Darkened Skies

With a sharp, ragged intake of breath, Sterling awoke, grunting as she turned her head just slightly to look up at the wolf who'd nipped her ear. She squinted as her head pounded, her vision blurry and unfocused - she was seeing double as she looked up at the face of the black-marked, ivory-coated male. "Huh?" she groaned in confusion, blinking as she tried to take in her surroundings, but her brain was too fuzzy to make sense of anything. Her abdominal muscles tense as she attempted to roll herself over slightly and prop herself up on one elbow, wanting to sit up a little straighter to see if she could find her bearings any better. "Ack!" she exclaimed, a sharp inhalation of breath hissing through her clenched teeth as she felt a stabbing, searing pain shoot through her left ribcage. She closed her eyes and lowered her head as she shifted her body, trying to find an angle that didn't hurt, but as she moved her hind legs, pain shot up her right leg from the ankle. What the hell happened? her garbled mind tried to reason, Is there anything that doesn't hurt? She shifted her tail, and a hoarse chuckle escaped her as she felt no pain from the movement.

Opening her eyes again, she slowly tilted her head to look up at the wolf standing over her. "What's going on?" she asked, squinting some more as she tried to focus. Though her head was spinning and throbbing, she was starting to see a little straighter, and it was only moments before she recognized Paladin. Her stomach flipped, her emerald orbs flashing wider, and she couldn't help the way her right forepaw moved to push herself back slightly. She regretted the instinctive reaction immediately as pain flared in her rib, and her the torn pads of her paw stung. She grit her teeth once more, forcing herself to settle and focus on not hurting herself further until she figured out in which ways she could move.

Her eyes cast downward, ears tilting back nervously. The last time she'd met Paladin, things had not exactly gone well, and with so many seasons gone by, she wasn't sure what to expect. Of all the wolves that could have come across her, why did it have to be him? Despite her racing heart and the burning anxiety she felt, a part of her knew that it was probably better for her sake that he had found her, instead of a stranger. Even though she'd done things to make herself his enemy, something inside of her told her she wouldn't be in any further danger. "Um... Paladin? H-how did I get here?" she asked quietly, her ragged voice hardly cooperating, "Where is this, anyways?" She didn't remember taking a fall, and she couldn't remember where she'd been before she ended up here. She could vaguely remember she'd been travelling, but to and from where, she wasn't sure. She hoped that with a little time, she wouldn't feel so confused, and she wondered if Paladin could, or would, tell her anything that would cause her to remember how she'd gotten here.