Stone Circle and I know the love you showed me came

After retrieving the loch-dampened moss, she lingers obediently behind Gunnar, out of the way but close enough to act should he call on her. Her stomach churns with the severity of the wolf’s wounds and odorous ulcers suffocates the stale burrow air. With every impulse she resists the urge to bolt.

If he is bothered, Gunnar does well to hide it. He is set to work over the shivering patient, a warrior’s body with a fatherly touch. Time passes and eventually the agonized screams allay. She leans a little closer to look upon his face, only to realize he is just a boy.

She traces the lesions with her eyes and asks Gunnar, “What could have done this?”