it's burning through the bloodline

*derps*

What she spoke of almost seemed to have happened a long time ago to Mordecai. Perhaps that was the culmination of so many other events since, or maybe because he had subconsciously pushed it far to the back of his mind. Still, he grasped ahold of the faint tendrils of worry in her voice, finding the relief that rushed from them down beneath. Whatever had happened in her past was a mystery to him; he found her worry worrisome in itself. Yet perhaps he would not blame her, as in time he would learn that what had happened to the wide expanse of wilderness was far worse than simply just a fire.

"It has been a hard summer," he commented dryly, agreeing wholly with her statement. "But, for the most part we're all still here." The tinge of fire in his lungs from the smoke was long behind him now, and the everpresent roughness in his voice remained. Things could have been much worse, but he did not dwell upon those here. Stepping closer to her, he reached out to nudge her shoulder gently. "See? Still here. Guess it's gonna take more than a fire to put little ol' me down. We only lost part of the forest, up near the mountains."