Blacktail Deer Plateau I will remember your face

A relief quickened him when he saw the mother and her child, yet he returned the tidings of both with mechanical motion. His mind remained abuzz, preoccupied with frantic prayers for those unaccounted for and numb to think of anything beyond that. The rain poured in too sharp a contrast to the flames behind them, and offered too quick a reprieve. Mordecai's departure for one named Harlyn, a name as lost on Malachi as Osprey's had been, was all that roped him back to the present and he found his mind reciting yet another plea for her.

In the midst of inner turmoil, he caught Lasher's gentle gaze turn upon him, and Malachi hesitated to follow. But he knew few beyond the ones gathered here, and as much as he yearned to aid in the search for Osprey and Dante and Harlyn, the only direction he could move his shaking legs was to the safety of the healer's den, out of the range of fire and rain and into the protection of the pack that remained.

Sorry this took so long. Last from me as well!