Swiftcurrent Creek Beasts of Burden

Tuwawi's approach evoked in her something she hadn't felt for a long time: compassion. It had been her trait as a child, the one thing that set her apart from her ruthless sister, her aloof brother, and the other brother, the paranormal one who had lost his sanity too early. She had felt intense guilt when she asserted herself, and shared a deep empathy with her age mates. It had been Jinx, the compassionate Kesuk, who had commanded the Adepts of the pack. That compassion had since been lost, but she felt it now.

It was a strange thing. She had lost more than she ever expected to lose with the abortion of her cubs. She had never planned to care for them, or think twice that their lives might be worth living. In short, she had known they would die, had accepted it... But nonetheless had been deeply afflicted by it. Tuwawi's approach was able to soothe the volatility in her and compel her to socialize. They might not have had the greatest impressions of one another at first, but that wasn't to say Jinx didn't respect the red-furred woman.

The fish was ignored, at least for now. She hadn't had any appetite since the cougar attack, evidenced in the weight she had lost already. Instead, she began to crawl forward herself, mimicking Tuwawi even as the woman said her name, until she was unbearably close to the other woman... And then, seeking something she could not name, she pushed her snout into her visitor's cheek, meeting the others gaze quite uninvinted with a strange uncertainty and loss in her own eyes.