Turn back the clock

The morning was never any different than other times of the day. The only variation was the breeze, versus the warmth of midday or the chill of the night. In the den that she had been sharing with the injured woman, Dawa was constantly warm. It was pleasant indeed, but this warmth further warped her sense of time. Every few hours she had been rousing herself to wander away from the sleeping woman - she would eat from a small cache that Zombie dutifully stocked for her, or take a pee break, and sometimes return with a bundle of herbs for when Velox woke. On this morning she was awake a little later than usual - and when she roused to her paws, when she hobbled out in to the morning air, Dawa realized that she could not hear the other woman. There was no breath, no warmth. It was the first time she had effectively felt a sense of panic which gripped at her heart.

Had her charge passed away in the night?

Dawa did not linger long outside of the den, and instead began to root around - blundering in her motions, jerky and awkward, uncaring if she should graze the stranger with her nose or her paws during the search. Dawa could feel as much pain as was necessary if it meant she could find the body - but she couldn't. There was an empty void where Velox had been resting, which served to cool Dawa's rising distress.

She followed the curve of the wall in order to orient herself, and then departed again. A few staggering steps later (as she was very sleepy still), she nearly walked in to the resting figure of the woman. Dawa huffed softly as a biting pain shot through her shoulder, which had touched something, and she adjusted herself so that there was a small gap between them.

"Miss?" Dawa cooed in her flat voice, but judging by the ragged quality of her breathing pattern, the girl's heart was fluttering manically. "Miss is that you?"