Two Eyes Cenote baby you belong

They brought her elsewhere, deeper into the labyrinth. She did not limp so much as she wobbled on the way, although her paws, now that they had been rinse and were slowly drying, began to pain her anew. She climbed awkwardly onto the slab and stood there with her claws digging into the stone as if the floor were a thousand feet away — but she laid down, haltingly, and did her best to hold still while her paws were examined. She could not help the knee jerk reaction and yanked her paws away at the first touch, but then she would remember herself, and murmur and apology, and only flinch a little the next time.

Tears leaked down her face to pool where her cheek was pressed against the stone. She did not notice them. She stared moon-eyed into Tavina's face, and then into the middle distance when her hind paws were seen to. Before long, each touch was painful, but so painfully tender, too.

"Thank you," she said when she heard she would not have to be alone. "Thank you, Miss Tavina, Eset, ma'am — " she babbled another word or two, and then, abruptly, was weeping once more. She would be consoled only in sleep, and come morning, would remember nothing past reaching the room in which she awoke.