Blacktail Deer Plateau mother, do you think they'll drop the bomb?

backdated like three days. for @Forrest but AW for anyone who wants to hop in

he was dying. he was sure of it.

three or four days after he fell ill, aditya's body gave way. he woke one morning unable to rise from his den. he had implored dawn to stay away, to not catch the sickness from him. whether or not she'd listen was a different story. with a groan, he fell back asleep, breath wheezing and slowing.

his dreams were vivid, sometimes terrifying. hari walked alongside him, sometimes, but other times he found himself haunted by many-headed monsters, the bodies of his loved ones in their jaws. he screamed and screamed, waking with a hoarse throat and hacking up blood-tinged mucus, his empty stomach giving up nothing but bile. and slept again.

next time he woke was mid-afternoon, though it could have been days and days and days in the future, for all he knew. his fever had risen, rolling over his body in waves. he panted, letting out a low whine, opening his eyes slowly and wincing at the light.

the air danced around him, and spirit-creatures taunted him from the shadows. and hariji was close by--he felt the black wolf resting near his hip. ready, presumably, to escort him to his next life. he hoped he would be as blessed as he was in this one.

It was that stench. Had it not been for the overwhelmingly familiar scent of sickness and strain so near to where Forrest slept, she might not have gotten up at all. And had it not been for the low whine some yards away from her cache, she might not have seen the pitifully ill babe lying in his den.

She hesitated for a moment, wondering how to proceed. If she went into this relatively tight space (Forrest had never been a small woman, after all), she would be putting herself at risk for whatever it was that he'd been unlucky enough to catch, but if she didn't, he might die. 

Damned if I do, she thought, damned if I don't.

Dove? she cooed, What's wrong? Prodding at the moist fur along his abdomen, she could feel how high his fever had become. That was her first priority, as a fever that high was a death sentence if left untreated. I wanna help you, babe. If you can, talk to me.

"you have lived a good life," hari whispered, his voice just inches from aditya's ear. he felt the breath stir his pelt, though in truth, it was merely a breeze moving through the den. a comfort, at that--it cooled his sweating for an instant, though now he shivered. oh, god. he was so cold, now. "you will have good fortune in your next."

he shook his head slowly, wincing at the aching pain such a small action caused him. "no. . .not ready. . ." panic bubbled up in his throat, and he began to gag, coughing and dry-heaving until he was left, gasping, a thin string of foul-smelling drool hanging from his lower lip. aditya shook, curling into a semi-circle, muttering, "no. . .no. . .no. . ." intermittently, doggedly clinging to wakefulness. . .and to life.

a sleek pale figure slipped into the den, avoiding his notice at first. but when her muzzle prodded his abdomen, his golden eyes shot open, flashing even in the dim light. "haaa!" he gasped, his breath leaving him explosively. he blinked, then blinked once more, then again, eventually looking like a deranged, sickly owl.

then tears filled his eyes as the touch registered in his mind, one drop escaping to trail slowly down his cheek. she was here. she had finally come for him. he had felt her rescue him from the depths of the ocean, and heard her voice. it hadn't been his time yet. . .but now it was.

"maa," he whispered, a sob caught in his throat. he reached his muzzle out, yearning for her scent, her touch, things he hadn't had in so long. so long.

Aditya's firm instruction to stay away had worked for about a day of restlessness before the girl had snatched a rabbit from the nearest cache and gone to him under the guise of offering lunch. She drew up in time to see the rear end of a white woman - after a beat determined to be Forrest - slip into their den. Slightly unnerved by the odd sounds coming within, the rabbit was dropped into the snow when she began to make them out, moving nearer to the den entrance. She peered inside owlishly, unable to fit in alongside the rest but making out the thick stench of sickness as it clung to everything. "Adi" she hissed into the den, wiggling in a little further but pausing at the mouth when she realized she'd only succeed in completely overcrowding the den.

Her gut rolled as she watched him, reaching out to the woman as if she were a siren and he a drowning sailor. He looked sick, wrong, and tension stiffened her spine as she twisted toward Forrest, asking only, "what's wrong with him?" She was a healer, wasn't she, though the question in her gaze asked more than simply the words she uttered; why was the woman here, how long had he been this way, and was it all her fault? She ought never have listened to him, she knew that now.

With the freshly revealed delirium, Forrest found herself taken aback and at a temporary loss for words. She gnawed at the inside of her cheek, nearly drawing blood with the surprise of Dawn's entrance into the den. Fever, she whispered, I can help but I won't lie to you, it doesn't look good. Forrest took a deep breath and tried to level herself before assessing the situation. 

It could have been blackcough. If that was the case, then Forrest knew that she had come too late. It might have been something less severe, like carrion; that would have explained the stench but not the foul excretions. Then again, maybe it was death, but who knows with how much strength Forrest prayed against it. Okay, Dove, I'll be your mama, she cooed to the sick boy, Tell me where it hurts.

she was cream, not brown--but it could have just been her ghostly form. and her voice was different, too. not the heavily-accented, melodious sound of his youth. but it could have been his mind playing tricks on him. this was his mother. her touch was the same. her kind eyes, the same.

then dawn entered the den, and fear quickly replaced the comfort that had risen up at his mother's presence. his stomach rolled, and he choked back bile, panicked and sickened. "dawn!" his voice was a hoarse whisper, ragged from coughing. "why are you here? no. . ."

he broke down into anxious gasps, terror seizing him from nape to tail-tip. he turned his watery gaze upon his mother, longing once more for her warmth. "nahin, maa! use bhi nahin! main," he implored desperately. "sirf main."

adi rolled his head back to look at dawn, pelt bristling. "mera pyaar, he murmured. "i can't take you with me. you must live. . .and i must go. my mother has come." one narrowed eye surveyed the ghost as she spoke; he hadn't heard a word she had said, lost in his own confusion.

The blood pounded in her ears as the woman spoke, serving as a depressing narration of the horror unfolding before her gaze. Helplessness spread through her veins, knowing in this she could do little but stand and watch. This was no enemy threat she could tear her teeth into and rip to shreds, no physical and manageable thing. He turned to her, gaze alight with panic and sickness, and her ears flicked back before pushing forward against her skull. He spoke again, and this time she recognized a few words, but could glean only the slightest from the desperate words. 

A growl slipped from her throat, angry at her helplessness to anything, gaze flicking to the woman. "tell me what to do." The words were less of a plea and more of a resolute agreement to do whatever it took to stop the fever from progressing. Aditya's next words had her tense, moving forward to rest her nose against his fevered forehead. "you're not going anywhere, idiot." 

Although Forrest had already known that the boy was delusional, she didn't know quite to what degree. It was his declaration of his mother's presence, wherever she might be, that revealed the truth. They would need to cool him down, but because it was winter, her normal method wouldn't have worked; if they dragged him to the river, he would have died from hypothermia before having time to reap any of the benefits, not to mention the risk that Dawn and Forrest would be putting themselves at. 

Her tail beat steadily behind her as she thought of what to do, Go...go to the stream, find about a mouthful of moss, dip it into the water and set it down to freeze. Giving him something to cool him down would help, but that would take a while to finish, In the meantime, anything that you see with ice on it, whether it be a pebble or a half-frozen carcass, I don't care, bring it back. We'll have to bring down his temperature as quickly as possible, alright? Forrest gave Dawn a concerned look, silently conveying her thoughts: Can you do this?

Look at me, baby, look at mama.

he flinched slightly as dawn pressed her nose to his forehead; it was so cold, compared to the wild, terrible heat rolling through his body. steam--whether real or imagined, he didn't know--rose from him like a clouded, sickly aura, hanging above his head like a harbinger of doom.

dawn's words barely made it through his stupor, and despite everything, he managed the faintest of smiles. "shouldn't call. . .a dying man 'idiot.' bad. . .karma," he whispered, gummy eyes lifting to meet hers. "what if. . .that's the. . .last thing i hear--" this sentiment was broken off as aditya lowered his head suddenly, chest heaving in a horrendous cough. it hurt his throat to do it, but he felt as if he'd explode if he didn't.

another fevered haze fell over him, and his mother's words slowly became incomprehensible, just quiet murmurings close to his head. aditya felt at peace in this small place; he felt as if he was back in his own whelping den, curled up against his mother's warm belly, so full of milk his eyelids drooped.

"main ghar par hoon," he muttered, a contented smile oozing over his face once more. he felt sleep tugging at his limbs, summoning him back into its depths, and--just as it was as a young pup--his eyelids drooped.

something seemed to click back into place, and for a moment his gaze lifted to hers, and his words retained some sort of clarity. "you're not dying. I won't allow it." but already he'd faded back into the haze, and her attention was stolen by forrest. ears flicked as she offered a clipped nod, pulling the rabbit into the den - the frozen carcass would do, for now. with murmured agreement and a backward glance at Adi, she slipped back out of the den and set off for the river at a canter.

He is and he will, Forrest thought to herself, though the idea faded as Dawn handed over the rabbit. The next part was one that Forrest thought would be better done in private, without the worry of a loved one, so she waited until the gray smudge had fully left her view. With orders given, there was time to slow down a beat and reevaulate the situation. After taking a few deep breaths, she began nosing at Aditya again, hoping to rouse him from his delusions.

Whispering, Forrest cooed into his ear, You're gonna make it. If I can figure out what's wrong, at least. While humming, she took his head into the crook of her arm and rocked her body gently to and fro. It'll be okay, you'll be okay. Where was Dawn? You're my baby and I don't let babies die without a fight. I know you've got some fight in you, so act like it.

oh, god, she was waking him up again. why wouldn't she just let him sleep?! she had done so once upon a time, letting his tiny body relax into the plush fur lining her belly. but now she was poking and prodding, taking him into her embrace.

and dawn had left, so this must be the end.

you're gonna make it. "yahaan hain kyon?" aditya asked huskily, his eyes sticky as he peeled them open once more. "yahaan hain. mar raha hoon." it was as simple as that (not knowing that this was, in fact, not his mother and the tongue he spoke in would be gibberish to the woman.

god, he was tired! his limbs felt a thousand pounds each, his head heavy and swollen, the exhaustion tugging at him with every movement. he leaned into maa, his breath wheezing and whistling, chest rising and falling as faint as a summer breeze through prairie grass.

---

carrying out the woman's instructions took eons. in reality, it took perhaps ten minutes of the woman repeatedly pulling the moss out of the snow and growling at it when it wasn't ready enough. when finally the greens seemed frozen enough, she pulled them all from the snow and cantered back towards the woman, dropping all the bundles at her feet. gaze turned to Adi, and again she growled, low and small in the back of her throat.

---