Horizon Ridge pride comes before the fall

In the days and nights following her accident, Dublin kept Pied heavily medicated. She slept nearly constantly, suspended in a perpetual, timeless twilight. During her sparse conscious moments, she was in so much pain, she could hardly move. Both Dublin and Kisu brought her food and water, yet she could barely get any of it down. She was in a bad way and, though the would-be medic was taking excellent care of her, the piebald yearling wasn't out of the woods yet. There was still a chance she wouldn't live to see her second birthday next month.

Though there was nothing much he could do but keep her warm, Kisu kept vigil at her side, leaving only to fetch food and water. It was during one of his forays away from the lair that Akhlut dropped by to visit his invalid subordinate. Pied was beginning to surface from a long spell of sleep when he paused outside her door. She grimaced as she became aware of the pain, her mouth opening and closing and her tongue sticking to the roof of her mouth. She was desperately thirsty.

The Alpha's muttered apology made her eyes open ever so slowly. Pied couldn't lift her head—she was too weak and it was just too painful—but she was able to move her mouth and rasp through dry lips, "Akhlut...? Is that you?" Was it really him, standing outside her doorway and apologizing? It made Pied think of the conversation between herself and Kisu the night before the attack. She winced slightly. "Come in..."