Blacktail Deer Plateau sick love is my modern cliche

the den was warm and cozy, despite the fetid smell of sickness. god, he hoped the girl wouldn't catch it! there was no stopping her, he supposed. he hoped she had a good immune system. grayday had bounced back from his own dance with the disease rather quickly, so there was genetic hope, at least.

his ears cupped forward as he listened to her story, his mouth tightening at certain places. my mom got lost. quite different from what dawn had told him about grayday's last wife, but he wasn't surprised that easy didn't know the dirtier details. or perhaps she did, and was suppressing them. his lips moved into a smile as she described her passions, seeing so much of himself at that age in her.

except easy had structure, a family to love and look after. what had aditya had at seven moons? nothing save wanderlust, an urge to keep moving.

"you'll make a good ranger," he said hoarsely, nodding as she finished. "god knows it's a big world; we need good scouts to map it. especially if we move again, which your father has mentioned before." he pondered her question for a long moment, eyes growing blank as he thought back through the many years. so many experiences, yet they all seemed to muddle together like leaves in the fall, colors upon colors. vivid and drab all together.

"i was a few moons younger than you are now," aditya murmured, his voice quiet even in the silence of the den. "my mother. . .got lost, too, and my uncle looked after me for a while, but then he left. . .so i was alone." he shrugged, even that tiny movement causing him to wince with pain. his head felt like it was splitting apart. "aggh. i got bored with the den we were staying in, so one day i walked out and away, and didn't go back.

"i wandered up and down the sea for years, staying with bands of wolves for short periods of time, making a lot of friends and getting into trouble. i was a wanderer, then. . .i wasn't a ranger or a scout, really, until i came here."