Bearclaw Valley gardenia and king protea

The quiet was unsettling. He'd been hoping against hope that Merrick had asked both of them about their abilities like that, and it set a stone into the pit of Evien's gut when Fields said no, and nothing else. Stifling silence followed, and Evien looked away - had he said something wrong? Why had Merrick asked Evien that to begin with?

"Maybe he doesn't expect you to," he reassured, reaching out his paw to press against the side of Fields' - a bit of blood still oozed from the top of his hand, crusted with poultice. Blood and rosehips. Part of him knew that Merrick probably expected all of them to be able to kill at some point or another, and Evien wondered if he'd be able. "I get the feeling I'm going to disappoint him when he finds out I probably won't be able to." A small smile, then, trying to maintain some of the lighthearted feeling from before. Anything to erase the silence. "Don't tell him that, though."