Lost within my own thoughts and yet not so much that I was unaware of what may be going on around me. My eyes flit toward Dirge as he takes my hint and slips into the root-guarded burrow. He did not bother to react when I had spoken of Stella and so I will let it go for now, but someday soon he will want to know every bloody detail of this day.

The small, pale figure to my right catches within the silvery light of the moon and draws my attention over with ears erect and nose twitching for her scent. I did not know her but she smelled vaguely of the pack itself – likely to be someone’s offspring rather than a lost child. Her interest in me is odd as her head tips lightly to the side and a quirky smile laces her features. She nearly resembles Eden in physical aspects yet I would know little of where her relations lie. A single, high-pitched question is asked so directly within the silence that had once consumed us. I cared not to indulge her with any details, especially seeing as I had finally wrapped my own head around it, but in a monotone voice so similar to my own dam’s she gets a response. ”No.”

Despite their colorful splendor my eyes are flat – dulled by the mental exhaustion experienced earlier in the day – as I look at her directly. I do not offer any form of explanation or word vomit to appease her curiosity, for that is all that it truly is. It is only when the familiar scent and the sound of another arriving from behind do I pivot within the slow moving water. Dried blood still remains on my neck and face but I look upon the shadowed male with veiled compassion. I have felt too much within the last hours and I am nearing the point where all of my emotions have been numbed completely, I have little else left to give. But for Exodus I would attempt friendliness, even the smallest bit, though my lightened features do not last very long as I look upon him. I am pleased that he has come to my call and yet I wonder of why he had done so. There is an energy of unease radiating from him that I want to know the cause of. Does he fear me or my reactions? Have I driven off my only companion?

My eyes dart back to the small one before I look away from them both and wade further into the river; the water level rising slowly as I tread into deeper parts. I walk until I can only keep my head above the surface and let the remaining cruor drain from my pelage, shaking my head to splash the water upon my muzzle and my cheeks. I do not want any remnant of her left upon me. I want her gone for good.