Emberwood You crawled out of the sea.

He came to her and carried with him a gift, and while she was so very, very hungry it wasn't the collection of offerings that she affixed her gaze to, but to his eyes. As Awol carefully placed his gifts by the den mouth she watched his movements, swift, bird-like almost, until he settled by the entry to her little hollow, as Kukulkan had previously. How many people had visited her while she had been asleep? How many of her wolves truly cared that she had been in a state of suspended life? She wondered to herself as she gathered the rabbit to her breast, and began to pluck at it in silence; had anyone alerted the pack of her living? Perhaps not. It would be better to keep it secret until she was stronger, she thought. With the boys both tending to her - and with Reiko visiting on occasion with medicines and flowers - it would not be long before Ibis was back to her normal self. Or, so she hoped.

She could not eat much of the rabbit though. Try as she might, she could not pull it apart enough and found her jaws aching after only a few moments, and her neck was stiff. The taste of the creature's flesh made her salivate and her head pound with a sickening insistence; but she tried again, and again, nibbling at the bits she could access until her stomach churned and she knew she could not eat any more. There was plenty left - it would take hours.

Thank you Awol, she calls to the boy, her voice still frail but trying so hard to sound stable and strong.