Blacktail Deer Plateau Social Casualty

Perhaps xD angst angst angst

He remained in utter neutrality, but his gaze hardened with an icy flare. When did he say he had thought her dead? Not for him to see again, but never dead. Thinking she had found somewhere better than Duskfire had been a way to relieve himself of the guilt of what he'd done. The thought certaintly softened the truth, but at least he could let the firmness in his voice sound in honest now. "I never doubted you both survived."

And what did she think, that he spent every minute thinking about her? Worrying over Miss Scarlett? His heart twisted, but he resisted the memory that he had worried for her, wondered for her future, waited until he saw her clear Duskfire before he left himself. Did she think she was the only one who lost something that day? She had Adlartok, and now a mate, and with that a pack. And what did she ever have at Duskfire? Nothing compared to what she had now. She had spurned his help, and he didn't doubt she'd forgotten him the moment they'd parted ways, though he'd taken a share in her fate that day. Ostracized from her and the pack that he had helped found from the start, losing everything, while she hadn't truly lost anything at all. The only difference was that he deserved it, but still her outburst stung, and as deeply as it hurt, he resisted giving her the knowledge that he had let his heart remain anxious for her long after they had parted ways, for Malachi knew it would do him no good. Scarlett was clearly vexed, and even if he had been graced with a tongue as smooth as a river eel, he didn't think any words could lessen the bitterness she held against him.

It might have been more pleasant for them both if she'd chosen somewhere else to go, but his heart stung at the thought, and he did not let it pass from his mind. Though seeing her now relieved him in a strange way, Malachi didn't know what more she wanted of him except to hash over the mistakes he'd tried to lay to rest, and he began to regret ever heeding her voice. "I'm sure Blue Willow will be along," he said. He considered asking her where she lived now, when she was due, how Adlartok was faring, but he held his tongue (he "wasn't interested" in her, after all). But that wasn't true, and words fell from his lips anyway, unprepared, for once, and as graceless as this reunion was. "Congratulations. On your pregnancy," he shifted on his paws in that awkward way that always seemed to plague them, then continued, "You were always good with them... children, I mean..."