Blacktail Deer Plateau I speak for the dead

@Grayday

He was dead, and she knew it. It was almost laughable to imagine any possible chance of her and Grayday returning to Chaska to find a beating heart and warm fur. She traveled in the direction the old wolf instructed her to go with his last words and paced back and forth with anxiety. Her lack of smell hadn’t made the situation any easier, but she’d travel far and hadn’t noticed abundance of wolves. Her timidness forced her to fear crossing a border only to meet the same demise without telling Day. All she was told was morning. 

Coincidentally she inched back and forth in front of Morningside’s border. Losing hope, she lifted her nose high in the air and howled out for an old friend. A cloud escaped her maw along with the urgent call, before lowering her muzzle and waiting patiently for someone to answer. How was Day going to react? Would he shun her like she expected? Fear boiled in her chest, her mind far too unfocused to realize she was shivering from the cold.

Grayday was not far from the call. He was not doing well these days, with all his accumulating injuries and being still a bit ill, but he had a duty to the wolves within his borders, and had been patrolling them more and more as each new transgression took place.

He was not completely surprised to find yet another familiar wolf on his borders. Krypton and Chaska had both been in the area. It seemed as though all of Easthollow's deserters were showing up on his doorstep, lately.

"Hello, Mara," he said wearily, approaching the shewolf at a slow, tired pace. "What brings you this way?"

Despite all that had happened recently, as Day slowly walked towards her, she instantly took notice of his injuries. ”Are you alright? I can help,” A memory flashed of their first meeting and how she had examined the wounds he received from an attacker. How often was he in fights?

She had expected guilt, but not to this extent. Her stomach had dropped and she felt undeserving to just be in Day’s presence, let alone his pack borders. His open greeting made it even worse, she deserved some sort of punishment for her actions. His question finally hit her ears, and she paused. ”Chaska told me to come here - I, well,” She hadn’t said it aloud yet, not giving it the pleasure of finally being spoken, her throat burned at the idea. ”Chaska’s dead.” The agouti girl finally admitted, tears threatened to form but she kept her composure as much as possible. Her only friend, dead.

Grayday's ears flicked back as he sense the emotion in the other's voice. Chaska, she said, sending another pang of hurt through the man's chest. It was another moment before he realized what she'd said. "You spoke to him?" he asked, surprised. He tried to remember if he'd scented Mara around the area, but he'd been more focused on the scent of the unfamiliar male. "I found his body - just the other day."

He wished he could see her expression. She seemed terribly affected by the conversation. Had she known Chaska well, or was she just the squeamish, sensetive type?

Complete paralyzation. Mara's nerves froze, her muscles completely still. She knew he was dead, how could he not be? There was a chance though, an insanely minuscule chance that where she'd left him his heart was still beating. It was now directly in front of her face, Chaska was dead. A jerk of her head forced her back into reality, she opened her mouth to speak but found herself unable. A ball of pain blocked any sound from escaping her throat. She denied any chance for a tear to fall down her cheek, but an ocean formed in her eyes. Still too stunned, still too scared to talk about it she backpedaled to the only other possible conversation topic. 

"Really - I can help your wounds," Mara avoided any eye contact with the male, knowing if she allowed herself one moment of vulnerability she would break down in front of him.

She seemed to grapple with herself - Grayday could only guess at what her face might look like. If he'd been able to see it, things might've been different. But he was blind to all but the brightest of lights these days, and Mara's struggle went on largely unnoticed by the sterling male. His ears slicked back when she spoke, and then pressed forward in firm assertion.

"There are healers here already, but thank you," the male demured, hinting at the ending of their conversation. He wondered if she would ask for succor - he'd offered it to the first two Easthollow wolves that'd come by, but he had no deep, abiding love for Mara. Standing before her right then, he could do little to remember her face. Perhaps all faces would slip away from him, in time.

She bit her lip at his comment, sensing the end of their reunion. Mara stepped back, staring for a moment at her old pack mate, before shifting to begin to leave. "I hope you're doing well, Day." She said, with true genuine hope. The girl really did wish for others to take pleasure in their lives as she was unable to. Most everyone she met deserved it, the grey male in front of her being no exception. She had come for what Chaska had asked, and nothing more or less. 

"Farewell," She lingered no more and began her trek back to... nowhere. Her next travels would be aimless, just as the ones before. Perhaps she'd revisit the blunt wolf with gems for eyes, or see the coast before her final decision to remove her self from her reality.

"And you," said Grayday automatically as Mara wished him well. He felt rather than heard her turn and go on her way, bidding him goodbye as she went. He did not respond, feeling distinctly wrong-footed as he was unable to watch her leave and note which direction she'd gone in. He'd have to retrace her steps later on to make sure she hadn't hung nearby.

If he'd known what she had planned down the road, he would have returned home to the dens with a slightly more puzzled expression on his face. As it was, life on the plateau soon swept away all thoughts of the old acquaintance.