Noctisardor Bypass ást

Lethargic. Convulsing. Her movements reminded Everett of how he’d thought he might become after eating the mushroom dust the night after turning his teeth against Evander. Thoughts that had paralyzed him upon that sacred hilltop where they had told him heaven would meet earth, and he would begin to fulfill the prophesy Mother Rain had spoken over him at birth. And heaven had met earth, but in every way he hadn’t expected.

Everett had not touched the mushrooms at his paws.

He wondered, if this one had. Though he could not see her eyes, he saw her tilt her head towards him. Gazing upward, sunward, though she herself stayed in shadow. And a pang of something angry stung him.

Are you okay? he called down to her. Voice deep and soft, and as controlled as he could be. Not demanding her to rise, not demanding anything of her, but to know that she was okay.

Okay.

He had never been, but if only someone other than Evander had ever cared to ask.