Blacktail Deer Plateau mother, do you think they'll drop the bomb?

he flinched slightly as dawn pressed her nose to his forehead; it was so cold, compared to the wild, terrible heat rolling through his body. steam--whether real or imagined, he didn't know--rose from him like a clouded, sickly aura, hanging above his head like a harbinger of doom.

dawn's words barely made it through his stupor, and despite everything, he managed the faintest of smiles. "shouldn't call. . .a dying man 'idiot.' bad. . .karma," he whispered, gummy eyes lifting to meet hers. "what if. . .that's the. . .last thing i hear--" this sentiment was broken off as aditya lowered his head suddenly, chest heaving in a horrendous cough. it hurt his throat to do it, but he felt as if he'd explode if he didn't.

another fevered haze fell over him, and his mother's words slowly became incomprehensible, just quiet murmurings close to his head. aditya felt at peace in this small place; he felt as if he was back in his own whelping den, curled up against his mother's warm belly, so full of milk his eyelids drooped.

"main ghar par hoon," he muttered, a contented smile oozing over his face once more. he felt sleep tugging at his limbs, summoning him back into its depths, and--just as it was as a young pup--his eyelids drooped.