Hushed Willows You are the reason.

In the days since their arrival, Dacio slept - though not soundly. Although thankful for their aid, for @Olive's gentle care and the time she spent tending to his wounds, he felt vulnerable among Elysium's willows. The territory itself was well protected from attack, though he feared their generosity toward outsiders left them practically begging to be taken advantage of.

They would suffer, he was sure. Should Rusalka choose to have the forest for itself, they could easily slay each and every one of these peacekeepers and take it for themselves - he believed Blackhead and her kin more than capable of such.

He rested beneath the sweeping branches of a pale weeping willow, inspecting the wounds made by Raleska's beastly bodyguard on his hip and finding himself satisfied by the way his flesh had knitted together. The muscles beneath still ached but Dacio was glad to have escaped infection.

Dakota was gone, as was her mother. What he felt far more personally, however, was the lack of Dorea that followed suit.

Unable to locate his young friend, Sundance made to retrn to his mothers - carrying with him the overwhelming weight of his sorrow. He had experienced overwhelming loss in his young lifetime. Losing his third parent had been an adjustment, but with his demise came finality. Uncle Cortez had taken his leave, departing with warmth and love. This time, however, things were different.

She had simply vanished, like her family before her, and Sundance couldnt help but wonder if it was all his fault. Had he not been welcoming enough? Did she change her mind, decide she didn't like him anymore? The boy pressed on through the weeping trees, tail low in defeat and with a smooth little pebble held gently between his teeth.

When first he saw the ashen-pelted stranger laying below a willow's branches, he felt... afraid, almost. He was a giant of a wolf in comparison to all the adult males he'd known in his family, lacking the slender and long-legged frame of both Ariel and Cortez. His hide was marred in places, and Sundance stared curiously at the sores but could not find the courage to venture closer.

He pressed his nose to the knotted, toughened flesh of his thigh, testing the sensitivity there. It still stung to touch, nothing he couldn't handle, and indicated that he would still need some time to recover.

Time that was very valuable, shoold he choose to see his plan through.

Pink tongue slipped from between his lips in a yawn, and he swept it over his whiskers as he recoiled and settled once more on his belly, shifting his weight to outstretch his forelimbs. Dacio moved his head, prepared to settle his chin on an elbow, but his grey-green gaze found the pale eyes of another who looked his way.

The boy was skinny, made of soft dove hues and with an untrained frame, and Dacio took a moment to study this rangy cub from where he lay. "Hei," he called out in his mother tongue, "what's that you've got?"

The adult lifted his charcoal-tipped crown, fixing Sundance with a firm stare. He crouched a little, immediately threatened by the searching of cold jade eyes, and his feathered tail curled submissively about an alabaster hind limb. 

He spoke to him, offered some sort of greeting, but made no move to rise and approach. Sundance was grateful for the distance; somehow, he felt he should prepare to flee if the need arose. A question followed and the young Shakti blinked, not particularly wanting to show Dorea's gift to anyone for fear that they might take it from him.

Still, it wasn't in his nature to be rude, so he lowered the smooth little pebble carefully to settle it on the ground beneath his pallid paws for the newcomer to see, and kept a watchful eye on it.

The kid shrunk a little, lowering his posture accordingly. Dacio was reminded of himself at that age, when he'd been faced with Artaax on the verge of a rampage. The pale one had never much liked him, despite his eagerness to learn and fit in. The Wocha and Fisa's offspring had been under scrutiny since birth, he'd later learned, after the tremendous failure that was their first litter. Dacio and Opalia had far surpassed anyone's expectations.

He didn't say anything, instead ducking to place the object he carried on the ground. Dacio followed his movements with sharp eyes, grey-green gaze lingering on the smooth edges of the rounded pebble with curiosity. A long time ago, he collected random things and carried them around with him too. He lifted his stare again, finding the juvenile's pale blue gaze, and frowned thoughtfully. "Did you find it?"

Their eyes met, but only briefly. Sundance was swift to turn his face away, to turn his gaze elsewhere, and he held his breath with the fear of being reprimanded for such insubordination. This new guy, with all his cuts and scars, with his intimidating size, was easy to be afraid of.

In response to his question, the boy simply shook his head. No, he had not found this delicate little pebble, but it was precious to him in other ways. Sundance hadn't been asked to elaborate and so maintained his timid quiet, hoping silently that the scrutiny would end soon.