Relapse

Having left Aurelia alone for a while, Sephiran went out to satiate other fixations. His disappearance only lasted about a day or so, and he returned after feeling content with his investigations. Aresenn was training Absinth regularly, as expected. There was still a lot of work to be done, but the former pirate had taken the responsibility seriously. Not that Sephiran expected anything less. The pieces in this game were all coming together nicely. All he needed now was the backing of his family, which he felt was coming soon.

It was late afternoon when Sephiran made his way back to Aurelia, carrying the leg of a snow hare in his jaws. He was reluctant to feed her, but understood it was necessary if he wanted to keep her alive. Along with other things. Irritation was already present in his body language, as he was also reluctant to realign her hip joint. But again, it was something he had to do if he wanted to keep her alive longer than a season. He had made the decision to do so earlier that morning, along with omitting pain-relieving herbs. He wanted to make it unbearable.

As he approached the mouth of the den, his irritation was overtaken by confusion. He smelt the herbs burning before he saw the smoke, which made him quicken his pace and barrel into the entrance. His eyes adjusted to the lighting, and he saw a pile of herbs nearly burnt to a crisp beside a sleeping Aurelia. Dropping the leg Sephiran strode forward, releasing a guttural snarl. “What is the meaning of this?” In other words, how in the hell did you do this by yourself?  

"Speech"