Poison Path i need someone to share this heart with me

Today had not been like Adora.

She had kissed her mother (@Woya) on the head and promised to be back at the usual bedtime she still held. That had been nothing out of the ordinary. It had been the sudden aversion to every scent trail she crossed. It had been the sudden pound, pound, pound of her heart against her chest. A sudden anxiety that had smacked her full on that morning.

So she had fled beyond the Cove's borders. She had told no one and invited not a soul. Not even Magg or Di. For even their scent had scent her into a dizzy anxious state!

Yet before she had known it the sun had began to set and the world had become a beautiful painting behind broken clouds. Plants that had grown over old trails beneath the snow tried to keep her at bay like a warning sign. Still she pushed deeper and deeper until she had found an old half snowed in den.

Nearly in tears without a single explanation, Adora had thrown herself into the old den without concern. Prepared for privacy and uncertain still if she'd find it.

Worries about Oksana aside, Nash was.... Feeling so much better. His gut still twisted whenever his mind turned to their former allies, to his argument with his brother and their parting, but then he thought of his time with Aquene and the light in her eyes, the smile more genuine than he'd seen in years. He felt it would get better.

He kept up his routine, patrolling more and leaning more heavily on @Leo to run the territory. He saw great things in the young man... Great things that could lead to more. But Nash wasn't about to start slacking. Chan's insistence echoed in his mind and Nash was determined to prove him wrong. So he patrolled.

And he found Adora's trail crossing the border.

He followed it. It was getting late, and he wasn't about to lose another child in any capacity. "Adora?" he called softly.

There had been tears, then soft sniffles.

Truthfully it sounded more like she had a cold than any sort of emotional misfire. Yet still she startled with a thousand worries at the sound of the leader.

What if he somehow knew how she felt? What if he had come to tell her a million bad things? Or what if more bad things had happened in her brief absence?

All she could think of was a possibility of another dead body in their lake and suddenly she had felt sick. Ready to spill the contents of her guts. A thing she only briefly held back with puffed cheeks.

Then timidly she raised her voice from within the old, worn den.

"Yes?"

ᴠᴏɪᴄᴇ || ᴛʜᴇᴍᴇ

Something was clearly wrong with the girl. He couldn't tell if it was a cold or crying, but there was definitely sniffling coming from within the snowbank. Nash laid down a small distance away, enough to be respectful but still close enough to be present.

The child's timid voice rose from the entrance and Nash felt his face soften. The leader was set aside and the father took over. "What's wrong?" he asked. "Are you hurt?" He didn't smell blood, but that didn't mean she hadn't gotten injured. If she was sick Aquene would want to see to her immediately, and Nash was sure Woya would be peering over her shoulder the whole time.

No.

She stayed within the den, away from prying eyes. At nearly a year old, she thought she had been old enough to be left alone. Especially by the man who stood as sole leader now. Didn't he have more deaths to stop? Missing faces to find?

Adora had not realized how bitter she had become and how much she hated being this bitter. The mountain had charmed her at first, but it had continued to reveal its ugly side at every turn.

Do you need something?

She silently wished he would leave her be, that he would go away. She just wanted to be alone and free to think in her sad peace.

ᴠᴏɪᴄᴇ || ᴛʜᴇᴍᴇ