Hushed Willows 'Cause everything I feel is a waste of time

For @Phobos <3

At least one of her barely-healed ribs had been broken again in the struggle, and now Marina felt the ache of it in full force. Yet she knew she could not let it slow her. She left Athens to hunt while she renewed her search for a place to sleep. Cresting a gentle rise where hills met mountain, her gaze caught on the mouth of a cave near its peak — small enough, perhaps, to comfortably shelter two wolves from the elements.

Marina shot a glance over her shoulder, then started to move further up the slope toward the cave.

Life had been rough for Phobos, but not like this.

The first attack by the Montagne warrior and his soot brother had been unexpected, but survivable. They had not aimed to kill. He wished that he had just laid down and let them take what they wanted, that he had told Pepper to let them. He never should have bit the smaller boy. He had known that Viskani was their mother, and he knew she was willing to kill for her children. He knew that she had done it before.

He had never been so grateful for his own knowledge of herbalism. It had been the sole reason for his survival; having your body paralysed hips down made things rather difficult.

His trail washed away by the seasons wet snow falling, melting, and falling again, Phobos had dragged himself from the site of his attack and now sat in a cave where he lived about his days and begged to be found. The risk of howling was too high, for he knew well that Montage de Cigue had settled close by from their scents and calls carried by the wind.

He missed his husband. He was angry at himself for wandering, scared that @Pepper would feel abandoned.

He wanted to go home.

Any fear Marina might have felt at discovering the cave already occupied was quickly swept away. The wolf she found within was little more than ragged fur and bone, pitiful even at a glance. For a moment she considered leaving him there. Already she and Athens would struggle through the winter, even without knowing for sure whether her belly would swell with new life in the weeks to come. They hardly needed another burden.

For better or for worse, she'd never had it in her to be so cruel. Marina took another step into the cave, chuffing to announce herself. Her eyes never left the stranger.

The presence of a stranger was not necessarily welcome. It unsettled him, but he could not afford to be unkind. He did however give a warning growl; light, something that told them 'I can still bite'.

Front legs pushed up to the most standing he could manage, back legs splayed behind him in a manner that was rather disturbing. Where have you come from? Are you alone? His tone was firm, one of a wolf who could not take risks.

Her hackles lifted in response, but Marina stayed where she was and only studied the man. At first glance he seemed old, but she saw now that this wasn't true. He was only frail and badly injured.

I come from nowhere. I travel with a man, She answered easily, without inflection. I won't hurt you. Marina took a step closer, eyeing his hind legs. Do you need help? Even as she spoke the words, she cursed herself for inviting another burden. Surely she would regret it soon, if not already.

Taking a moment to check her scent for signs of Viskani or her subordinates, he relaxed after finding none of them lingering on her.

I need to go home. It was as simple as that. He was tired, more frail than he had been when Pepper met him. Away from here. That much, at the very least. He needed to be far away from the mountain.

Wary, he was unsure how much he should share. I have a husband. He's waiting for me in his pack on the coast. Or he thought he was dead. Phobos could not decide which was worse.

In his time of isolation, he thought much of death. He though much of Pepper. If he did make it home, would Pepper still love him now in his mangled state? If he did not, if he were to die here and rot away, would Pepper find someone new and replace him?

He missed his store of dried herbs, Pepper's pile of bones, the scent of the various flowers he would bring home before the snow.

Once he found death comforting. Maybe it was because he had not had another to live for.