Bonesplinter Ravine his betrayal is overwhelming

a frown etches itself onto wintersbane's muzzle as the boy pleads for something ...or perhaps someone — he might not be entirely lucid, it occurs to the tundrian — to come back, followed quickly by an apology. yellow eyes stare at him with a complete lack of anything and for a moment it's entirely disturbing. there should be something: pain, fear, hope ...anything would be better than the blank stare that makes wintersbane feel like he's staring into the eyes of death. maybe he is. but there is reaction to the words he utters in tundrian: a flick of a mud-caked ear in acknowledgement. it's a small movement but it is all the encouragement that the warrior needs. another pitiful whine follows, with a long sigh from the boy afterwords.

"tiedän. i know." wintersbane replies, translating the tundrian in the same breath. meant to be an encouragement and a affirmation that he'll see it done. wintersbane knows what it's like to be lost and he knows what it's like to be taken from everything you knew and loved. the stranger that had kidnapped him and later abandoned him near blackfeather woods hadn't returned him home ...but wintersbane was not that stranger. he would see the boy home. but the boy was not well. he would need some care before that journey could be attempted, especially considering wintersbane had no idea where the cub's home was.

"i will see you home," he promises. he speaks of his mother and father and someone called towhee. if he's heard the name before he entirely omits it now. it does not ring a bell. you are lucky i found you before the crows did he thinks but does not say this. because he doesn't want to scare the cub ( possibly further ) and because he does not want the boy to feel indebted. he wants nothing in return for this. for perhaps the first time in his life, the tundrian wants to be selfless for the sake of being selfless. for helping a lost cub in a way that he hadn't been.

"you are in no fit state to make any kind of journey," as heartbreaking as that news might be to hear it remains the cold truth for the moment. wintersbane did not want to take a corpse to whatever pack the cub was from. "you are very strong to have survived this long," the tundrian tells the injured boy. "but you need food, fresh water, rest and i should take a better look at your wounds. tend to them as best i can." wintersbane doesn't want to candy-coat the severity of the boy's current situation ...no doubt the boy is old enough to understand that he is far from well. "will you let me help you?"