Larksong Grotto So you think you're a big girl?

As Reek dug, he felt the cold touch of a nose against his shoulder. He appreciated the simple gesture of comfort -- especially in his current emotional state -- however, he did not reciprocate. He felt a numbness in the wake of watching another wolf die. It was as if he were watching himself from a far and not experiancing the moment directly. Later, when he would finally calm down, he would come to realize it was the only way he could compartmentalize and cope with his decision to kill the trespasser.

Eslani trotted away, smile on her face as if nothing had happened. Reek stopped digging as he watched her leave, eyes transfixed on her happy expression. Discomfort settled into Reek's heart. He shook his head and continued to dig until a shallow grave took form.

Jumping out of the hole, Reek dragged the corpse to edge in an awkward, backwards shuffle. He turned, stepping over the corpse, and began to push with his muzzle until the body (now stiff from rigor mortis from the time it took him to dig his hole) rolled into the shallow pit with a dusty thud. Before a blanket of earth over the half-eaten trespasser, Reek stepped into the grave and furrowed his brow as he stared at the body -- his eyes finally settling on her head.

It was with morbid curiousity that Reek painstakingly separated the head from the body. He took it and set it staring outward with lifeless eyes from the edge of the grave. Finally, he stepped away from the pit and began to cover the corpse with a thin layer of soil. Once his work was done, Reek took the head and traveled deep into his territory, where he eventually sat the head on an ant mound. The insects would pick the head clean and on a later date, Reek would return for his morbid trophy. Of course, the skull of a trespassing wolf was no Mortimer... However, it was a start in decorating his den cave.