Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry. She was a hurricane, a frenzied flurry of wispy, speckled down and wildly splayed limbs grasping at the green earth beneath her quivering frame, thrusting herself forward by any means possible with sheer recklessness and wanton abandon; drunk on pure instinct, the unrepentant and primal urge to get away, to run, not again, not this, this just wasn't fast enough—

—but running from what? This intensity had engulfed her so swiftly, had snuck up from abaft and snatched her by the scruff of her nape, leaving not an inkling of it's intent or what could have tantalised it out of it's hiding place at such a time as now. This cruel beast, this villain in her head that could suddenly bring the girl to her knees shaking, was supposed to stay back on Sparrowhawk Island, where it belonged, where it had been created, where it thrived. It had no reason to be here, no fear to feed on, and nothing had gone particularly wrong at the lair. Her injury was minor, a nuisance at most, and her new acquaintance had come out practically unscathed, save for a tender shoulder. The beast had fled, she had parted from the incident with sound mind... she was fine, everyone was okay, and if anything, it could have been worse.

Yes, it could have been so much worse.

For whatever reason, this one realisation, was the final nail in a coffin she didn't even know was being built.

It was all just too much for the dove, and so she unravelled; a terrified and overwhelmed young soul who was no longer armoured, protected by the adrenaline and ignorant hope that had carried her forward thus far. How foolish she had been to believe she could have done this without help, that she was strong enough to care for herself, to care for Oath. She was a naive, little whelp playing make believe, thinking she could become alpha some day if she just carried on her delusions. As if moving to new lands somehow made her a stronger, more worthy wolf. It didn't. It never would. She was the same stupid girl, one that was too sensitive and cried too easily, who couldn't speak up for herself, and who had just offered herself up to eat on a herb-embellished platter. To destroy herself. To destroy Oath.

She was exhausted.

The first sob ripped itself from her breast in a strangled choke the moment the lake came into sight from between the curtain of aspen trees — and once that first tear broke free, the rest followed in a continual and unbroken stream. Heaving sobs wracked her tired frame, forcing the fae to slacken her pace as she gasped for gulping breaths, soon bumbling clumsily out of the tree line and into the open of the lake shoreline. She attempted, halfheartedly, to blink away the tears clouding her vision but to no avail, meanwhile narrowly avoiding tumbling onto her side as she staggered towards the orange and brown blob perched on its usual branch, collapsing into a sniffling heap right in front of her once she was close enough. She was a mess.

A tail-tucked, head hung, snotty, wet, whimpering, out of breath, shivering and incoherent mess.

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Goose instantaneously melted herself against the the russet the moment she leaned in. Oath was home, and that's all her trembling heart wanted right now — to be with her home, who was safe, who was warm, and who was hers. Her previous gut-wrenching sobs quieted down, softened into long, weepy whines as she buried her nose into Oath's chest, misty hues planted firmly on the ground where she planned to keep them for as long as she possibly could (which would have been forever, given the chance). She desperately wanted to reassure the russet — who was currently scanning their surroundings frantically for signs of incoming danger — that nothing was actually pursuing them in an attempt to calm her down, but Goose couldn't bring herself to move.

With her frantic mind beginning to gradually settle for the moment being, she could no longer ignore the heat of embarrassment which was already starting to prickle uncomfortably underneath her skin, feelings of regret, as always, making themselves at home. So there she remained, firmly planted, dreading the inevitable moment that she would be forced to explain herself. Already she was shrinking inwards at the shocking recollection of her entrance, which would also without a doubt be discussed; she had managed to scare the huntress half to death, gotten them both sticky with muddy lake water, and could have alerted any actual threats to their location to top it all off.

Oath soon peeled herself from the dove's needy grip — much to her chagrin — to smell the day's debacle off of her inspect her sorry form —which to no surprise, was sight for sore eyes indeed. Tear-matted fur tufted up in all directions alongside her cheeks and neck, exasperated further by the dove's earlier insistence of smushing her face into Oath in a pitiful attempt to hide. Her coat, not much better, stood windswept in all directions thanks to none other than her speed dash, all of which was now solidified wonderfully into place, all the way up her legs, stomach, and tail, at the fault of the lake mud she had barrelled through. Any other day this would have been the height of amusement between the two, but today, the tone was different. At this moment, she was so childlike as her youthfulness seeped glaringly through the cracks; oversized ears that had yet to be grown into, a body she was yet to come into, girlish features knit into a frown and gaze glued to the ground whilst she tried and failed to cease the trembling of her bottom lip.

Feeling positively humiliated with herself through and through, tears that had finally ceased only moments ago threatened to well over once again at Oath's insistence for her full attention; and, as predicted, promptly followed in the shape of heavy, rolling droplets once the dove had belatedly raised her eyes to peer at the the older female from below soaked eyelashes. The expression of just... sheer, genuine concern and worry, — that she didn't deserve to have to endure! — was the very heart-wrenching look that Goose had been dreading to see. Knowing she'd single handedly caused it, between her careless antics and these silly reactions, when Oath hadn't even heard what had happened yet, sent Goose into another fit of shoulder heaving, bubbling hysterics, which of course the girl tried to speak through.

"I-I'm— I'm so— I'm so s-s-sorry— I don't k-know, I didn-didn't mean i-i-t— I don't k-know what hap-p-pened—! She managed to eventually choke out between hiccups and countless stuttered breaths, although unable to even remotely control the rising, trilling pitch that was climbing higher and higher as she frantically arose to all fours. "T-t-thi— t-this is a-all my f-f-fault! W-what, wh-what if he t-t-tries to k-kill us O-Oath— h-h-he thi-thinks we're p-part of D-Diaspora b-b-but we're not, he's g-going to see us, this is a-all my f-fault—!" Another choked noise, a hiccup, now frantically pacing in spot as she began to spiral and the hysteria bubbled up again, whatever it was she was trying to say just pouring out of her— "I— I— couldn't— I couldn't just l-leave her, Oath, w-what if she— what if she had gotten h-hurt she's a m-mother I c-c-could— could smell it off h-her I—I— I had to— to at least try, to t-try and help— and I— I m-mean I thin— think she's o-okay s-s-so I don't know— b-but her n-name was A-Aure and—"

And it was perhaps by a dumb stroke of luck that the dove abruptly cut herself off with a yelp from her quickly escalating rampage, conveniently (or maybe not so much) interrupted by a sharp pain that propelled itself up into her hip bone as she tried to once again pivot in spot. Oh right, her injury.

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The whisper cut through her like a hot knife; the quietest words always had the made the biggest impart, hit like a freight train, and Oath's accusatory utterances were no exception. The dove's breath hitched in her throat and she froze, no longer able to cry in all her dread, watching the recognition of what she had said come to fruition on the russet's face. You did not get involved. Feathered ears flattened at the statement — one to which they both clearly knew the answer, but one that neither wanted to confirm — and kneaded at the ground nervously.

Where to begin? Now that all her bottled emotions had been purged from within her, too fast and too intensely and all at once, she felt... fine. Calm. Clearheaded. But Goose had failed to consider the aftermath of what this outburst could cause — it was hardly as bad as the performance may have portrayed, how was she supposed to reassure Oath that everything, in fact, is actually okay? She had caused this, and now she was going to try go on the defensive and try to dig herself out of it? Okay, so I know it looked like I was on the brink of death and that the world was falling apart, but actually, it's fine now I reflect. That would never go down well.

She felt absolutely horrible. She regretted the way she had gone about intervening in the cave when she had tried to play hero. She regretted not realising these unchecked feelings were going to soon boil over, and she regretted the way that they did and how she had reacted. She regretted the performance she had put on with her crying and bubbling, and making Oath concerned, then panicked, and now mad. She already regretted the fight that no doubt was about too ensue. But the one thing, that she absolutely did not regret, was helping that mother and making sure she was okay. If she had just left her behind, saved her own hide, the regret from that one decision would've been something she'd never get over — that regret would have been ten times worse than her feelings now.

Tears in the past, all that was left behind was a puffy face and hitching breaths and stutters, which were evident when she began to speak. "I h-had to get involved Oath, there's absolutely n-n-no way I would just abandon h-her—" Pleading eyes searched the face before her. "I w-went to— I went to this lair b-by the mountain s-side for herbs and t-they were in there f-f-fighting— it j-just happened so quickly— you know I c-c-can't leave the i-injured behind, b-but I just- I j-just—" She faltered, searching into the distance behind the russet, as if the answer was stuck there. Conflict tore through the pale at her own words, knowing fine well that, whilst she thought what she had done was right, it was also incredibly foolish.

She rose to all fours once again, brow knitted together as looked solidly at Oath and gave a firm nod. "I had to do it... I don't regret it. I couldn't, even if I tried." Her features softened as she dropped her head, voice wobbly as it lowered to a whisper. "I would do it again."

An exasperated sigh escaped from between parted lips as she lifted a paw to swipe at her tear-soaked cheek. Her biggest concern, her biggest fear, right now was her friend's reaction. It was all that was important.

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