Lost Creek Hollow no harm no foul, i guess

An ear fanned to the side demurely; it would have seemed he was on everyone's topic list. Of course that should have been expected, given the nature that had led him to needing time to heal among other things. A cougar attack was no light thing and had it been anyone else, he would have felt the same as they did. But with himself, with the sudden turn of spotlight cast upon him he found himself wishing he could simply shy away and play outlier. But that was hardly the approach to have to it, he had reasoned minutely, subconsciously.

"Thank you," he murmured as Ilya nudged the fish to him; he reached to pull it all the way to himself and left it to rest on the cold earth. In truth, he had eaten, but that didn't mean he wouldn't eat that too. There was only so much foraging he did for himself with a bum and healing shoulder, and it would save Harlyn the trouble of tracking down something later regardless of whether or not he wanted her to. No doubt in his mind, she would aggravate him when she decided his wounds needed tending to, so the fish would serve him well then to gnaw on.

"And I am doing better," he went on to say, gaze shifting back to her. "At least better than I suppose I was after meeting that cougar. I'm healing, anyway." Though he could not see his own wounds, he presumed they were healing well. Perhaps not right down to perfect given that it was slow progress and the season was far too late for fresh healing stock, but they were nowhere near as raw as they had been in the first day following the attack. Infection had not set in and had been kept at bay, though also hardly because of his attention to them; he couldn't have tended to them if he had wanted to.

"What about you, though? I hope the strain of picking up my slack hasn't dampened your spirits." Faint humor etched the latter of his statement, though he was curious whether or not Ilya had been at hand to aid his co-leaders. He imagined she had, but he knew little now of what his subordinates were up to from the sidelines.