Arrow Lake i wish a cure for my cold tongue existed

for @Astrophel!

drakon found himself at the place where it had begun; the place where he'd killed that stranger at germanicus's command. the man had already been dead, of course. it was just a matter of time. but drakon had always made a point of foregoing that killing blow, for his own selfish reasons. easier to say they'd died from the wound that way. not from him. he wasn't a murderer.

he hadn't been a murderer.

it had been self-defense, until it wasn't. until the man lay dying. it felt like cruelty after that. drakon paced the shores of the arrow lake, frustrated. he didn't regret it, but some part of him felt... different. like a mirror with a crack in the corner. no matter where he turned his gaze, it caught at the corner of his eye and pulled his focus back to it. he couldn't seem to leave it alone.

he might have spent all day stewing in these thoughts, but fate had other plans for drakon today. as he often did, the young auxiliary began to climb the rocky rises surrounding the lake. drakon was normally quite sure-footed, but his distraction did him no favors. somewhere along the way, he slipped - and, of course, he fell.

he didn't remember much of what happened between then and the aftermath. one moment, only the turmoil of his own thoughts plagued him; the next moment was a jumble of pain and wind in his fur. and then he was on the ground, smarting in several places and thoroughly humiliated.

fuuuuuck... he groaned, rolling over. his head was bleeding. and his foot... fuck. fuck fuck fuck! he was useless to mereo now. they would never take him back.

With every cautious step, Astrophel knew he gained more distance between himself and Orion.

It worried him, as many things seemed to do. His father had loved his mother more than anything, and now with him, the final reminder of Nova, dispersed to the winds, would his father be alright? The thought dogged at him as the star boy blazed his trails away from Orion’s nomadic range. He was to find his star, and the night sky held so many. It was an insurmountable task, even to generally positive Astrophel.

He did it anyway, because it was what had been asked of him, and he was not going to tell Orion no. So, here he was. The mountains, wind gently tugging at odd tufts of fur that had been ruffled from travel, his eyes never leaving his feet. To fall would be a disaster, absolute. He could not slow until he found the star his father said was out there.

The voice that drifted along the wind snapped into his ears like a boom of thunder, and he halted his cautious, mouse-like walking to twist his face towards the sound. Then, he was off, still cautious, but faster now, moving gracelessly. He bounced off a rock, shoulder stinging from the blow, and scrambled to get his legs to ease him into a stop.

Where?

There.

Small, dark, the scent of iron upon his tongue.

What did you hurt? His voice came out half breathless, strained, stress coating his throat and squeezing it into almost strangulation. Stress had never been Astrophel’s game, it tended to do him more harm than good, but he would not be leaving a wounded stranger to tend to themselves if he could help it.

everything was a blur. drakon could hardly separate one moment from the next - so when a stranger appeared seemingly from nowhere, it only added to the confusion. a man, he could tell that much from his voice. but what had he said?

drakon struggled to find his footing, squinting at the man suspiciously as often as he could manage. w-what? he stammered, realizing at the exact same time that whoever had found him was, for lack of a better description, devastatingly hot. that did not bode well for this interaction. back home, drakon had been notorious for his ability to embarrass himself in front of anyone he found even remotely attractive. every time. without fail. and he'd already gotten off to a pretty fitting start this time around.

Astrophel’s tongue bobbed against the back of his teeth, and he slipped the tip between his incisors for a gentle pinch, trying to force his brain to work through the problem he was now faced with. The pain didn’t spark anything but more panic though, and he flailed valiantly for words.

You.. He could feel the dry click in his throat when he swallowed. One paw lifted to try and indicate at the smaller man’s head, where the blood bloomed like a crown of morbid roses.

Blood? 

Had he anymore brain cells with which to think, perhaps his panic would have twisted another way, because the other man was…very pretty. In ways Astrophel’s many words could not put into perspective. As it was, though, most of his brain was set in light speed worrying about the wounds instead of attractiveness.

He gave an awkward, twitching smile, one of his ears held to the side while the other stood straight up, his very posture screaming of his awkward panicking.

tag for ref!

it didn't make sense. none of this was making any sense. was green eyes really being this incompetent, or had drakon hit his head harder than he thought? there was blood...

yeah, uh... he blinked, realizing suddenly how much his head hurt. it was weird, how adrenaline could numb even the worst injuries. thankfully, this was far from the worst. drakon knew he could be unconscious right now, or without his memory, or even dead. but this still wasn't good. @Germanicus would not be happy; drakon would have to keep this news from reaching him, if he could. i - i think i'll be alright. maybe. who are you, anyway?

That was a reasonable question.

Astrophel. He took a shivering step forwards, the rocks underfoot scraping at his pawpads as he slowly put one foot in front of the other.

I’m..traveling. Heard you yell. Green eyes swept across the shorter man’s form, one paw poised in the air, as though Astrophel was stuck between putting it down or placing it forward.

I know some healing..I thought I could help. He let out a short noise, somewhere between an awkward hiss and a clearing of his throat.

…are you sure it’s alright?

astrophel. it was a mouthful of a name, followed by an explanation drakon wasn't sure he'd needed. it relaxed him a little nonetheless. astrophel said he knew healing, which was the most welcome thing he'd said since his unexpected arrival. drakon didn't know how he felt about letting some random himbo tend to his wounds, but he knew for sure how he felt about the possibility of germanicus finding out about this.

um, y'know... actually, i could use some help, he admitted sheepishly. name's drakon. i just got into this - this pack. sorta. it's some kinda military thing. soldiers and all that. if i go back there lookin' like i lost a fight with some rocks, they'll probably laugh me right out of the canyon. so uh... help would be nice.

Astrophel stared, for a time.

A military pack. In his mind, the day around them had turned to storm, clouds and the scent of iron thick on his tongue. The shape of Drakon became that of his mother, his father, the soldiers. The mouths full of teeth that had ended Nova’s life, and almost killed him.

A military had done that. Were they expanding, hunting for what they saw as theirs? Was this an outpost for them. Dimly, Astro was aware he had gone slack faced and shaken, but he couldn’t pull out of the slowly beginning panic spiral he was in. Until he swallowed, nearly choking on the excess saliva in his mouth from his rolling stomach, and managed to speak.

I..I can help you. He said rather stupidly, just to ensure to himself that he could. He wasn’t going to let these events keep him from doing what he did best.

We’ll need to find somewhere with herbs. Or cobwebs. Preferably both.

there was an immediate shift in astrophel as drakon spoke; he looked like he'd seen a ghost. drakon's throat tightened and he averted his gaze, a little nauseated by the display of distress. under any other circumstances, he might have glossed over it, left astrophel to his feelings and moved on. but he wasn't about to let him anywhere near his injuries with that look on his face.

you okay? drakon questioned awkwardly, frowning. i mean, uh... you don't look so great. was it something he'd said?

He had noticed. Well, it wasn’t like he was hiding it, came the snarking reply in his head, but he shoved the voice away to give a tight smile.

Yes. It is just some traveler’s fatigue, I have been walking for many weeks now. He said, trying to sound soothing as best he could, despite how shaky he felt. He could have a breakdown later.

Now was a time for helping.

traveler's fatigue, huh? dude must have been some kind of lightweight little bitch. drakon smirked for a moment, but decided against voicing any of the acidic thoughts that surfaced. y'know, if you get tired of walking, pretty sure mereo's wide open, he mentioned, thinking himself very generous indeed. it would be nice to have some eye candy to steal glances at while he patrolled his ass off for germanicus. i could put in a good word for you, since you're helping me and all.