Mount Apikuni I went through hell to get to high water

The ugliness rears up within him, wrapping sour tendrils around him and tightening its grip as Taikon speaks further. He feels cold and unwelcome suddenly; an intruder here, out of place in the warmth between them. Suddenly he doesn't want to be anywhere near either of them.
So he shuts down.
He helps Taikon move the woman in silence, eyes distant. All the while he detaches himself, snipping the little strings of whatever budding connection had been here, burning the ends so they won't grow back without his permission. There is nothing for him here. Whatever kindness he'd been shown had been fleeting, a fluke — and now it is only a business transaction. I have experience with head injuries, He says numbly after a time, not looking at either of them. She hasn't thrown up or started shaking. She'll be okay. All we can do is wait.
And with that, he settles by her head, starting to groom the blood from her fur without thinking. The way he'd groomed Alessia, right before she died in his arms.