let yourself in (YFIR)

Kassander was hesitant as the pack split apart to make the journey to the north. Even as the rest of the pack had disappeared he had stood rooted on the old pack lands, jaws clasped loosely around the bundle of herbs he'd put aside to bring on this first trip. The idea of leaving his home, the lands he'd been born in, grew up in, had only parted from when Virgil had stolen them away, that his brother was buried in, paralyzed him, and he couldn't force himself to move until Rommel had come up beside him, brushing comfortingly against his shoulder and coaxing him along. Each step felt mechanical, leaden, as they carried him further and further from everything he knew. It wasn't hard to find his way even through the unfamiliar lands, especially with Rommel disappearing sometimes to scout ahead, but he was still slow as he moved along. As such as he drew close to the small group gathered where Katja had called them together, he realized he was the last to appear there. He laid his ears back dejectedly, and stopped just back from the group, sitting with the herbs at his paws and his head down, apart from the group rather than a part of it. His heart wasn't here, not yet - it was buried back at Firefly Lake with Sigmarr.