Ocean's Breath Plateau ice plant

for dutch! other tags for ref! <3

despite the best efforts of those around him, chakliux sank into a glittering fever that confined him to the lodge. he tried to keep close to marina, tried to hunt with what little strength he had for her alone if need be, but eventually the seal hunter twisted in soaked fire upon his own sweated hides.
@Heph and @Rodyn were informed; chakliux found himself open to all healing if attempts were made to puncture the inflamed flesh of his right front fore-ankle, to bind the wound. the fever raged on.
@Raiyuk and @Taggak were asked to help tullik and marina while speech was apparent in their father, while his ability was clear.
today's trickle of clarity asked that someone bring @Dutch to him. "tell him i am not dying!" chakliux managed with weak, joking defiance, laughing somewhat before his strength ebbed and he only lay back to await the panther.

Just a cameo! Lmk if it's not okay and I'll delete <3

As Chakliux's strength failed, Marina began to grasp her own scant reserves more firmly, if only for her husband's sake. Her own sickness lingered stubbornly, faint but there in the way her skin was often warm to the touch and her coughs occasionally woke her family in the night. Chakliux was sicker, though. He needed her.

So she tended him as much as she could; hunted for him on occasion; lingered, worried, at his side. Marina was a mournful ghost at his sickbed, though for his sake she tried to be cheerful during his waking hours. She feared that she would lose him.

But today he called for Dutch, and it brightened her some. Marina would hover nearby like a fretting mother hen, but for now she made herself scarce to allow them privacy.

For once, the panther had not appreciated a joke. The messenger was privy to the rare sight of Dutch in a foul mood, a thunderous expression overlaying the worried shine to his eyes. He'd known that Chakliux's paw had been bothering him, but it was shocking to hear how bad the infection had gotten — and then chilling when he arrived, drawing close enough to smell the infection.

"Lockjaw! Look what you've done to my seal hunter," he said, in jest but still snappish as he came to the man's sickbed. He collapsed beside him and pushed his forehead against the other man's, as if he might siphon off some of the heat of his fever this way. "Do not talk about dying," he said in a fierce murmur. "You must not say this even in jest."

The spirit listened. Dutch did not want them to further test the proud man. Chakliux did not know when to back down. Not against a bear and not against the gods. That was Dutch's opinion, anyway.

Okay, fixed! I know he said he is not dying but Dutch just doesn't like to think about death at all.

all good x2 u both <3

"pwah! do not look so serious, foreshaft," chakliux boasted, but the fever was bright in his eyes, and he pushed his forehead against that of the panther for a tight, rough moment of understanding and perhaps even a desperate relief to see dutch. "i will not joke again, for i do not intend to be dead!" and now his laughter sounded, lowly this time.
"marina and tullik have tended me well, though i hate to be bound to the lodge. and not able to hardly lift my children!" he groused.
pain lanced along his leg. he held it up defiantly. "nothing about my own flesh will defeat me," he joked, though it was not a joke and his gaze flashed with determination.

He tried to accommodate, his mood lightened only slightly, tenuously by the familiar nickname and none at all by the promise not to joke. He wanted Chakliux to joke! It meant that he still could. It pained him to forbid any topic that brought a smile to the man's face, but in this, he felt his hands were tied.

"Good," he said, still more surly than was usual for him. He was adamant when he said, "I need you here."

He settled down a little, comforted by this reassurance even if it had been said as much to comfort Chakliux as himself.

"Let them tend you, my friend," he murmured, "You have done much for them. I am sure they are grateful if there is anything they can do to help ease your discomfort. That is what love is."

Although he was more certain they all wished to see him better more than anything else.

"What can I do for you?" he asked. Pleaded.

"i will be here."
"hunt for my lodge, please. do a patrol near the sea." chakliux loathed this asking; it was only due to his deep trust in the panther that he asked at all. "the rest has been done."
he was young still, he felt, not so old that he should have been made to lean upon the strength of others. but of course he would have wanted dutch to take his help, and so the seal hunter bit his tongue and quieted his pride.
"how is morningsong? and simbelmyne?" he asked, wanting to remove such things from his mind and turn them to a brighter future.

The panther inclined his head; "It will be done." This was the least he could do for his dearest friend. He wanted to see their families cared for because he wished for it to be their family, singular. Simbelmyne did not think the same way as him, and so it was not quite so — but he would still do his best for both units in the hope that they would someday become one.

Such thought plagued his dreams. He was glad to speak of Simbelmyne instead.

"She grows more beautiful each day," he replied, "But she is ready to be done, I think, and to see our children earthside. I believe there will be many, and soon. Minnow's three also grow like the moon. There is still no sign of their father; I will tell her soon that I wish for them to know me as father, so that they might have someone to call for by that name."

It would be an honor, he thought, but he did not like to say. What was an honor to him was a shame for the rest.

"How are things here?" he asked, pointedly not speaking Marina's name, lest she overhear and know he was asking after her.