Walk | Talk | Think
Paws moved swiftly through the wood as they carried the mother wolf along, nimbly cutting a path toward the call that had roused her out of her den. Dark golden eyes stared ahead intently, nervously, blinking occasionally from the odd rain, while her thoughts still lingered behind with her pups. The sound of the howl had come about unexpectedly, stilling each of them at the familiarity of the voice until it quieted down. The young ones might not have realized the severity intoned in that call but Tahlia had, and as much as she knew she ought to behave in a composed manner for her children even she had heard the sternness in her voice as she warned them not to leave the den after she did. They were unfamiliar with the pack lands, at least to her knowledge; the last thing she needed was to return to find one of them missing.
She had not the slightest clue what she would find once she came upon Bane, but the tone of his howl had set her on edge, filling her with anxiety and dread. It had not been happy. It had not been healthy. Deep inside of her, she could sense something amiss, something that she could not entirely fathom just yet. Her fur was damp with the rain by the time she found him, but it was not him that she saw first. Sitting within the snow, back to her direction, was the healer Loccian, the line of her form resolute as she stared at Tahlia's husband. The russet and black she-wolf practically stumbled to a stop, rather ungracefully, as she realized that her mate was not alone, feeling the constraints of her upbringing reign in her natural reactions. Tight lipped, she resumed her pace and padded forward along Loccian's left side, coming around her to properly greet and see her husband.
The way she found him now was certainly not the way she had last seen him. Red littered the ground and snow, striking an immediate contrast to both his peppered grey pelt and the slush. It matted into the fur upon his leg, leading to a new gash that seemed fresh and painful just to look at. Worst yet was his face, scarred already but worse now with his left eye missing and nothing there but the bloodied remnants to signify how it had been lost. "Oh, Bane." Her heart constricted, a mixture of repulsion and despair overwhelming her and causing her to hesitate across the distance that separated them. What had happened to her steadfast veteran, scarred but not broken? Why did he look this way, so weak and tattered when he should have been whole and strong? She turned her gaze rather questioningly toward Loccian but though her gaze was soft there was a hardness to her expression. Whatever had happened she had not liked.
A whine rose within her throat but she dared not give it voice, taking a moment to school herself before she addressed Loccian with a quiet, slightly shaken tone. "Is...is he going to be alright?" It was perhaps wrong to ask the question of the healer and not her husband himself, perhaps insensitive to, for the time being, avert her attention from him. But she knew as soon as she let herself speak to him, tried to find out what had happened, to fully take stock of his current state of being, her composure would slip. It was already tenuous as it was, and in front of Bane himself it might have been fine but she felt distant from Loccian, not close enough as friends to feel comfortable revealing the true extent of her emotions and especially knowing the healer's opinion of her relationship to her mate. So she tried to keep a hold on them, for pride's sake, and watched Bane while wishing she knew whether it was safe to reach out and touch him without causing him undo harm.
|
