the bigger the love the harder the fall and I'm falling through the floor

Ribs burning, fur matted with blood and a mouth full of feathers. Hell, she'd been better as she stumbled up the stairs to the treehouse, stumbling through the door. Stomach bulging and nausea a constant burn in her stomach, she knew she should wash but the thought of going near the water set her skin to crawling.

Dropping the wings, she should have left them there, but they were all that was left. She assumed his family would want something to mourn over, do whatever death rituals they did with what was left at the end of the day... what wasn't digesting within the worm... A tomorrow problem, maybe the day after...

She hoped Ludo made it home okay, she had meant to offer him a place to crash before the journey home but kids these days bounced just as hard as she did at the same age, and she was almost certain he'd resent the offer after all that had happened. Bleary eyes burned with exhaustion and... maybe something else. She stumbled another step through the threshold, hoping her mum had the kids down her end of the ravine.

"speech"