After Zephyr left, he had felt a bit of tension between he and Takiyok, and not the good kind. Still, he tried to take the opportunity to continue his recuperation. Hunting, usually unsuccessfully, took up a large amount of his time. Most of the time these were solo ventures. Even since his improvements, he had not managed to feel comfortable enough to hunt with others in the pack.
He wondered how Cordelia was settling in, if at all. He wondered why Rowan could not go with Zephyr. He wondered a lot of things that surrounded the dynamics between residents of the strange forest.
Heading back toward the den, he carried a small morsel. It was a chipmunk he had discovered, injured and left there by some other far smaller animal, probably a bobcat. They were the only beasts that bothered to torture animals in this way, despite their superior ability to kill quickly.
As he moved toward it, Takiyok came running from nowhere and smashed herself into his chest. Her eyes were wide and frightened. Something was very wrong. He abruptly dropped the catch and embraced her. Taki! What's going on?! Something horrific must have happened. Again.

She was so out of breath, he feared the worst. Had she found Taktuq? Was she dead? Had she been brutalized? Had Lunaria been killed? Had there been another attack from the Saints? Was Zephyr okay? Had Takiyok herself been hurt?
As fear and concern flooded him, he began inspecting her as he kissed her and held her, searching for wounds or bruises that might tell him some story of what had occurred when she clearly could not.
And then, as she tried to explain and he finally caught a glimpse of her gaze, he realized at once that something else was at play. I am here, you are okay, he breathed slowly, softly, keeping his volume quieter than normal for her. He remembered Zephyr. He remembered the seizures.
Listen to me, he said, sternly but quietly. Did you go near the tree?

She was a mess. It was hard to say where she ended and where the confusion started. Takiyok. Brave, loyal, fierce, and ever willing to push forward when shit got real. This was not her at all. Her timidness frightened him, startled him. The gaze she offered him was one of a child, lost and tormented in a sea of oblivion that he hated more than any other.
Anger began to flood his senses. His ears grew hot and his nose flared at nothing while he held her tightly to his chest. That anything could reduce her to this infuriated him, and that he knew exactly where it had come from even more so. He tried to stay rational. Maybe it hadn't been the tree. Maybe she'd eaten a pile of something toxic. Maybe someone had forcefed her something.
There are no eyes here, though. I am here, he reassured, breathing as calm as he could while his eyes grew dry and he sought in his mind who was to blame.
Zephyr had brought them here, but he had done so out of loyalty and whatever version of kindness he was capable of. Rowan?
Things had gotten weird lately. Taikon did not like religion. He did not like that he had joined a pack led by a religious individual. Such creatures sought power hidden in the guise of goodness and morality.
A crow cawed at them from a tree. He glared at it openly. This fucking place. He growled under his breath.

He didn't like her in this state. It was strange. He had met and befriended many women and girls who had delicate personalities. They were fine and graceful and had all of the fears of all of the things in this cruel world. They had fathers and brothers and eventually they grew to have daughters and husbands. They lived and died. Through it all, they held that sense of naïveté and grace.
Takiyok was the opposite of all of these things, and it was why he identified so strongly with her from the beginning. Though she had been through hardship many times, she had come out from it strong and knowing. If he did anything wrong, she would be the first to tell him. He trusted her.
To see her collapsed like this in fear and weird ailment infuriated him more than he could express, for he had to stay calm for her.
Here, come with me. He answered her. He did not fully know what she needed. He was terrified she might go into a seizure like Zephyr had, and he would not be able to help her. He rose from their weird embrace, clinging to her and shepherding her toward the stream that ran close to the denning site they had chosen to raise their family. Please drink. It will help, he said. He was no medic, but he knew that drinking water helped with many ailments, including toxins. His mind spun. It throbbed.

Though Takiyok did what he asked of her, she seemed almost lost when she did so. Taikon watched the water drip from her chin and felt her face wet as she pushed back into his fur like he could just make whatever was bothering her go away. He tried his best not to feel frightened. If he was wrong, and it wasn't the tree, what then? Who would he find to help? Rowan seemed distracted and off doing his own thing. They hardly knew anyone in the pack. The Glen and neighbouring Moonspear were gone.
Okay, he answered gently. I'm here, he said, leaning into her to help assist this strange need for attention.
Takiyok had always been affectionate toward him after they had established a solid friendship. This was excessive. Smothering.
Taikon lay down, slowly, calculated. They would have to wait out whatever this madness was. He would not find Rowan for assistance. Now that Eldritch had returned and assumed a role superior to his, he no longer trusted anybody. It was unlikely there was anything he would be able to do anyway. I am with you.