Herbalists' Cache This Land

@Dante - others also welcome

Emptiness had bored its way into Taikon. His heart felt as though it had been removed and replaced with dirt. He couldn't feel anything the way that he used to. All he felt was occasional heat, a temperature change that signalled either fury or lust. Neither were things he much cared for.
The white wolf had long been avoiding the pathways that he had once walked with her. The body of the blue-eyed healer had been found not far from where his paws squished against the wet earth. The squelching of mud between his toes was hardly pleasant, but he did not care. He recalled her voice, and wished hard that Aphrodite might join him at his side once more.
A deep part of him wanted to cry. The raindrops slid down his cheeks, which satisfied this need somewhat. Why had she walked into his life only to walk back out of it again? Nothing made any sense. Not the newcomers at Whitebark, not Donovan or his army, and certainly not Taikon himself being part of a pack. He had to remind himself constantly that he stayed for Juniper. He stayed to defend against the threat that would surely rise from the Saints.
He wanted to scream. Instead, he merely continued walking through the rain, his legs stained with mud and other muck from the forest floor.