Fox's Glade why, why, why? to help my family?

Helplessness came in waves for Svalinn— who refused to leave his mother's tattered side unattended until, finally, he couldn't stand the hungry ache in his belly any longer. Still a boy in many ways, no matter how bad she looked, or smelled, he had yet to fathom the possibility of her death. He could only think about so many things at a time, and for now his head was full of just two things:

Make her well.

Keep any more harm from coming to her.

He was tending to the first thing, returning with a half-crushed marmot dangling buoyantly from his teeth, when he belatedly realized that he had forsaken the second thing and left her vulnerable.

Dropping the rodent, and completely missing the other potential threat in the vicinity, Svalinn lunged viciously for the smoky she-wolf cornering Caiaphas, with every intent on shaking the life out of the transgressor if he caught her.