Lone Star Mountain sankrasha

so long had the taiga and the sea dominated her thoughts that she almost fled to duskfire.
but in the utter cracking horror of druid's attack and the final flight, skaigona rejected entire the lands she had known. where would a stranger drag gideon?
she had finally let @Ezra run, and now slowed, legs shaking, as darkness swallowed a single mountain as mother and son climbed its lower slopes.
she would not let herself think of kikimora, oh, sweet child; skaigona kept her eyes dry with a pinch to the inside of her jawline.

It was farther afield than he usually went, but that pale body with its ginger dorsal stripe stuck out among the dull grays and browns of the mountain. He saw her on the edge of the Ridge and moved forward, curious.

Eventually, the two—no, three!—started to come together, inch by inch, step by step.

Hey, Hex called out, cocking his head. She seemed a bit disheveled, and she had a young kid with her. Everything okay? Can I help?

He stood still, lanky form like a dark shadow against the path ahead. He wasn't the best to look at, but he hoped his soft expression was inviting, at least.

surprise had stolen any protest or humiliation of being carried out of his throat as skaigona had snatched him up.

even when she puts him down, primordial rage and grief fuels him as he runs at her side; grateful but quiet when their pace slows. his legs ache and each step makes ezra aware of muscles he didn't know he had but he is glad for the slower pace.

questions swarm like bees in his mouth, stinging to escape his mouth. but he keeps them at bay.

a shadow kissed stranger calls out and ezra's chin rises; haughtily, hackles bristling. protective. but quiet. taking his cues from his mother who he watches from the corner of his eye.

skaigona scarcely had time to get her bearings before she and ezra were approached. for a fleeting, crazed moment, she thought it might have been amadeo.
but this man was younger, with a boyish voice which he used now to call out.
whirling with the force of what she'd done, who she'd left behind, bitterly aware that each step had followed in that of mother and mahler, skaigona's own hackles rose to life.
saliva glistened wetly as white teeth flashed their entire set to the stranger, a step forward grabbed from the land as she snarled loudly enough to ricochet from the stone.
her meaning was clear. skaigona glowered once more before she began to walk on, keeping thin body between her son and the unknown, her eyes fixed on the man as they moved past him. anyone could hurt them. anyone could be a shadow wanting to grab more from rivenwood. never. never.

Not only was her meaning clear, but it was savage enough that Hex wrongly read between the lines.

The anger, the glistening maw. . . Violence in those eyes.

A child, nearby—hers? Must be.

Could simply be a mother's protectiveness, but his first thought was, as always, the madness. The madness that had claimed his friends, his love. The madness that Akavir had spoken of.

The madness from which he sought to shield his new home.

He gave her a nod, the gesture a bit shaky, and immediately backed away. He'd linger long enough to watch the pair go on their way while still making sure they steered clear of the Ridge, and then he would return and report to his warriors.

He'd commit her face to memory—and hope that she and her child did not succumb to the force of nature that had taken so much from his own life.

for a wild moment, he does not recognize this version of his mother who does not chide him for hostility, who makes no attempt to greet the stranger. he reaction only solidifies ezra's belief that there was nothing wrong with how he'd reacted to the stranger.

he can recognize that the stranger had been amiable; friendly.

but he disregards it. tosses it aside where he will not regard it any further.

ezra watches with a low, satisfied snort as the stranger nods and retreats.

he capitulated. skaigona tasted her own power and it was a welling, vicious flavor.
ezra glowered at her side. like dinah, he would bear the burden of his mother's snarled emotions, and in this moment it was rage.
rage. hate.
madness.
anyone could hurt them. anyone could take ezra. never. never. 
they disappeared from sight.