I'm sorry

Zee felt her son's thrashing and held tighter, unwilling to give him the freedom his body desired. There was desperation within her, and she struggled to grasp hold of her senses and not react the way she immediately wanted to. Her firstborn child had stood at the edge of a cliff, willing himself to step off of it. The thought shoved forward in her head again and again and no matter how many times she tried to rid herself of the sickening realization she was unable. What was wrong with him? Zee did not like to think there a problem within the minds of any of her children, but could not neglect the issue by ignoring it.

He apologized, and she barely heard the sound. Actions spoke louder than words and no matter how many times he might apologize and try to explain himself, Zee could not forgive it. "I love you." She told him, the only genuine response she could muster. It would be a lie if she tried to reassure him, to tell him he wasn't broken. To tell him she forgave him and understood, and could help him through it.

For the first time in her life, Zee empathized with her husband's blood-thirsty nature. She remembered the times he'd stormed off out of anger to seek out a wolf to bleed, or a creature to take the life of. Something to divert his feelings. She growled again, and then with one paw rolled the boy over onto his stomach so that she could grasp him by the scruff. It was as gentle a hold as she could manage, and while she did not hurt him with her teeth she was sure he could feel the tightness of her grasp.

Without another word she stepped across the Tall Grass Plains, son in tow. If he'd speak to her, she'd merely not respond. Zee didn't know what to say, nothing had prepared her for motherhood and surely nothing as hard as this. When she reached Iolaire's cottage, she tapped hard upon the door - the severity of the situation something she'd hoped to get across in her urgency for the healer to answer.