Tragic

After arriving at the mines Ignatius had decided to settle the group there temporarily so that Cen could rest and he could regroup and attempt to clean himself up a bit, the mud still being thick in his pelt was probably going to lead to his wounds getting infects if he didn't deal with it after all. They'd stood at the entrance for a while, unmoving, before his companion gave him a knowing look and suggested he remain at the entrance while she had a look around. Ig has nodded his assent with a silent look of thanks, settling himself down only just inside the mouth of the mine and waiting with Cendrillion until the gelada returned with a pelt and some old cloth she'd scrounged from an abandoned temporary den inside and set up a little nest for the weary pup.

Once he was fairly sure she was asleep and nothing was nearby, neither predator nor prey, Ignatius relaxed a bit and set to work cleaning his fur to reveal the extent of his injuries and deal with them. His companion sighed audibly as she helped, pulling away clumps of drying dirt and inspecting the wounds with a shake of her head. "You should have been more careful, look at this mess, you'll be lucky to not die of infection you know," she tutted, causing him to wince as she felt none too carefully through his fiery pelt. "Ouch! Some doctor you are," Ig huffed back. The pair bickered for a while as the sun set and eventually settled in to sleep. They didn't have the herbs to treat anything at the moment and Ignatius didn't feel like testing his limited medicinal knowledge at night.

When dawn broke the next day he was up before the first rays peeked over the horizon, continuing to wash his fur in the still silence before the bird were even beginning to chirp their good mornings. He'd taken the opportunity to sit and muddle through his own thoughts before there was any other activity to disrupt him. Sleep hadn't come easy so he was only barely awake as he stewed on what to do next. Sou had mentioned Aurielle, he knew he'd heard that correctly, though he wasn't sure why. Lengthy consideration and straining of his memory yielded the vague recollection that she'd been the leader of a pack. What the pack was called or where it was remained beyond his grasp and he couldn't say why her particular pack might've been the one Sou had wanted to go to. Taking Cen there would perhaps keep alive the fantasy that they'd follow her father's instructions and he might one day return to her, though Ignatius struggled with whether or not that was a good thing. Lying to her, even if she was but a child, didn't feel very right. He also didn't feel terribly equipped to be her guardian and wasted a good few minutes wishing anything else might have happened that left Souzan with his daughter to raise her. The little girl didn't need him failing her on top of whatever else she'd gone through. Given that there was no sign of a mother or siblings Ignatius suspected that the family legacy of a series of misfortunes was still running on to the next generation.

When Arusi came to join him he remained quiet, the pair seemingly silently agreeing to continue assessing his injuries when it was light enough. And so they did, and it wasn't pretty by any means. "Ignatius," huffed the worried gelada. "Oh hush, there was nothing different that could have been done - I was too slow, but at least Lucien is dead." With that light-hearted exchange, Arusi took note of the damaged leather around his neck and set to work removing it. As she peeled the torn remains of the armor away and sent the smell of dried blood wafting through the air, she pulled at the fur and suddenly pushed his muzzle upwards, first startling Ig before he jerked a paw upwards and his shoulders stiffened in pain. "Ow, for fuc-" "Youre an idiot, look at the swelling, gods above, who is going to fix you huh?" snapped his friend with a toothy grimace. Okay so he knew that he'd been bitten there but he hadn't realized the wound was apparently that bad. "It's fine Arusi," he insisted, you know, like a lying fool, "But since you're so worried about it here, I'll go outside and see if theres any herbs just laying around until we can move, okay?" and before he could get a response he jumped to his paws and limped his way out. If she was arguing he ignored it and continued moving unevenly away from the mouth of the mine and out through the mountain hills a little way. Nevermind that he was no healer, he really just didn't want to be fussed over all morning until the kid woke up and he didn't want to talk to Arusi about how he felt about the last few weeks of his life, much less the last two days, either. Search for herbs unsuccessful, he'd just settle near enough the mine to spot any trouble and rest in peace for a while. He needed to take any chances to simply exist and process things that he could get now that he wasn't isolated.