Since their relocation it felt like everyone was hanging on by a thread, herself included. She busied herself by training relentlessly and opening her mind to new practices. Herbs had been on her mind for a while now. It was her reasoning that she could better serve the pack if she had some healing knowledge, and beside that, she found that "Rose" character to be peculiar and unsettling.

Theory was out on yet another patrol. It was dark tonight, but it was dark now all the time: ashes still hung heavy in the sky. Stars and moon were all obscured. She hummed quietly to herself to break the tension but she couldn't shake off a lingering sense of unease. From the shadows she heard a rustle and a crack of branches. She turned on a dime and peered into the bushes, her hackles raised in alarm.

"Hello...?" she called out, groping for some sense of authority. Her voice sounded weak and unsure. Growling to add some mettle to her presence, Theory approached the bush. A sick mewling sound came from within and a sad, wretched creature dragged itself into the dim light provided by the strongest stars that shone through the ashes in the sky. It was a wild cat... or maybe had been a cat. The thing was burned beyond recognition, its skin sloughing off in places and oozing in others. She felt bilge rise in her throat. Could it even be saved? "Help!" She called into the darkness. The decision was too much to be made by her alone. Counseling another might absolve her of any guilt if it came down to a difficult decision.

What now? As far as Corvus knew, now that they'd moved, everyone was accounted for and doing well enough - all things considered. Nobody seemed particularly cheerful about the relocation, though they all seemed to be adjusting about as well as anyone could expect. Things were just different, that was all. Though Corvus supposed life was all about things changing, and learning how to adapt to those changes.. right? Something like that, he thought somewhat glumly to himself as he padded through the darkness. He was growing used to the way the ashes from the volcano still hung heavy in the sky, like a blanket covering the stars and moon, even thicker than any rain cloud - occasionally he felt a tremor, even all the way out here, that suggested their former home was still in the process of being covered in ash. Hopefully just ash, and not worse. At least the nights here were quiet, compared to back home. The island was fertile enough, but without the ever-present roar of the rapids nearby, things seemed quiet... even with the steady sound of the ocean. It was a different kind of sound, one that somehow seemed far less threatening, though it somehow made him feel much more lonely. That aching melancholy seemed hard to shake tonight, though a sound in the near distance seemed to help shift his attention away from his angsty thoughts. At first he thought he heard some kind of commotion, but the sound quieted quickly, followed by a word he couldn't distinguish. The voice was all too familiar to him, though, and quickly he headed in the direction he swore it had come in, sniffing hard at the wind. Something smelled sickly, and instantly he felt panicked. Was Theory okay? He'd just seen her and everything had been fine, as far as he'd known... "Theory?" He called out warily, moving with purpose to close the distance between the two of them. As he drew closer he became aware of the presence of a feline, though it took a long moment for him to realize the sort of condition it was in. "What's.. going on?" Surely this thing was presenting no threat to Abaven - it hardly looked well enough to even hunt for itself, let alone try to hurt even one of their pups, and he cast her a wary glance, feeling his stomach tense in discomfort.

Her own gut was clenched when Corvus arrive. The stench of death and decay was thick in the air; this cat was a heinous, doomed creature. She felt an intense sympathy for it as it scrambled around in the darkness. The light was so dim, but she could just barely make out the milky whites of its eyes. It had been burned so badly that its eyes had been stolen from it by the fire. That was all fire was good for: taking, taking, destroying, taking. "Nothing, I was just... patrolling, and this poor thing found its way on to my path," she said, a bit of a whine sneaking into her voice.

"I think we need to kill it," she added softly. "Right?" It was horrific to watch. "Put it out of its misery." The cat was misery incarnate if she'd ever seen it. Was it right to cast this kind of judgment on the life of another creature? If they let it live, could it even survive on its own? "I mean, otherwise it will just, well," she stammered, "can it even survive on its own?" Ash still hung in the sky. With the moon and stars obscured, everything felt a touch more sinister.

Almost immediately Corvus felt something like dread begin to weigh heavy in his chest. At least for Abaven, the effects of the volcano hadn't been quite so.. observable. Sure, it had uprooted the entire pack (who knew how temporary that might be), and the change had been jarring... but nobody had been injured quite like this. Thankfully, Corvus thought silently to himself, finding it hard to ignore the way the sight of the cat made his stomach turn. But it wasn't just disgust, but something else he was feeling.. pity? Empathy? Imagining that one of his packmates had gotten too close to the eruption, imagining that someone he cared for might've end up like this if they hadn't evacuated quickly enough, simply made him feel sick to his stomach. "I'm surprised it made it this far, to be honest," Corvus said quietly, noticing too now that its eyes were visibly damaged. For a moment he wondered if it could even hear them, let alone understand them. Luckily, Theory voiced what he was quickly beginning to realize, and at first he just nodded. "I.. yeah, you're right," he concluded, his voice even lower than before, nearly a whisper now. He didn't know enough about healing to say for sure if anyone could help it, but it was hard to imagine these kind of extreme injuries healing well on their own, not with so much exposed. He tried not to cringe at the thought. "I don't think it will live much longer. If it does..." His voice trailed off. It was hard to imagine the amount pain the wretched thing was in; surely if it had anything to live for, or anyone, it would've had found its way all the way here, all alone... right? He didn't know enough about cats to say for sure, but he had a feeling that it wouldn't be all alone out here if it had no other option. "Do you want me to do it?" He asked after a moment, his voice serious. He'd do it, even if he didn't want to, for her - and because it was the right thing to do. It felt different than taking down a prey animal, somehow, and the thought felt suffocating.

Even if she was younger and in some ways less experienced, she knew that she had to lead by example. An alpha couldn't sit back and just let her pack members do their dirty work. Plus, who knew if this creature was carrying some kind of communicable disease? Theo didn't want it bringing any harm to the wolves of Abaven, even if it seemed, well, mostly harmless. "No, no. I'll do it," she said, her voice wavering only a little bit. Corvus felt more like a friend than a mentor and she didn't wish him the burden of this creature's untimely death. She knew she would be thinking about it for a long time.

The stench of burnt flesh was now unmistakable. Theory stepped closer to the creature and quickly broke its neck with a well-placed bite, trying to end its suffering as quickly as possible. Even if her touch was brief, the moment her tongue made contact with the charred flesh she felt her stomach lurch. It was an unforgettable taste. Once the deed was done, she quickly backed up. Theo made no effort to hide her dry heaving but managed to keep down her lunch.

"We should bury it," she added. They buried their own dead to protect the corpses from other scavengers and she felt like this small creature deserved the same respect. It had suffered so much. Shaking off the horror they'd witnessed, she refocused her attention on digging a small but serviceable grave. She found herself unspeakably grateful that this little hole was the only grave they had to dig but was too afraid to speak the words aloud. Theory didn't consider herself a superstitious wolf but the volcano was enough to make anyone leery of curses and unforeseen consequences.

Corvus wouldn't have complained about taking action, but Theory seemed to want to handle it. He wouldn't argue - the somber atmosphere of the night would arguing seem somehow inappropriate. He merely nodded quietly, noting the way her voice shook. He couldn't blame her for that, feeling quite deeply unsettled himself over this whole encounter. "Alright," he breathed finally, nodding in understanding. This whole thing sucked. It reminded him even more of all Abaven had lost, and even more that what could've been lost had they not reacted promptly to the disaster. He decided not to watch as Theory approached the cat, deciding it was a vulnerable moment for all of them - the cat included - and staring seemed somehow inappropriate. He was silent instead, flinching at the sound, though eventually he lifted his gaze back to Theory's. "I agree," he finally spoke, the words sounding like a sigh of relief. He moved to join her, digging at the other side of the hole too; the creature was a small one, and though he doubted scavengers would try to unbury its marred corpse, the thought of digging it a grave too shallow seemed unkind. He wasn't quite sure what else to say currently - the weight of the moment was heavy and felt stifling, and seemed to grab hold of his tongue and refuse to let go.