cauterize my heart

Eligos' jaw clamped down on the expected grief that tumbled over him at the sight of his brother, and for a moment as their eyes met all the grief, the rage, the loss, bled through that gaze before iron control slammed the doors shut on it and the gaze went flat again. He took a breath, let it out, and was able to meet his brother's eyes again when Pyrrhic brought his own gaze back up. "I apologize for any worries my absence may have caused," he said with stiff formality, but softened after a beat. "I am sorry, Pyrrhic. I should have been here to support you." Regardless of his own grief. What would their father have said about him abandoning his siblings - their family - their pack - when they needed him? He gave the briefest little shake of his head to bring himself back to the moment. He tried to return his brother's smile, though it came out as a more grim expression than a smile had any right to be. Risen had been hard enough to ride herd on under his father's firm rule, and he had no doubt that the inevitable chaos of the change in leadership had sent many of them scattering to the four winds like startled cats, even aside from those who had been swallowed by grief as he had. He had to find out how far his brother had gotten in gathering them up once again, see where he would be needed. They couldn't afford a moment of weakness right now. "How bad is it?"