Noctisardor Bypass proverbs 28:13

set a few hours after this and this

amadeo returned to rivenwood a shell of his former self.
bloodied, bruised; cuts scored his cheek and his shoulders, his limp significantly worsened. the moon lit his path and painted him with fractured shards of indigo.
@Heda! heda, i need you! he shouts into the stagnant air, voice straining dryly in his throat. please!
for now his plan is in motion.

walking back to rivenwood was familiar to heda, something she'd done a hundred times. it was a path she could walk in her sleep.
walking it with @Druid felt like she'd never stepped foot on the grass before. heda chattered excitedly about what gideon had been learning and ezra's response to god, about the ospreys which still lived in their old nest over the lagoon, about —
there was blood scent beneath the moon and amadeo's calling voice. she fell eerily silent, glanced at her sister, and rushed to meet him.
"what's happened? oh, amadeo, are you all right? where are the kids? are they okay too?" she cried all in a rush, running her paw along his arm and trying to see past him for whatever threat had come while she was stupidly away.

This can probably work as a cameo!

Heda’s voice soothed Druid’s heart like a balm after so long apart. She remained mum for the most part, ears bent happily toward her sister as her eyes combed the bypass for the familiar faces of her children. She told herself they might—they would—look different, more grown. Druid would recognize them regardless but would they recognize her?

It was late by the time they neared the rendezvous site. As the pair of she-wolves passed through a moonlit clearing perhaps a hundred yards away from their destination, there was a sudden commotion. A voice shrieked her sister’s name, prompting Heda to glance at Druid before bounding ahead. Feeling suddenly wrong-footed, she hastened after her.

Heda fretted over a wounded Amadeo, frantically questioning him. When she cried about the kids, Druid felt as if the very oxygen had been sucked out of the air. Her heart stopped in her chest, then began hammering. She struggled to breathe as she went whale-eyed in the moonlight.

All these hours, she’d been passively searching for them. Now, Druid raced through the darkenss in the direction of the rendezvous site, desperate to find all six of the puppies.

i'd really prefer this thread to be primarily amadeo and heda if that's ok with y'all! i just don't want it to get too out of hand <3 it was marked as private haha

anselm, the man croaks. a-anselm, we-- we got into a fight.
he nearly collapses in heda's arms, allowing himself this one moment of weakness for the sake of the greater good. he is too exhausted to recognize that she had not come here alone.
he raises his damaged forelimb as best as he can, blood and dirt caked in the obvious puncture-marks which bloomed with violent, irritated crimson. i fought him off as best as i could. i-it was like he went mad, and-- and i don't know where he is, heda. he ran. i chased after him as far as i c-could, but, i... i'm sorry.

thats totally my bad <33

him? "anselm?" him? but — he wouldn't! would he? as heda gazed at the lacerations on amadeo's face, at the blood, at the matted soil, she knew that anselm could.
he was certainly angry enough, though heda didn't understand why he had any reason to fight amadeo.
"i don't —" she mumbled, moving to clean the torn flesh now, supplicant at his hand. but her face rose now, looking for the others, the children; "was anyone else hurt?" heda piped in a shaking voice.

ty both for understanding <3333

amadeo's face was solemn. no, no. we were alone.
he exhales a long, shaky breath, closing his eyes as he presses his face into heda's shoulder. the scent of her alone was enough to calm him, to remind him that he was the one in control here. she did not need to know that half of the lacerations he wore were his own doing.
i-i had gone out to talk to him, j-just to be friendly. and he... the things he said about you, heda, his teeth grind together, jaw tight with the pulse of renewed anger which fluttered through his bloodstream as he thought of it. i knew he never liked me. i can live with that. but he insulted you to my face, you and your boys. and then-- then the arguing got physical. i th-think he broke my arm.
it wasn't a lie, not really; just a different way to frame the story.
i-i don't know if he is going to return.

heda needed to know. she needed to talk to anselm; she needed to see him. to hear him admit what he had done.
broken — hurting. she didn't want to know what anselm had said, and her belly plummeted at the thought of what it might be.
"stay here. it doesn't matter if he does or not."
her head came up sharply. if something was the matter, druid would know, right? she would call? the golden eyes roved back to amadeo as heda found herself frozen, horrified.