Duskfire Glacier Illusions of the sunlight.

Apologies if this becomes a thread of great introspection.

Malachi remained without a word. In his periphery Njal paced back and forth, but the man's thoughts evaded the youth, and the constant pacing made the young leader shift from paw to paw.

In truth, the youth thought often of his position here now that Njal had returned to them. At first, Malachi had felt justified in his decision to assume the position of Alpha, to stop the pack from crumbling, as a service to what Njal and Tuwawi had done for him - for them. He'd had full intention of surrendering the rank once their rightful leaders returned, and yet, something stopped him now. Njal was back... but he was not the same. The lynx attack, the loss of his family - the man returned changed, understandably so, but the change made Malachi second think his initial plan. The rank he filled felt too big for him, and he wanted to roll belly up before Njal and surrender everything back, but... he just couldn't bring himself to do that. At least, not yet.

But Malachi voiced none of these thoughts, and knew nothing of Njal's enmity against him. He turned a sideways glance at the man and felt a prickle of apprehension at the way the man simply stared, as if the world around him ceased to exist. Malachi gave no attempt to break the man's gaze, fearful of his intensity, and finding nothing appropriate in this moment but silence - if even that. He wished to slink away, back into the forest and far from Njal, but Malachi knew no discreet way to disappear, and so he remained frozen in place and stuck in a rut of prickling discomfort and a confusing desire to help.