"Jean's going to have your head, helping you out of the Gardens this early, you know." Spirit commented, taking a small step to keep beside Omehn. He grunted and moved another slow inch forward, flicking his tail in irritation at how much his injuries affected him. "Well, not much of a head left for her to have. Besides, it was my idea. You can just blame me." He grumbled, pressing his good ear against his neck. Spirit hid her smile, then quickly jumped forward to brace her slim shoulder against his side as he staggered. For a second both ears went back, then he froze, keeping his temper and the biting remark to himself. Spirit said nothing, simply taking his weight while he struggled to place his balance on his shaky paws. When he was steady she moved away and let him stand on his own. He opened his mouth, unsure of what he was going to say… but before he could speak beat him to it, her tones light and cheerful. "Oh yes – I could always say it was accidental we just happened to be heading in the same direction." She turned an ear back to him as she waited for him to catch up with a quiet chuckle. Omehn grunted in reply as he forced his left forepaw – which bore the worst of his recent set of injuries – to take his full weight before he moved on. Such injuries were not unfamiliar to him… somehow he and Spirit seemed to find themselves in a situation demanding a little muscle to carry on their way. Besides, compared to the old days, these were mere scratches.
She said nothing four steps later when he needed her help again, simply gave it without any comment. His good ear flicked uneasily as he leaned against her warm shoulder for a second. Apart from perhaps Sendei, there was no-one else he would have accepted assistance from without protest. Of course, his sister and Spirit were the only ones who'd ever offered…
Although that wasn't really true, he realized, as she aided his next painful step forward. He ignored the pain. He was used to that. He recalled Sevlow and Ice and their patient insistence upon finding him that day that they treated his wounds. Even those madcap pups crashing around had been open and friendly, two qualities that had sorely been lacking in Omehn's life prior to stumbling upon Mt. Desri territory. It was no wonder Spirit was so supportive and understanding – even in a bad mood she was more caring than anyone he was used to. She had been raised among these Lupes, in a pack where every Lupe, no matter what their… gifts… was cared for. Still, comparing Mt. Desri to his father's pack… he winced to think of his old world.
"It's alright." Her quiet voice almost made him jump. She had seen his expression and come to a halt, effectively stopping him too, as he was still leaning on her. He slid into a sitting position, dropping his head and suddenly feeling weary. Spirit left his side and moved a few paces away, dropping to the ground and stretching her forepaws in front of her, watching him with her blue eye, keeping the other and both ears on their surroundings.
"I was teasing, you know. Jean's dealt with more than one stubborn warrior in her time – some with almost as much determination as you. She isn't about to come looking for us."
He looked up at her and saw her eyes were shining humorously. At times, when her wide smile danced over her muzzle and her strange odd eyes lit up like that, he could see what she might have been like when she was younger, and before the shadows chased away her optimism. There was a gentle, almost playful side to Spirit that was barely a flicker within the warrior core. He suspected that these aspects had not always come in that order, however. Before meeting Spirit, he wouldn't have imaged that one could be both peaceful and a warrior.
The last thought brought back how she'd referred to him, and he lifted his head, blinking in surprise. "I'm… I'm not a warrior." He protested, training his working ear on her. She laughed, and for a moment the worry-lines eased out of her furrowed brow. She stretched out an elegant paw and tapped his own lightly. He followed her gaze down to the four or five deep scars tracing over his right paw alone. "You could have fooled me." For a second her paw remained on his, the touch of her soft fur more soothing than he could have imagined, so that he didn't even think about moving away.
All at once she pulled back and jumped up, turning her head away as she paced off a short distance, her ears twitching uneasily. He glanced away, over his shoulder, as unsettled as she was.
She came to a rest leaning against a small boulder, her shoulder against the smooth rock, head dipped low, the golden blaze standing out against the snowy fur of her back. For a second her posture reminded him inexplicably of Sendei, and the pain of not having his sister there, not knowing where she was or if she was ok rose up, almost choking him. Then he saw Spirit's ears fold miserably down to the sides of her head, and he got the feeling, although her back was to him, that her eyes were squeezed tightly closed. And he knew, without asking, that she was thinking of her own siblings. Her older sister was lost to her too, in a very different way… and her brothers… it made Omehn forget about his worries for a moment. At least he was reasonably sure Sendei was alive. For Darian and Jackal, Spirit could hold out no such hope. He dragged his uncooperative hind end off the ground and limped over to her side, again hesitating and not sure what to say.
Once again she saved him the need. Without looking at him, she turned her shoulder away from the rock and leaned uncertainly against him. When neither of them pulled back after a full minute, she rested her bowed head upon his thick chest fur. He stiffened for a moment, feeling her ears brush against his chin before she tucked them more tightly against the line of her skull. There they remained, the battered werewolf and the dejected warrior fae, taking what comfort they could from each other.
The next day Omehn used his uninjured foreleg to pile up the heather and bracken more comfortably, so that he could rest his chin on a small hill of semi-dry greenery. Jean had not been impressed – despite Spirit's jokes that she was used to dealing with stubborn bedridden Lupines, she had found them. She was used to them, all right, and Omehn had found himself back in the Healer's treehouse in the same bed as before, with a stern Jean checking every second hour to make sure heremained there this time.
Spirit absently passed him another pawful of dried greenery without really thinking about it, so he could arrange his bed a little more comfortably. She had stayed to keep him company, giving occasional briefings on various members of the ESLP when she wasn't lying silently to one side or pacing. Currently, the crease that ran down the upper half of her muzzle and the half-back position of her ears gave away how deep she was in thought. He watched her from the side of his vision as she stood and paced a small circuit in front of his bed, still frowning. "We've got to figure out a way to get out of DarkForest faster." She murmured, turning her head to flick her gaze down the deep wound Omehn had received along his back during their last getaway, narrowly missing his spine. He had borne the brunt of one of Slash's spears, despite what had been a fairly quick escape, in addition to the bite wound on his left foreleg. "They're starting to expect us – and some of them do have longer-range weapons, like Slash and Savvy. Besides, some of the elementals can control from distance. We need to be prepared."
He growled lowly in reply. "Yes, well, if I could grow wings…"
She ignored the trace of sarcasm in her voice and turned away to pace swiftly back and forth again. "We need to practice more in the trees." She spoke at length, and he put his ears back at her sullenly, annoyed because she was right. He'd never had the build for climbing, and it was a much more difficult task to muster that it seemed. Knowing that Spirit, with her long legs and flawless judgment, was the quicker of them to pick up the skill didn't improve his mood any. Besides, his back was sliced open, and though not a serious wound it was painful and starting to irritate him. "When your damnned aunt lets me out, I'll tear down every blasted tree in these forests!" He snapped at her, showing his teeth a good deal more than what was called for. His mood immediately evaporated when she swung back to face him with a glare that would have impressed even Sendei. Apologize! The little voice in his head yelped at him, but she had already leapt out the doorway with all the grace and passion she showed in battle. Omehn groaned and rolled onto his back, covering his face with his good forearm. Now he'd done it.
Jean released him from her care – with a stern lecture and instructions on how to 'take it easy' – the following day. He limped slightly as he trotted through the forest, but the feel of the wind and the feel of solid earth under his paws again felt fantastic, and he soon lost his stiffness. Not even the dark clouds and rumbling thunder overhead dampened his spirits – he was free again!
He found her not far from the lake, in a small clearing, shortly after the rain started to fall. Dropping into a lying position at her side, he cleared his throat, feeling sheepish. Before he could speak she turned to meet his eyes, her own with a playful glint that appeared less and less often nowdays. She sat up, cuffed his ears gently, then jumped up and shook the rain from her fur, dropping her forequarters into a bow and stretching her legs out in front. Jumping up as well, he saw the teasing expression shift into a more competitive smirk, and she tilted her head to the clearing and the jumps that had been set up within it. For a moment she remained in the same position, her head tilted slightly at she grinned challengingly up at him. He laughed. Injury or not, he was up for this. They each stepped forward, reaching an invisible, mutual line, gazes focused straight ahead at the jumps. The course had been set up by a Fire Eagle named Bounder, distantly related to Spirit, who had been aptly named. Jumping was his passion, and his workout course was constantly changing and expanding as he added and modified jumps, constructing them out of anything his could lay his paws on – logs, rocks, vines – and utilizing the natural rises, hollows, and streams that formed the terrain of the clearing itself into the jumps. The result was a course of jumps ranging from shoulder-height to others that soared in complex steps higher than three body-lengths.
Omehn tensed his leg muscles expectantly, and flattened his ears back to his neck in readiness. The resounding crash of thunder was as good a starter as any. Side by side they leapt into a dead run, aimed at the first jump. Spirit leapt as if she would never comedown, light and lithe despite the rain that had now started to pour down. She bunched her forepaws under her chin and stretched out her body as she sailed over the jump, beautifully graceful in that second. Omehn jumped with more brute power, propelling his body up towards the jump and allowing his claws to bite into the wood of the top, forepaws balancing, hindlegs kicking off strongly so he actually leapt form the top of the jump and landed in front of Spirit. Racing in the wild storm that had broken overhead, they took jump after jump and tore around the course, until they had both lost count of the circuits and the rain had soaked them to the bone. Spirit, a pace ahead of Omehn, tore up a steep bank, leapt the gap to the wooden stand set a tail-length higher, then drew to a striking halt and threw back her head, howling right up at the wind. The power in that voice stirred in Omehn all the wildness he had ever felt, and before he knew it he'd torn up after her, leapt onto the jump beside her and voiced his own howl right along with her.
They stood there until they were out of breath, and finally dropped their heads, half-laughing and still exhilarated. Omehn leapt down first, his paws leaving deep imprints in the rain-soaked soil. Spirit followed suit, with much less style than their earlier circuits, the workout over now. Omehn had to laugh, shaking his head and flicking away drops of rain. "You," he panted over the sound of the increasing rain. 'Are completely insane." She bumped his shoulder roughly, eyes sparkling and alive with fire and delight, as they started for the cover of the forest. "Look who's talking!" She snorted. He flopped down under a broad-leaved oak, panting slightly still and finally feeling the tightness in his back letting him know his wound was not yet healed enough for such wildness. Still, he didn't care.
Spirit turned to look at him as she sat down, noticing his slight discomfort, and some of the turbulence in her eyes faded into a softer expression – torn between admiration and concern. He looked up in time to catch her expression and flashed a sudden roguish grin, all the more surprising because she rarely saw him grin… in any manner. She laughed, thinking how different he looked suddenly, and leaned down. He didn't pull away mainly because Sendei had moved to lick him between the ears so many times in his youth he had accepted the contact without needing to react. But the warm tongue licked him on the muzzle this time, and he was reminded very suddenly this was certainly not his sister.
"You're forgiven, you mad creature." She said softly, and touched his shoulder before turning away and heading off into the forest. He stared after her for a full minute when she disappeared, then shook his head gruffly. It was just one lick, a silly gesture brought on by too much adrenaline and exposure to the elements.
It wasn't like it meant anything.