he had heard, briefly, about dawn's altercation with the pale man in the maplewood. his mind leapt to the conclusion that it had been the brute spitting fire at them the other day, and he began to formulate a plan to go after him--but first he must speak to his mate. a freshly-killed hare clenched in his jaws, aditya padded to the place where she rested, setting the kill by her paws and stepping back. loir was there, speaking; he waited until his apprentice was done before he piped up.

"eat, mer--dawn," he corrected, dipping his head in abashment. his old nickname for her came so easily, there were times when it nearly slipped out of his mouth, especially now, when she was in this state. his golden eyes lifted to rest on her shredded ear, lips pulled tight in a frown. "how are you feeling?"

obviously she felt like shit, but he'd rather hear it in her own words.

dawn's sharp answer did not surprise him; he accepted it with a nod, knowing there was not much more he could do. then loir began to speak again, and the sorrow in her voice made him turn his head, a little surprised.

he did not handle tears well, despite being so quick to emotion himself. loir's obvious distress made an already strained encounter between himself and his former mate all the more stressful. grimacing a little, he cast a glance that was half-helpless, half-amused at dawn, and nosed the kill an inch or so closer to her.

"i'll leave you ladies to talk," adi murmured, blinking sympathetically at loir before padding off. whatever needed to be worked out, they could do it without his presence.