Emberwood same clear voice

it was as though she'd died. yes; this was her corpse, dead in the middle of the emberwood. her chest rose and fell with each breath but bhediya was dead.

not physically. it would have been too easy to die in this realm, replacing this life with another. bhediya lay on her side, eyes wide but body frozen as she tried to pull herself from the panic.

Sarah followed a narrow path of footprints left by a fox, who had crossed the snowy realm earlier. She was not interested in hunting it down and eating it, but rather out of curiousity. Maybe the feisty and sly canine had found food sources that the hunter had not been aware of.

No such luck today though. The grizzled she-wolf stopped to scent mark a tree and turned around to check out other tracks, when her attention was drawn to a dark figure lying in the snow. After coming closer, she recognized a loyal subject of Ibis's, whose name she had conveniently forgotten. 

But greetings did not matter now, because the wolf was obviously not doing well at all. And even though coming close and asking - Hey, what happened to you? - was the least productive thing, it was better than ignoring her completely.

the familiar voice of another drew bhediya's gaze, though her body remained still. small twitches in her paws indicated an attempt to stand, to greet this other wolf, but she felt too heavy to move. 

there was silence in response to sarah's question. all that bhediya had to offer was a whimper, a desperate cry for help.

Sarah sighed. She was the least equipped person to deal with panicked children or nearly catatonic pack-mates. Throw an enemy in her way - she would shred it to pieces no questions asked. Help someone cross the rainbow bridge - just say the word. But this... she looked down at the twitching and whimpering second in command and, wondered, where the heck Ibis had dug up this weirdo.

Her contemplation did not help much, but there was little she could do than just sit by the dark girl's side and watch her in silence.

the company of sarah, as unwelcoming as it may have been, helped to ease the attack. it wasn't over, but being in the presence of another added enough perceived safety to end the worst of it. another moment of twitching passed before she was able to slowly lift herself into a lounging position. she avoided eye contact, preferring to keep her eyes on the ground. the silence bubbled between them.

If Sarah had been a medieval superstitious monk, she would have considered that Bhediya was in a need of exorcism. Since it was very likely that the rusty battle-ax would have been the same impassive, rational person then as she was now, she would simply sit, observe and wait. And - it paid - whatever had held it's grasp on her packmate, loosened it hold eventually and let her get up. She did not seem to be in a mood to talk about it, which was good, because Sarah was the last person to offer comfort or compassion.

"Is there anything I can do for you?" she asked her in a business-like manner

it was good that sarah didn't want to talk because bhediya didn't want to share. she scoffed at the question, turning back with a wry smile. pretend you didn't see it. later, she would search out reiko and have the conversation currently being avoided. 

bhediya cleared her throat and stood. sarah, right? ibis's aunt, she remembered.

"I don't know, what you are talking about," Sarah replied, looked the other briefly in the eyes and nodded her head in understanding. She knew, what it meant to be weak and how you did not wish the world to see you like that. 

"That's correct," she agreed and waited for the dark she-wolf to continue the conversation, if she so desired.

the lingering dread continued to fade. i appreciate it. bhediya shifted again, this time hauling herself up onto all fours. the two of them barely knew one another and this wasn't the best way to try fixing that. there would be another time for bonding, likely during a much less awkward encounter.

bhe began to walk away then, figuring there was nothing more to be said. is sarah stopped her, she would turn back, but this was an exit.

Bhediya did not appear to be interested in continuing the conversation and Sarah did not press it either. She was not a social butterfly and would never go at lengths to get the other person notice her. The grayscale she-wolf shrugged and without a good-bye or a see-you-later, turned around and ten minutes later had resumed her patrol.