Serpent Lake I'm sorry, I didn't mean any of it; I just got too lonely, lonely woah

Darkness fell like black smoke settling over the wilds. He didn't slow his flight even as the shadows grew longer and more threatening, even as he ceased to recognize his surroundings under cover of night. He knew it should be familiar; he'd passed through only days ago. But the land wore a stranger's face in the moonlight, and he was frightened.

When the moon was high, he finally halted to call out for Kemal. But in the next instant, his luck turned. A faint rustling by his feet was the only warning he received before a white-hot pinprick of pain lanced through one hind leg. Snake. In an instant he lashed out, catching it by the skull and dispatching it with a sickening crunch. He dropped the limp body and twisted to inspect his leg, cursing to himself. The world seemed determined to off him one way or another, he couldn't help but think.

Kemal was not one to betray a promise of loyalty so quickly. At Panacea's howl he moved with haste, though even being at the north end of the pass it took him some time to arrive.

Slowing to a trot when he spotted the wolf alone, Kemal barked his greeting. He was grateful to see that Panacea was in relatively good condition.

What has happened? He asks, stepping forward to inspect the smaller wolf. He can't smell any strangers on him, but he reeks of fear. What could have spooked him so badly?

His tongue swiped over the tiny wounds a few times, but he didn't taste any venom mixed with the blood. That was a relief, at least.

Panacea flinched at the sound of a bark — but it was only Kemal. Exactly who he'd hoped to see. He lifted his head to greet the leader. Kemal, he began, then hesitated, unsure exactly how to put it. There was - I met a woman who seemed like she knew you. But she was pretty unhinged? She had a snake... Panacea grimaced. And then she started getting hysterical. So, I figured that was my cue to fuck off.

Kemal's expression was unreadable as ever while he listened, but his mind was anything but calm.

It wasn't the fact that she apparently knew him or the snake, but rather calling the woman hysterical that forced Kemal to question if another wayward relative had come to find them. He pushed out a breath that only the most exhausted of men could manage. What was mama doing all the way out here?

You made the right choice, Panacea. You go home, rest. He would investigate the woman at the mesa himself. Have someone look at that bite. He grimaced down at the perpetrator, a dead snake, and kicked it aside.

He hesitated, blue eyes lingering on Kemal with concern written into his expression. Are you - you're not going to the mesa alone, right? Panacea couldn't quite keep the tinge of anxiety out of his voice. He couldn't just leave his leader to face a potential threat alone.

And something had been off about that woman. Something that lingered at the back of his thoughts but refused to materialize, shrouded in bone-deep dread. To name another's madness was an arrogance he'd sworn off long ago. But this felt... different. It felt like danger in ways he didn't yet understand.

Kemal felt himself sigh before he could stop it. I cannot leave her there. Not if it was his mother. If she is sick, I will be able to fight her off. I don't think I will need to, though.

He appreciated that Panacea's loyalty seemed to have come so quickly, but it was for that Kemal was so determined to have him rest. You are still injured. It was wrong of me to send you here. He had to frown. A wrong decision had been made, and it ached to know that he so quickly could have broken his promise of safety.

One ill woman would not stop the move into the mesa. This would be done, it had to be.

I can manage, he insisted quietly, taking a tentative step forward. Kemal had given him a place in the pack, trusted him with a task when most would see only a burden. Panacea wouldn't let that go unacknowledged. Besides — You shouldn't be alone.

It was as simple as that, really. Pack meant that none of them had to be alone, but most of all the one who led them. That was the whole point. That was why thieves banded together in the dark — so they didn't have to be alone.

Kemal didn't fight further. If Panacea wished to follow, he would allow it this time.

The walk to the mesa was quiet, Kemal focused on the land ahead. He struggled to decipher his own feelings; did he want it to be his mother? Would it be better if it were a stranger? She hadn't done anything to help him after his wife was murdered, and he knew well that it was her who Cinar had spoken to prior. He decided then, that he would not take her.

Yet, none of it mattered when he saw her. His mother, his mama, so weak and in need of his care. His heart ached, and in an instant he had left Panacea's side to meet her where she lay so limp. "Mama, unyanmak, mama.."

The eyes he had stared into for so many days fluttered open staring back at him. "Manda, beni kurtarmaya geldin." She spoke with a smile that Kemal had never been able to decipher in all of his months next to her.

He was quiet for some time before finally looking at Panacea once more. Let's go home.

Mama would go with him, and he would find her the best care the Teekons could offer.

The walk to the mesa was long and frightful, made longer by the ache in his shoulder and the sting in his leg. Panacea couldn't seem to stifle his racing thoughts. It was obvious that Kemal knew the woman at the mesa, but what did that mean?

He wasn't left wondering for long, at least. He stood back when Kemal moved to greet the woman, ears slicking back against his skull. At Kemal's words — let's go home — he could only manage a shuddering sigh. Panacea didn't think he understood any of what had just happened. He wasn't sure he wanted to.

After a moment he fell into step beside Kemal, keeping a careful distance. It was going to be a very long walk back.