Ouroboros Spine nagligigaa

she studied him. rolling. kicking. his lacerations looked as though he had been held by thick brambles. kukutux could not imagine the sort of beast that might leave such injuries. she had smelled them, once, with arcturus. and she had seen the way that grandfather bear could steal life from any creature.

but this was a different thing. 

moonwoman looked at him, and saw that despite his age, he was a boy, and a boy's disappointed pain filled his copperhue eyes. she could not speak to feeling he must have in his heart, to have lost his battle and be here under a woman's care. she would treat him with the respect she gave to any hunter. "now when you walk, they will say, look. he is a man who has fought the great thorns. he must be respected." hoping to buoy him for a moment, before the healer turned away to grasp wet moss and cold dirt from just outside the denmouth.