Bonesplinter Ravine his betrayal is overwhelming

not at all! since tywyll is on ppc i went ahead and concluded + archived this for us. ♥

soturi seemed to be a magic word, for upon offering it's common tongue translation, there was notable excitement in the young boy's eyes. something other than the half-dead and listless look that wintersbane had first seen and he feels a true rush of reassurance and hope for the boy. there is still life in him, still a fierce desire to live. that is good. "hm," wintersbane drawls playfully as he works to setting moss into the boy's numerous wounds. there'd been more than wintersbane'd originally seen at first glimpse. something had really torn him up. nevertheless, the tundrian was methodical and careful in his application of moss to each wound. "you will be the fiercest soturi one day," wintersbane assures him with confidence. "want to know how i know?" the son of the nightingale queen inquires in a hushed tone as if he's going to share a great secret with the boy. "becuase you already a strong soturi." by all rights, the wounds and blood loss and infection probably should have killed him already ...but it hadn't. and if that wasn't a strength worthy of the title soturi wintersbane didn't know what was.

---

only an hour had passed since he'd left tywyll to find something to help with his infections. he found chervile root, glad that hemlock's garden and cache has been left generally untouched. he takes one of the roots for the moment, deciding that it should be enough to tide the boy over until he's rested enough and until he gets back home. heron lake plateau, thankfully, isn't very far. he even happens to find a unbothered mountain goat that must've lost it's balance trying to navigate the treacherous climb up the ravine. it's fresh, not yet picked at by scavengers. it was probably pure dumb luck but wintersbane knows better than to look a gift horse in the mouth.

the boy is asleep when wintersbane drops the root off, depositing it on a rock and makes his way back to where the goat had fallen. he grasps it by a spindly leg and drags it back to the cave. there is meat enough on it for the both of them to share, which is good because there is an insistent rumble in the tundrian's own stomach. "boy," wintersbane calls to him, realizing that he doesn't know the kid's name. neither, admittedly, does the kid know his name, in all fairness. "i've brought something to help with your infections and food." he says after he lets out a low chuff to hopefully lull tywyll awake.

when he is awake, wintersbane nudges the small root towards the boy. "eat this first. it'll fight your infections and keep any more from forming. i can't promise it'll taste good but you can wash it down with goat." and though the soturi wants desperately to sink his teeth into the supple flesh of the goat's belly and feast to sate his own hunger, he refrains. the boy will eat first, he's already decided; and only after tywyll took his share did wintersbane allow himself to eat from the goat and while tywyll rested wintersbane kept watch like a dutiful sentry.