The Heartwood [m] In what appears to be a ritual "Godspeak" song of the Rieklings

He wondered what she'd been going through when she'd started smashing her head against the tree, and it frightened him to find himself wondering why hadn't I thought of that? Obviously, though, it hadn't fixed her problems, it'd just given her a bunch of scrapes to her crown, and had likely hurt quite a lot. Something like that...It didn't fix anything. But what did seem to help, was simply being held, and it worked for the both of them. 

Maybe it was because they were strangers, and neither was holding the other out of pity. Neither knew why the other one hurt, but he felt both validated for all of his horrible feelings when he held her close, and groomed her head. His gaze softened when he realized she was cleaning her own blood off him as well; not that he minded that she'd made him bloody. He could forgive her for that in a heartbeat. 

"Mkay," He said, and wrapped a foreleg across her shoulders as she leaned into his neck. He heaved a sigh. 

Nothing had felt this good, not since before everything had gone wrong. And while he knew his mother would fret and stress when she didn't see him come home at his curfew...It was worth it, having found someone that made the bad feelings go away.