Dragoncrest Cliffs I bet I could throw a football over them mountains.

Everything tasted like his own blood. He’d lost weight. Each time he ate, he had to debate whether opening the wound on his tongue was worth it. Improvement was there, but minimal. 

The bite on his shoulder had mostly scabbed over. He hadn’t realized just how bad his shape was until the next day. His moving consisted of walking to and from water. He was stiff, swollen, and broken. Each breath was fought for, his entire body recoiling. 

He’d made sure Phobos wasn’t wasting all of his time on him, often having to get aggressive with the wolf to shoe him out. As aggressive as he could get. Which, with Phobos, wasn’t very. 

He told him he’d be fine, but the reality was that he might not be, and if it meant living through much longer of this, he didn’t want to be. 

The fight wasn’t bad. A few years back he would’ve been back on his feet in a day or two at most. That was the hardest part of all of this.

Despite the other's consistent demands to be left alone, Phobos couldn't seem to manage the task that seemed so small. He loved him too much.

His own wounds were struggling to heal and he had been quite sore, but it was the fault of his illness. Any other wolf would have been fine, but living with such an ailment for so long he had grown to be tolerant of such pains.

Now he returned to the den shared by the pair with a new bundle of various herbs, his next cocktail in the attempts to cure Pepper's pains. Tail waving low and head bowed, he could only hope that he wouldn't be shooed away this time.

It was not often that Phobos cared for other's so deeply or took the time to listen to their demands. If it was anyone but Pepper, complaints would have been ignored - he would have been treated whether he liked it or not.

He was beginning to wonder if he should return to such a strategy.

Pepper eyed the wolf as he entered, and as much as he wanted to appear aggravated, he couldn't. Not to him. His features softened and he exhaled. Phobos was carrying something that smelled strong, made his empty stomach turn. 

He didn't look too great, either. The wounds weren't all that terrible, but they weren't improving. Probably because he wasn't resting like he needed to. Probably because he was out looking for medicine. 

"You need to let it heal," he said, eyes moving up from the plants.

He stared back, appearing disappointed with the other. Placing the bundle of leaves and berries on the ground, he spoke. "What do you think I'm doing?" Picking up the small branch of familiar berries, he moved to lay next to the other.

"I brought more - for you." He looked up to the other, a frown pasted on his face.

He was worried, painfully so, to the extent that it angered him when Pepper would not allow him to care for him.

It reminded him of Jackson behaving similarly after a fight. Constantly trying to make him better, despite Pepper's requests. He felt a lump form briefly in his throat before swallowing it down. 

"I'm sorry. Thank you," he said, looking at the clutch of berries. 

"But you should be restin'."

"I can rest when I know you're feeling better." He insisted, shaking his head. This was the least he could do; in truth Phobos wished to follow the attackers home, to poison their mother and destroy their settlement. Pepper's poor health was the only thing keeping him here.

Placing his head on his paws, he let out a breath. He was quite tired. His paws ached and his bones were beginning to creak and pop, his muscles begging him to stop even momentarily.

He didn’t know how long that’d be. Broken bones took a long time, and his best guess led him to believe he had a few. 

He had a feeling even after healing, not much would change. 

He hadn’t been feeling well enough to address the situation properly, but Phobos was here now, and he was awake enough. 

”Ain’t never been attacked like that for no reason. And I sure as hell’ve never seen those wolves. Do you know them?” 

It’s all he could figure.

Phobos stayed silent for a short moment after the question was asked. Pepper deserved to know, he owed him that much, but he knew that he could not confess the whole truth. "They're wolves from my birth pack. It's quite the ways away, so I suppose some of them have come to settle here."

Ears dropping and claws digging into the dirt, he glared at the empty space in front of him. "You shouldn't have been involved. You didn't deserve that." He said through gritted teeth. 

He only wished that he had told Pepper to stay in the den that day, but he knew that would not have been fair. If Pepper had not been with him he was sure he would be dead. Wolves of the mountain did not believe in mercy towards men like him.

The thought occurred to him that there might be more, then. He didn’t know much about where Phobos came from, definitely not enough to speculate something like that accurately. 

He wondered what they wanted with him. Wondered why they attacked on site. Wondered if Phobos wasn’t telling him something. 

And then he felt bad for thinking that. 

”Don’t matter. Glad I was there,” he said, though he didn’t really do much to stop the attackers. Aside from maybe tiring out the big one by giving him something to chew on first. 

”Any idea why they woulda come at you like that?” 

The question sounded like nothing more than that, but Pepper wanted to study the wolf when he answered. Had he given them bad medicine? Something worse? 

He pushed the thought away. This was Phobos. But still.

Silence fell over the pair as Phobos considered his response. Pepper did not need to know of his crimes, and he would not allow him to find out.

It would only hurt him. Them.

So, he settled on what was closest to the truth. "I had a patient pass away. They had been ill for quite some time - I did what I could." He shook his head with a gentle frown.

"They used it as reason to chase me off - they hadn't wanted me for some time though. Since they realized was weak."

It was not a complete lie, but it certainly was not the truth.

He wondered. The story seemed to fit, but there could be more. The thought of the young wolf Phobos had slyly poisoned a while back kept pushing through. But Pepper chose to believe him. Pepper had also done awful things to others, but it wasn't who he was now. And he didn't believe it was who Phobos was now, either, regardless of whether or not the story held true. 

"Well, if they're around, I don't want you goin' out alone. Get Val to go with ya, if ya gotta."

He let out a gentle sigh, partially out of relief. "If it'll make you feel better, sure." His words were gentle, bumping his head against the larger's shoulder.

"Just try to get better - that's all I ask." He allowed his eyes to shut. Pepper was right, he did need to rest.