Speech // thought // Serbian

How long had it been since she had seen Deluge? Not since... Before she went with Dread to the cave... She had wandered around since then. Ooohhh that was late winter, wasn't it? It was mid-spring now. Dread had left her hanging at that cave. Surely he had returned to be with Deluge. Morwenna had wandered around since. Finally, she was... She didn't know if she'd call it home. Surely Deluge has had her pups already, Dread would be the doting father, and the kids would be surrounded by Modesty and Jeal's young. She had motherly experiences to pull from all around her.

Morwenna approached the stairs up to Dread and Deluge's treehouse, her nose full of herbal scents as she carried a mouthful of bleeding heart blooms, passionflower, and lemon balm. One dainty paw pulled in front of the other as she knocked briskly at the door before entering.

Cheerfully she smiled at Deluge through the bundle of fresh herbs and set them down. Once her mouth was clear she opened her mouth to greet them but the greeting found a catch in her throat. Something was very very off.

"Whats... Deluge? What's going on?" She asked looking around, she didn't smell Dread at all. And Deluge looked... Not herself at all.

How long had it been since she had opened the shutters on the treehouse?

How long had it been since she had swum in the ocean?

Her fur was brittle, and her skin was dusty, the glow barely present from neglect. She had always been a slim wolf, but now, if anyone got close enough they would notice ribs poking through her fur. But who would notice? Her mother was the only one that came to visit... Well, her mother and Sakana now.

His monkey had tried to air the treehouse out and she had slammed the blinds down behind the primate, hoping to trap any lingering scent of Dread inside the treehouse. Her mother had taken the children out to play and she had sent the healer and his companion out soon after. The still sat where he had left it, she had retreated to a corner and curled up on herself. Maybe if she just took a nap, he'd be back, her children would be back and everything would be ok...

She had barely begun to doze when there was a knock at the door, her brows pulled down but she didn't dare open her eyes, not as the scent of herbs blew in on the breeze, nor was Wenna called her name. She hunched her shoulders, curled in closer on herself and shuffled to place her back more firmly to the door. She barely grumbled a growl, words beyond her.

“Speech”

Speech // thought // Serbian

At first the healer with vapid congeniality was taken aback. She smelled pups but didn't see them, probably away with grandma. The air stale and the windows drawn tightly closed. Dust and grime settled thickly over everything.

She pulled her ears back, startled by the unwelcome growl and how the frail dire woman shifted to turn her back. Morwenna could practically count every vertebrae along the her spine. Deluges hips sharp even in the dimness.

What had happened? Morwenna was frozen to the spot, she wasn't accustomed to thinking quickly or finding the interpersonal threads of social bonds.

The signs were clear enough though.
Dread was not here. Not for some time. Had he never returned? Was Deluge blaming her? Was she to blame?

"Oh no..." She murmured forlornly, stepping gingerly inside. Quietly closing the door behind her. Deluge had been alone, abandoned by both her partners at the worst time imaginable. Morwenna even knew of Modesty's difficult time after her children were born. It would make sense if Deluge suffered the same.

She didn't touch the windows. She didn't approach the new mother. She didn't speak or ask anything further. She simply glided to the hearth and started a fire. She grabbed the kettle and some clean water, she hoped it was clean, and started to make tea. She went and grabbed the herbs she brought in, wishing she had also brought saint johns wort but these will do in a pinch. She placed the passionflower, lemon balm and... How apropos, the bleeding heart blossoms into the water to steep over the fire. These blooms in particular were highly sought after for matters of the heart and even for support in motherhood. She usually hummed as she stirred but she knew every sound of hers was already unwelcome. She stayed by the fire to tend it and the tea.

She glanced back at the woman's corner to see that someone had at least tried to offer her a meal recently. No, this woman, needed to the ocean before anything else...

Once the water was hot enough she set the kettle aside for the herbs to seep and linger and imbue their healing properties into the water.

"Okay, tea is steeping. Let's get you down to the sea. It'll be cool enough to drink by the time we get back." She said quietly into the stillness. She stood in the middle of the room, patiently.

Her eyes scrunched tighter as Morwenna moved about the room. If she just pretended she wasn't there, eventually she'd get the message and leave too, right? Wrong. The scent of fire chased away what lingered of Dread's scent in the room and while it ripped her heart away with it's sudden absence... perhaps that had been just what she needed. Maybe she should have let the monkey open the blinds.

That certainly didn't mean she was eager to leave... but a swim would be nice. With any luck she'd get pulled into a rip and drown out at sea, that would be a nice way to go, wouldn't it? She didn't think of the children currently with her mother, of all she had yet to achieve... She turned her attention inward, it was still there, a little spark of herself. She could do it, get over this injury. He had always been a Fatalis, what did she expect?

Wenna was right. She stunk and itched and needed to get to the ocean at a minimum. Pushing up onto her feet, she strode out the door and down the stairs before shaking her body, a scowl set on her face at the dust and fur motes that glittered in the air around her. “Urgh,” She was never going to let herself go this far again. “Surprised yer came in with this reek rollin' off me...” stale milk and musty puppy smell mingled with something damp, like a rancid algae bloom.

Once they got to the beach, she wouldn't go far from shore, just deep enough so when she laid down, (since when had her limbs been so shaky?), the water would comfortably cover her shoulders.

She just had to make it down there first.

“Speech”

Speech // thought // Serbian

As Deluge strode out the door with barely a glance at the healer, Morwenna simply grabbed a good cloth, barely touched from where she had stored it a season ago... was it really a whole season? No... half a season? And followed the new mother down the steps. She perked her willowy ears at Deluge's voice. A smile curled her long maw at the sound. She had noticed the smells, but she was a healer, she had smelled some pretty rank scents herself. It as strong sure, but it was just a symptom, something cured easily.

"My nose was stuffed with herbs! How could I scent anything? Maybe I would have come sooner if you stank worse!" She tried to tease and wiggled her tail in response. Her maw was full of cloth as they went down to the sea. Morwenna noticed the shakiness and frail form of the powerful and irascible Deluge.

The wolfdog wasn't typically the type of frame that could support the weight of a whole dire wolf leaning on her, but at this moment, they might have weighed the same. She stepped up to take Deluge's side and offered to help her into the water with no words nor a pitying look. As Deluge submerged her shoulders in the water Morwenna proceeded to use the currents to scrub the woman's grey and pink merle coat with her delicate paws. She would ignore any grumbles from the woman unless it truly wasn't desired. And if Deluge let her Morwenna would take the cloth she brought, trailed it in the water then gently scrub the caked-on mess below the woman's eyes, over her cheeks, under her chin and over her horns and ears. She was careful not to get the salt water into her eyes.

"I swear your eyes were sunshine gold when we met, now they are such a deep blue. How did that happen?" She asked, hoping to encourage some semblance of conversation without pressing into obvious topics. If the woman wanted to speak deeply, the healer would welcome it, but she wasn't going to broach to subject until Deluge was further on the mend.