amplifying the pain in frames and glass

Hazel's head shifts, the barely scabbed over wound on her cheek pulling uncomfortably. Coming undone at the corners, a rivulet of blood coursing down. Reminders of the worm that wouldn't be bitten back so easily. The familiar sound of the market was tinny, hollow, as she tries to focus on Wylan. Trying to give him the address he deserved, despite the aching in her ribs and her back, the nausea, how little she'd been eating catching up.

"A swim that cold, and winters being what they are... she wouldn't be able to make it back. I'm sorry." Hazel's words are somber, wiping the blood from her cheek on the back of her paw before embracing her younger brother. Holding tightly to the boy, a hug like the one she gave Warden before departing. Her breath ragged, trying to conceal tears of her own. Not quite a hiccup, but Hazel is an older sister on the brink of near disaster. She'll pull it together for him, even if it's tenuous.

"I'm so sorry, Wylan." Hazel has never been much good at this comforting thing. The den was gone, and so was the tree house. It's all she can do not to cry in front of him, swallowing hard. Lifting her chin, willing the tears backward before they can fall. "I should have been here, too. I'm sorry." Blaming herself for his pain and having to handle it alone, but blaming Basilisk for her leaving in the first place. It's a cycle of bitterness she won't drag the boy into.

"I can't stay, I need to find Whisper. With everything going on, I can't leave her unprotected. When you see Spider, tell them I'm looking for them, please." Hazel draws back, trying to will away the choked up feeling in her chest. Cheek still dripping blood down her rust and pale coat, she looks positively ragged. "Give Basilisk my condolences. Hanako was smart, and without her many more would have died." She climbs to her feet, steeling herself mentally. Biting back the wave of nausea and hurt, it's time to go. Back to the road, a general without her army once more.

Hazel, The General