He hadn’t been able to tell the days apart for a long while now, in truth, at this point he couldn’t even completely tell when he was sleeping and when awake. When he tried, he found pain to be the best tell, whenever he was awake and moving, all of his atrophied muscles hurt bitterly, burning and throbbing as if they were tearing. But then, when he was still, they would cramp up, protesting almost as badly from the stillness as they had from movement.

With this haze of pain constantly hanging over him, the pale man had very little presence of mind to notice much else. He would follow the gentle nudges of his caretaker – eat, drink or walk as she guided him, leaning heavily on her strong shoulder all the way – but it had been rare that his eyes had truly seen her, after that first day. Mostly they just gazed ahead, glassily, seeing none of the scenery they passed through. His paws would register the changes in terrain, dryer as they left the swamp, and moved to more wooded land, then softening as they continued onto more open ground.

All of these little shifts registered numbly in his brain, as did the noises of animals all around them while they walked silently. He was too exhausted to think more on any of it though, let alone act, though he’d mumble incoherently whenever Xulia spoke to him, feeling a need to do something, but not knowing what.

And so it was now, his ears flicking back instinctively at her howl, a shiver running through him as he sagged against her flank. He didn’t understand her words, though the cold touch succeeded to awaken him a little from his stupor. “Home…?” He asked weekly, voice barely above a whisper. He wasn’t even sure what the word meant, yet something about it felt soothing to his haggard mind.

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Thoughts ”Speech”

His head nodded, mostly automatically at her confirmation; Home… The word continued to resound in his mind, too loud among the whispering murk that was his thoughts. But it was insistent, clawing at him to come out of his zombie-like state. With Xulia’s help, he had eaten more in the last days than for many weeks before, but it was only a small step in the right direction, and with the added effort of travel, he was still weak all the way through.

Another voice drew him to look up though, eyes swimming as he attempted to focus on the dark silhouette. Familiar, the voice was familiar, and so was the dark pelt, so deceptively unlike either of his parents, but Vasco knew his boy; Vi! He wanted to shout it, but his throat was far too dry, and Xulia’s hurried explanation easily drowned out the feint croak he emitted. Coughing deeply, the pale man leaned heavily on his saviour’s shoulder for a few moments, before taking a deep, rasping breath and mustering enough strength to put most of his weight back on his own paws.

Then he blinked at Viorel again, speaking in a hoarse whisper: “Searching… I have been searching… For you!” He had to pause, taking in several more, grating breaths before he could add: “Your mother… Brother… They’re here? They’re all here?” He could hardly believe it to be true, but Xuli had said home, and to him, that was the only thing that could mean.

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Thoughts ”Speech”

His head was far to foggy to notice Modesto’s distant judgement, and so, Viorel’s commands to the dark wolfess went entirely over his head. Instead his eyes remained on the boy, drifting in and out of focus as he tried to follow his movement, head turning as the young leader came to support his shoulder. Vasco smiled weakly, nodding his head slowly in answer to his reassurance; Home…!

As Xulia answered, his head swiveled slowly to face her, grey eyes narrowing to accentuate the smile. He’d made it! He was here with his kids, and their mother and cousins and everyone else were here too; I really am home! As he took his first, shaky step into these new pack lands, propped up by his children on either side, he nodded again, humming in agreement to Xulia’s words; “Very nice.”

Thoughts ”Speech”