Lunar padded across the rocky barren ground wondering if she might come across Esaro again. She kept an eye out for him as well as prey, not wanting to go home empty handed.
She thought perhaps she smelt a rabbit and followed the scent which turned out to be a carcass. With a shrug she grabbed one of the bones and lay down to gnaw on it in the attempts of extracting nutrious bone marrow.
Esaro was running, he was completely exhausted but had to keep moving. Everyone was turning on him, he couldn't take it. He didn't understand why it had to end up like this. All he wanted was peace but instead ending up being a cause for war. Saena said he had doomed them. There was no excuses, she likely knew much better what would happen thanks to him. To think that it is because of him that everyone has to suffer the taste of war.
He slowed down once he realized no one was chasing him. He was panting as he looked around his surroundings and then at himself. He was lightly bleeding at every spot he took a hit at. His left shoulder, his rear, and his tail tip were bleeding. As he looked at his tail he noticed that it was slightly shorter to usual. Did a piece of his tail really come off?! First he thought of trying to clean his wounds but then he spotted a familiar wolf. Seeing her made him happy for only a moment. He took a few steps forward however he stopped. He had only brought trouble for everyone, he didn't want to spread to Luna as well. Surely by now she spotted him but maybe not. He turned around and aimed to leave.
It was by pure luck that she happened to glance up as Esaro turned to leave, having been invested in gnawing at the bone. She got to her feet and padded over to him. "Hey, Esaro, wait up!"
"What's the rush?" She wasn't completely unware of the happenings of her pack, she knew Reek had been talking with Thuringwethil and Esaro had been by recently to speak with him as well. Seeing as she was only Delta though, she didn't know much. She was blissfully unaware of what had happened to Esaro or what happened to the Phoenix pack.
Esaro heard the calls behind him and stopped. He turned with his head lowered. Luna approached but he stepped back to keep some distance in between. He really thought that if he stayed and actually touched her then she might get into trouble too somehow. It would be all his fault again. "I'm sorry Luna. I'm a traitor, it might be better for you to stay away from me. I'll only bring you problems." He hoped she would understand. The fact is that now that he can't protect Phoenix anymore he can't keep his word to Reek.
Lunar's brows crumpled in confusion. "What are you talking about?" Esaro, a traitor? To whom, the Phoenix wolves? How would that bring her problems anyways, she was no longer a member of their pack. If Esaro was a traitor did that mean he was no longer with the pack? She stilled the questions on her tongue, keeping quiet so he could explain his baffling statement.
It shouldn't be surprising that Luna had no idea what he was talking about. She was in no way directly involved. At the very least he could try to get her to understand why it was best for him to stay away. He began. "I went to the Sleeping Dragon only to find out they didn't want peace at all. I when I returned to Phoenix to tell them they said I doomed them and then they kicked me out." It was still very unbelievable that all his efforts of helping out turned into a huge problem for everyone. He just kept messing up but this time there was really no way to fix it.
"What have you done?" Her blood had gone cold and her voice was only a hush. This meant only one thing. War. The Dragons would go for the Maplewood and destroy everything in sight.
Another thought struck her then. The meetings between the Dragon Alpha and Reek, what had they been talking about? Reek would never go for anything that would put his children in danger so he wouldn't have anything to do with the imminent warfare.
Oh, God what if the Dragons came for them? Was that what it was about? Conflict between the Grotto and the Dragons? Was that why Esaro had been by Larksong? His peace talks? "Esaro..tell me this isn't because of you. Tell me you didn't do this,"she stepped towards him, blue eyes pleading with him for it to not be true.
Esaro looked to the side. "I was only trying to get peace between everyone. It's all truly my fault. I really thought peace was possible but they didn't want it." That was the reality of it all. In his efforts to prevent a war he ended up starting one. He guaranteed it and now everyone involved had to deal with his mistake. Larksong Grotto and Sleeping Dragon were working together against Phoenix. It's only a matter of time before all his friends get attacked. Esaro really hoped they could make it out.
He caused all this but there was nothing he could do the fix it. Instead his plan was to avoid everyone. He made things worse already and if he stayed the situation might get even worse than that. "I'm sorry Luna. It's all my fault and if I stay around I'll only make things worse for you and everyone else. I.. I should leave now before I some how make things worse for you." He said as turned slow but steadily in preparation to leave.
Lunar knew there was no way in hell that Reek would ever put his pups in danger and yet the Phoenix pack couldn't just wait around for the Dragons to strike could they? What would they do? Strike first or run? With a litter it was likely they would run.
She didn't know what to say, how to comfort him. And so she didn't. She watched him walk away, knowing she likely would never see him again. Lunar turned to head back to the Grotto, broken heart hurting in her chest.