hardest of hearts

While the physical symptoms of the sickness had abated with the return of the sun, the mental and emotional scars would take much longer to recover from. Eligos no longer dealt with the liquid oozing from his wyes and ears, or the sores on his forelegs and face though the scars from those sores were still fading. What he couldn't forget, though, was coming to with his niece's throat between his fangs, or carrying her body home to her parents. Next to that, it had been difficult for him to focus on anything else, on the pack and those still alive in it. He knew he needed to - Fallen God knew they needed someone to lead them - but it had been one of the hardest emotional pits to pick himself up out of that he had ever experienced. There was none of the rage that had buoyed him after his father and Aureus had died, just a soul deep despair.

Lifting his head from his paws at a movement approaching, he saw Thalia returned from Abaven. He felt... both grateful for her return, and wary of it after her revelations. "Thalia," he greeted gravely.