Sun Mote Copse worry never dies

When Towhee finally found her older brother, she stopped and gaped at him. Her orange eyes traced from his drawn and sunken face, down the ladder of his visible ribs, to his limp tail dangling like a crusty old bottle brush. He looked terrible. How had she not noticed his condition before, when he'd been helping Sugar tend her? Had he looked half as awful then as he did now? Was he dying? Towhee knew he'd been struggling a lot with Wildfire's death even still, though she hadn't realized just how bad he'd really gotten.

She discarded the idea of a training session entirely. Even at a glance, she could see he was much too weak. Before she could approach such a physical exercise with him, he needed to eat. And she didn't mean just one meal. It looked like Eljay could use several weeks' of square meals. Towhee swallowed as she found herself wondering whether he would survive the coming winter. She thought of Finley and her heart squeezed. The honest truth was it wouldn't be much of a personal loss to Towhee but she knew it would devastate her godmother.

"Eljay," she finally called out to him, not entirely sure how to approach him. She'd never had much time for him, though he'd helped her get better, plus she genuinely felt bad for him. Towhee moved slowly, drifting in his direction. "I've been looking for you," she said lamely, scrutinizing him more carefully now that they were up close. Damn it, Eljay, Towhee caught herself thinking unkindly, wondering how he could let himself get like this. But her face gave none of that away, in fact, there was a decidedly pitying look carved into her dark facial features.