Why? It was a question that had run through the young girl's mind many times over through the haziness of her illness. Why me? The illness's distinction to have picked her over anyone else in the pack or the world seemed so unfair. And yet, she would not have wished this on anyone else. She just didn't want it for herself either. Why bother? It would be easier to just give up, give up, stop fighting. But she wanted so badly to run and play with her siblings again, to explore Spirane and learn to jump high with her friend. Why am I so stupid? Surely she must have done something to earn this fate; she had only herself to blame. She'd been foolish enough to nose around that raccoon to see if it would jump up and run like the squirrel Eldrax had stunned would. Why, why, why.

The thoughts filled her mind as she crumpled face first into the furs. All she wanted to do was cry. She couldn't even stand up! In her weakened state, she barely recognized the whine of her mother. Suddenly she was there, her brindled legs the first thing Melee saw when she lifted her head and opened her eyes again. "Mommy!" she exclaimed feebly, leaning into the touch of her wet nose. Her caresses renewed her hope, her desire to make it out of this cave. Looking up, she felt at home even just for a moment being in her mother's presence. There was nothing as powerful as a mother's love to help an ailing child, and in that moment Melee was brighter than she'd been since first falling ill. Her dull eyes seemed to glint with life once more.

With Bastille's body wrapped around her, the urge to go against what the healers had said abated. Being here with her mom was enough. Resting against her body, Melee set her chin in the crook of her mother's forelimb so she could look up into her icy blue eyes. She was still tired, still too weak to go with her, but this she could do. "B-better...I think," but even as she spoke the word her head made a small, involuntary twitch to the side. The moment passed as quickly as it came, but Melee's ears fell back nervously. She didn't understand why her body wouldn't listen to her anymore, or when she would regain control of it. For now, she just wanted to soak in all of the love her mother had come to give. "Did Drax and Swifty come?" she asked hopefully, though she already knew the answer just as well as her mother had known the answer to the one she'd asked.