights it, thrashing, coughing. A growl, then a yelp, as he's tugged under and smashed beneath the waves. Panic gripping his system, sinking its talons in deep. Panic, as he struggles to keep his head above water. Gasping, retching. Dread's body turned and dragged against the bottom of the sea, tossed like a rag doll. Head slamming into the sandbar, everything around the man is fire... everything is freezing. All he can do is look for Deluge as everything fades out of focus.

Deluge's spirits seemed higher than Dread's, despite her torn up face. Truth was, she was more focused on keeping him putting one paw in front of the other, distracting him from what must have been a burning pain on the side of his head. The swim was the hardest part and when the errant wave swept over him and he didn't come back up, an unexpected panic settled deep in her bones. Maybe things were just a little more serious than she let on?

Holding her breath and diving down, she spotted him. A swimmer from birth, it didn't take her long to grab his scruff, to haul him up and onto the sand. The salt water stung her wounds but she could push through it, her priority was making sure the Dread didn't drown. Spent from her own fight, she dragged him beyond the lapping waves and collapsed down on the ground beside him, calling for Morwenna with what little energy she had left. She rose a feline paw to smack at his stomach and ribs, to bring up any water he might have inhaled, resorting to stabbing with her nose when her limbs began to fail her, "Don' chergo quittin' on me now."

"speech"

Morwenna had been making herself at home on the island, waiting for Dread and Deluge to come back from their raiding. Gathering herbs and quickly finding a cache close to where they would sleep. It was good to finally have a place she could rely on to place her store of herbs ready to use.

Suddenly the birds overhead quieted and she pricked her ears to listen carefully, the cascade of long and wavy fur by her cheeks caught the wind and she could just barely catch the scent of them. Since the birds had gone quiet she could hear the weak call for her by the beach, they had returned! But perhaps not in good health. She took just a moment to grab her tiny leather satchel she held in her mouth and filled it with her trauma kit. Then dashed to where she heard Deluge's voice.

She bounded to their sides, they were both soaked. Dread was unconscious, Deluge was pumping his stomach, he must have sunk on his way here. Their faces looked awful!

"I have you both, Dread I'm here." She said tenderly pressing her ear to the side of his chest to listen for his heart. His ear was ripped to ribbons! Deluge's face was shredded harshly. Was her eye intact? She couldn't quite see from this angle yet she had to focus on getting him conscious. She grabbed the sharp smelling root of valerian and a peppermint sprig from her satchel, broke them to release the smells and placed them infront of his nose. The valerian wouldn't exactly be pleasant.

Is he dead? Too many faces swimming in his mind's eye. Rocking like the constant beating of the waves on his sides. Halo, Kite... Andy... Sirius, as well. It's Sirius's face that gives way to Azure's, startling Dread as it shifts and changes. Different feelings, caustic feelings, rage instead of loss. As the feelings rear their ugly head, shapes shift and twist. Azure becomes Kotori. The reason that he was here, toe to toe with all these faces, all these feelings, all this... what is this place? Though he reaches out to bite, to retaliate, to make anything happen for himself here, Dread can't find purchase. The ghosts come out to play too. Tugging at his fur, and Dread can swear he smells his mother. For the first time in how long, he can smell Zee. She's so real here, and he's already aching. How could he have forgotten? How could he have lost this to his memories? She's not alone. There's Keahi here too, encouraging him while he trains, teasing him about a girl. About a girl. Collapsed in a heap on the beach, Deluge is the first thing to come into focus through seawater. Through seawater, through tears, through the blood that still streamed from the wound that was his ear. It's a cough that comes after a fretful pause, followed by a retch, a wheeze. Sputtering, though Dread is weaker than even he anticipated. Edges of his vision fuzzy, blurry in the middle, everything still swimming. Why does it still feel like he's being buffeted by the waves? Through all of it, Dread aches. He seethes. Out here drowning, with injuries from flesh and blood to blame. Bitterness, and something worse resting on his tongue. There's so much to come to grips with, too much, and here he sprawls. "Fuck're you, an ang--" Dread cuts himself off, another round of choking and gagging as still more water comes up. An angel? Blood and spit, nose running, and he's trembling. Shaking, can't control it. Coughing and hacking, but that means he's breathing. Breath in his lungs, though Dread can't beat the trembling back. Morwenna too, her voice echoing through his head, the smell of valerian sharp in his nose and in front of his face. Reaching up to swat at the bundle, though his gaze is quick to track to her face. A weak smile, grateful. A sight for sore eyes, but alive. Dread reaches up for the bloody side of Deluge's face with a trembling hand, finally trying to catch his breath. Something has come to life in his chest. Come alive. A few more silvery threads have snapped, have broken. Too much has pressed Dread too far. The man that's come out of the water is a different one, different than the man that went in. It's aged the boy in ways he can't describe, though it's etched across his features. "That motherfucker," Dread shook his head incredulously, groaning at the pain in the side of his head. Right. Tattered ear, still... it's bad. It's bad, and the bleeding hasn't stopped. Tattered, probably would need to be cut back to heal properly. More concerned with Deluge, as the extent of her injuries come into focus too. "All of them... they're really all like that." Tone flat, bitter where it rests in his mouth. Dread's chest ached, ached in ways it would ache for the last time. He's certain of that much.

Deluge released a breath she didn't realise she'd been holding when he spluttered, her head canting as he wheezed, Fuck you, an ang- "An angry bitch that'll rip yer other ear off if yer ever scare me like tha' again!" She cut in with tears in her eyes. Deluge lifted a feline paw to smack him in the face but thought better of it and rested the paw gently on his shoulder instead, trying to choke down the broiling bitter sadness that was cooking in her bones, presurizing, building into something more.  Why the fuck did it always end like this? They never took more than anyone could spare, never went into a raid looking for blood, or limbs. Her teeth ground together when he came to the realisation her father had come to long, long ago she supposed. How could her mother still be blind to it?
Deluge only shifted to give Morwenna room to work, her laugh a bitter acrid thing. "But we're th' monsters, right?" Her voice sounded hollow even in her own ears. Perhaps it was time to give them all what they wanted.

"speech"

The slender wolfdog sighed with relief as he sputtered and retched. It was the best sign. He tried to swipe away the stinking valerian and she grabbed it away for him with a deft swiftness, it had done its job, away with it now. She gave him a silent warm smile in return as she swiftly swapped out her supplies to work on staunching blood. The saltwater they swam through was a good enough wash to sanitize their wounds, so she grabbed some yarrow, arnica and yellow st Johns wort crushing them into a paste, and started on his poor ear. Nope, it was too far gone, there was already some tissue death. She'll deal with that differently in a moment.

She huffed and turned to Deluge with the unused paste. "Come here, Dove." She didn't wait for the taller woman to come closer or react to the affectionate name she used on the fly. Morwenna leaned back on her hind legs and gently tugged on the fur of Deluge's cheek to bring her wounded face just a smidge closer. She applied the paste to the wound assessing if the eye was damaged or not as the two massive dires spoke to each other. She made no additions to the conversation yet as she worked.

When the plaster was placed on Deluge she turned back to Dread with a worried grimace. She hoped that she wouldn't get her own ear ripped off with what she was about to do. Maybe she could soak it in the clove oil... Hm, no clove oil. If only she had some wolfsbane but it grew a little farther north. She had whole cloves but hadn't had a chance to make them into an oil yet, it'll have to do.
She crushed some willow bark and cloves together with a dash of seawater. She added some fresh broad plantain leaves and dandelion stems she plucked right where she was sitting.

"Now, Dear, I'm putting this on your ear. It'll sting at first but eventually, it should be fairly numb. Once it's settled in I'll stitch it up, Deluge you'll have to assist me then." She nodded to Deluge hoping she'd get the gist and hold him down when ready. She wasn't sure the clove oil would have been released or crushed enough to provide its powerful numbing action.

She added her own few cents to the conversation then as she shifted through her supplies on how best to remove the dying tissue cleanly, "Well hopefully when I'm done with you both you can still scare them away with your beautiful faces." She was more matter-of-fact than flirtatious about it. She nodded to Deluge to hold him down, the medicine should have started to sink into the flesh of his ear by now.

She grabbed her obsidian boline she made on Atlantis Island with a growly black gentleman who spoke Serbian to her. The inner edge of the crescent moon was razor sharp. If she was quick he'd barely feel a thing.

Tears, fuck, he bites his own back. Just saltwater stinging his eyes, and Dread reaching for Deluge. If she'd swung on him, fuck, he'd have deserved it. Her touch is gentle instead, and he pulls the girl closer. Ever closer. "I promise... I promise..." the words come, strangled, as he's trying to catch his breath. Spoken like an oath, hanging in the space between them. Can't scare her like that again. Codependency is dangerous, but when have they ever been anything but? Unstoppable force, immovable object. Danger at its finest. Perhaps more dangerous than they've ever been. Was he at risk of becoming unmoored? Worse than that. Dread doubles down, comes closer. Holds closer, holds tighter to Deluge, though he doesn't buck Morwenna's assistance. The grim reaction to his ear... could have guessed as much, and her demeanor confirmed it. "Hooch--" Dread's direction to his little devil is stout, breath shaky. It was a gesture for another bottle, two more, fuck... more. Whatever it would take to get the edge off things to come. Roan ambles off, soon to return. Edge. Dread is on edge, intentionally sinking deeper into the sand beneath his shoulder. A storm brewing in his chest, waves breaking over his ribcage. The war in his head, in his bloodstream. It's been an active combat zone in here since day one. Has to do some damage over time. Profound bitterness washing over the man, his head spinning with it. Bitterness, but it's bitterness to mask something else. Grief. So much time in his early days has been spent grieving. Spent grappling. It's in this moment that Dread is finally able to shatter the grip, wrench free from it. Enough blood will grease the gears. "Can't fucking believe him," Growled words, though he relents to the healer's gentle touch. She's careful as she tends to Deluge, and he won't interfere. "Brother, my ass." Dread made to flick the tattered ear, hissing as the pain spiderwebbed down the side of his face. If he's freeing himself of grief, he's freeing himself of more. Here in the sand, dragged from the sea, coming to life in ways he could only dream of. Dread will sit like a rock for Morwenna, he knows better. Sitting still, thoughts racing. Roan returns with enough alcohol to go around, and Dread is quick to press it to his lips. Drinking deeply, heavily-- the Raider lifestyle isn't so bad. "Politics and war games, it only works if they turn men into monsters." The words are rough, feel like sandpaper in his throat. Dread's chest was on fire. "There's no scaring them away, there's only settling the score." The words are heavy on his lips. All of it is heavy. Everything hurts, and Dread wants more than anything, to sleep.

Waiting for the numbing effects of the poultice to settle in, the healer turns her attention to Deluge and she lowers her head to help the other woman along, smiling on the side of her face that wasn't ripped up, "Don' tell me they were lyin' when they said chicks dig scars, after I went ter all this effort?" It was an attempt to lighten the mood, delivered half-heartedly. A scar from his dad, and now another from his sister, it seemed those Fatalis lot had an unhealthy obsession with each other... which was why it surprised her Dread had been on the receiving end too.

With her own wound tended and the poultice doing its job she flopped across Dread's ribs, a heavy foreleg draped across his neck to hold him steady. Having met Halo on her recent visit to the Raider's, Deluge trusts Dread won't lash out at Morwenna, but the healer had asked and she wanted to be close to him, to feel his heartbeat fluttering against her own. To feel the rise and fall of his chest to know he wasn't gone. And over what? Fucking ducks.

Settling the score was something she could get behind. "Th' time fer scarin' away is over. 'E's right. The debt's too high now ter let it keep slidin'."

"speech"

Morwenna listens to them talk, catching a phrase from Dread here and there, it was hard for her to grasp the totality of this incident. Brother?? Oh no, they went to raid his family members and this is how they greeted him? She thought most of those raids were meant to be lighthearted and more fun than anything, getting some supplies, not outright killing each other!

"Oh, I didn't say anything about keeping it from scarring, Dove!" She winked trying to keep up and play along. She had to be mentally quick with these two as well as swift! She was grateful Deluge knew how to keep things fairly light. With the way Dread was moaning, Morwenna was thinking she had more than just her work cut out for her. His poor heart had been broken. When that ear had been dealt with she'll be putting him on a regiment of bleeding heart tincture and St. Johnswort, hopefully, it'll support him enough to help him process the grief.

As soon as Deluge had him secure, the alcohol provided, she took her own swig to steady her nerves and shook off the acrid taste. She grabbed the crescent knife typically meant for herb gathering, tenderly held the ribbons of what was left of his ear and with one quick motion let the sharp glass glide through the flesh in a flash. She was able to save a bit of the base of the ear, enough to convey emotions and move slightly for sounds. The pain wouldn't be evident right away due to the sharpness of the obsidian glass. But it will hurt when she places that staunching poultice on the fresh wound to stay the bleeding.

She looked at Deluge with concern as they spoke of settling the score. Morwenna was raised a pacifist but didn't adhere to the pillars as closely as her upbringing would have allowed. Still she wondered what it would mean for the future. What kind of score-settling would it be? Especially as she tended to these wounds, she didn't know how to keep anyone back from a blood feud.

"Done. He needs some rest. I have a tincture for him back home, you also need rest. You've both been through a lot." She said, willing to help support him to the tree house. "I don't know anything of what's going on. Whats this about his brother?" She asked, hoping they'd enlighten her.