Dún do shúil, a rún mo chroí

Corbie knew her guardian was dying.

Tornach would not have been able to hide his body's rapidly deteriorating condition even if they hadn't had a policy of honesty with one another. He'd already been elderly when he had rescued her, so it wasn't unexpected. But she'd grown quickly to love him as much as she'd loved her mother, and the impending loss weighed on her more and more as they'd grown closer to that inevitable end.

She knew why they were here, at his family's pack territory. He'd explained it as they'd traveled, and while she'd made it clear that she didn't feel the way he did about this, it was his life and his decision. Now they stood on the cusp of the moment, she stood quietly beside him, pressing her shoulder against his to comfort him, though her heart ached.

Tornach had lifted his muzzle and called out to the alpha that he'd told her was his niece. Corbie lifted her own head, soft green eyes surveying the wall on either side of the gap Tornach had led them to curiously.