Ankyra Sound There are times that walk from you like some passing afternoon

Ephraim laid there for what felt like a long time, crying at first and then sniffling and finally lapsing into stunned silence. Half of him buzzed with adrenaline and the desire to get up and run as far and as fast as he could to save himself from his sister. The other half of him was numb and lackadaisical, with hardly enough energy or willpower to blink, let alone flee. Torn between these halves of himself, Ephraim laid on the beach in sullen, miserable silence, heart racing but muscles too weak to cooperate. His pale eyes found the sea and dove into their depths, quieting both his thoughts and his focus on anything else.

He nearly jumped out of his skin when Raleska's voice sounded behind him, not with the sharp whip-crack of a demand or a threat, but a defeated kind of melancholy. All along his back his fur stood up, then slowly drifted back down, and his watery champagne eyes were blown wide when they landed on her. I don't know, he croaked. Realizing this was not a satisfactory answer, the little coywolf swallowed thickly, summoning his courage alongside the deeply rooted fear that Caiaphas' condition had roused.

This was his only chance to make Raleska believe that what he'd done was necessary and not cruel.

It was like she was already gone, he implored. I don't know why I came here. But I found her there, in the caves, and... she was so sick. What he didn't realize was the more he attempted to paint a picture of Caiaphas' affliction to absolve himself, the more he condemned Raleska. Only in her own mind, but nevertheless, the more detail he shared, the worse it became. Her back legs weren't even working right and she wouldn't speak, she was just making this awful gurgling noise and clacking her teeth and there was foam coming out of her mouth and her eyes looked all wrong.

The tears were flowing again and he felt his hackles lifted along his back, almost as if Caiaphas' specter was facing him again, and that impenetrable fear was returning. She smelled like death, he moaned, I wanted to help her, to save her even if... even though she hates me... but... she was already gone. I just... ended it faster. You murdered her. I didn't want her to suffer more, he choked, though in reality, it was largely fear that drove him to do what he did.

Fear... but there was a son's love for his long lost mother there, or else he would simply have fled.