where am i?

Noelani licked a healing wound on her front right paw. The scent emanating from her was somewhere between fresh metallic blood and acrid infection. She knew the basics of healing. Easily a poultice could be applied, the rot could be cleaned and cured. However, she enjoyed the pulsating sensation in her limb and the burning pain reminded her of being alive. She couldn't remember where this injury came from. A trip, a fall? A demonic volcano-child's doing? A poor attempt at a hunt? No way of remembering. What did it matter, anyways? What did remembering ever do for her?

She tried to keep herself tethered to time when she first arrived, but it was too difficult to try. How long had she been here, among the Habari? The volcano wolves? Time escaped her like leaves in the wind. The girl was not herself. She looked disheveled, to say the least. Her fur was covered in mud, soot, dirt, blood. Her coat was sparse and the spaces between her ribs were noticeable. Hunger and thirst were no longer strong enough to will her to move. Only fear inspired her these days.

She laughed bitterly to herself and laid her head between her paws. Bloody slobber on her front right paw stained her face. Yellow eyelids slowly fluttered shut, and she dreamed of the quiet.

(nighttime, foggy)