Green did a double take. Sure enough, dead Adlyen. And Blue, looking… smug? His ear plates pulled back in confusion.
"What..?"
"It was creeping in our woods. No doubt going to kill us like it killed our mother," Blue snarled.
"Did it have a weapon?" Green inquired. He took a closer look at the Adlyen. It didn't look dangerous. Green had grieved, sure, but he'd always considered the attack on their mother an outlier.
"Well, no, but it's still dangerous. It's an Adlyen," Blue emphasized.
Green was beginning to feel uneasy.
"You know they gather food and wood for their make-fires out here, right? This one was probably one of those. You shouldn't have killed it."
Blue growled in frustration. "Shouldn't have… brother, are you not understanding? It's an Adlyen. They killed our mother. The fewer of them there are, the better."
Green growled back. "You can't blame the actions of one on the whole group! This one never did anything wrong. None of the others have either." He thought of the two puplings out by the stones.
Their tails whipped across the ground. They stared at each other. Then Blue raised a paw and smacked Green painfully across the eyes. He lurched back shaking his head in pain and looking at her in shock.
"Get. Out." Blue said, in a low, deadly voice.
"What!?"
"I said get out!" cried Blue , lunging at him. "I'm not living with someone who's defending my mother's killers!"
Green scampered back, dodging Blue's lunge, took one last look at her furious expression, and fled.
Green glided above the forest, keeping an eye out for a suitable place to sleep. His mind was awhirl with thoughts. How could his sister think he was siding against her or their mother? He loved them, and had been deeply upset by their orphaning. Blue was just on edge, he reasoned. She would calm down and realize not all of the Adlyens were to blame, and then he could go back to living in the home-cave. As for the one she'd killed, nothing could be done about that but maybe he would hunt something and leave it for the Adlyens in apology. Yes, that would be a good idea. Everything would be fine, and back to normal soon.
Spotting a pleasant looking cave, he dipped down into into it. Shaking himself, he circled three times before curling up to sleep, missing the warmth of Blue at his side. Despite his assurances to himself, some part of him knew that things would never be the same again. And it would be a very long time after that night before anything would be fine.