For the first time in what seemed like forever, Shiki would at last leave the redbud nook. He was growing stronger, getting better thanks to Thanatos. He had been sick for a few seasons now, his immune system not withstanding much anymore, but at least winter was over and it gave way to slightly warmer weather of spring. The rivers had grown so very swollen since the snow started to melt, and it was evident as he strayed quite a ways from the shore of the rio grande to avoid the surging water that spilled over its banks.
Shiki was travelling alone, heading south towards the last place he'd seen her. Over time, he began to accept that her words were true...and confirmed by his father as well. Pamela had been nowhere, and he wondered if she ran away or worse. Honey colored gaze showed sorrow for his losses, and he thought himself all alone until Thanatos showed up during his time of need. Indeed, the boy had been losing his mind as well as his body, succumbing to mirages and shadows which left him weak and near death. Now, his fur was getting it's natural luster back, and his stare didn't seem as void of life as it once had. Would Akemi forgive him for lashing out at her and running? Could he apologize for his actions that day? He hoped so. His heart heavy, the boys distracting thoughts would keep him from seeing the hill of mud ahead.
Before he knew it, he was slipping and sliding down it. A sudden gasp would escape him as he tumbled, and as soon as it had happened he was at the bottom of the ravine, covered in mud up to his chest. It was the kind of mud that one slipped one when stepping on the surface if your leg didn't sink in it. And with the force of his momentum of rolling, he had definitely gotten himself stuck. Try as he might, he couldn't pull his legs from it. It felt like the more he tried, the earths hold might pull his limb from it's socket. Whining, he would continue to try and free himself to no avail. Why did everything bad have to happen to him?
Akemi had just about enough of this mud. She slid in it, her tiny body coated in the stuff. It seemed like no matter where she trekked the mud wouldn’t leave her be. It was everywhere! Of course going closer to the river didn’t help... But something seemed to be dragging the woman out there. She just had a feeling today was a day to wanderer, to press herself to become stronger in some sort of way. While her initial thought was a spar, well, she was second guessing that now. There was no way she was going to gain enough purchase with the ground in this condition.
It seemed that she wasn’t the only one having some bad luck in all of this mud either. Up ahead she could spot a tan form, his back to her. At first glance it seemed he was laying down in the mud... But as she grew closer she noticed that he was stuck within the mud, and, on top of that, this wasn’t just any stranger. This was her lost child, Shiki.
Akemi would feel the mud give under her as she tried to rush before her little one. He wasn’t so little now, a grown adult in his own right, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t view him as her baby. She would end up slipping and sliding in the mud until she was beside him, her left side facing his right. She’d look down at him with her good eye and chuckle softly, speaking in a soft tone {as if their last encounter had gone much better than it actually had before}. “Need a paw?”
