be like the rose that you hold in your hand

The sun had relinquished the sky, and the gibbous face of the moon would soon crest the opposite horizon. As the sky darkened, the cave-dens that were beginning to pockmark the cliffside would have the perfect view of a picturesque sea stretching for miles. There was a haunch of venison cooking away in one of the most recently excavated caverns, a fresh hearth left just for him to break in. A few scattered furs, and a night off from patrols. It was time to drag his sister out of hiding for the night. The loss of their siblings had hit her even harder than it had him, and he couldn't stand to watch her wasting away in the back of their once bustling family den. Had he also tucked a gift away for her, but that was neither here nor there. First and foremost, he needed to get her out into the fresh air and away from the phantoms of their loss that lingered in the stagnant air of their family den.

Long strides and heavy paws brought him across the familiar landscapes of Abaven, the new territories had been easy enough to adapt to and he already was beginning to know them like the back of his own eyelids. By the time he loomed over the entrance to that underground pit of sorrow... he was ready to manhandle his poor sister out of there by any means necessary. Squeezing his hulking frame into the all-too-familiar corridors, he called out softly "Psalm?" in rumbling baritones that echoed horribly off the hard packed earth and empty hollows. "It's time to move out of here, Psalm. It's not healthy for either of us." the pallid warrior announced with a heavy, defeated tone.

His limbs felt leaden as he passed the empty beds where his family had once slept, happy and united. Now, it was just the shallow breaths of his sister he could hear within her bed. Shoving himself into the small entrance to the offshoot room where Psalm rested, eerie glowing eyes illuminated her dark form. "Don't make me drag you out by your tail," he said in a quiet voice, unable to fully muster up the strength to put the same kind of jovial teasing behind the empty threat that he might have in earlier days.