Muddy River — The Shape of Dreams

Caedwyn answered that he hurt everywhere, but as she continued to gently inspect him, she discovered that perhaps besides his pride, he had come out mostly uninjured, or at least it seemed that way at first glance. She did remain partially suspicious of his injuries as he continued to rest in a lay, conveniently not getting to his paws just yet. Or, more rationally, perhaps he was just catching his breath and letting the shock of the pain ebb away. His humor made her believe more and more in her more rational explanation she'd come up with. "Yeah, he's a dick like that, as you can see." she retorted to his comment of the tree appearing out of nowhere. "I'm sorry Caed. I thought you saw the nod. I guess that's something I'll have to work on, learning how to communicate with you better with my body. I guess, really, we are still learning one another." While there were many factors that contributed to the failed hunt, Enya blamed herself the most for the failure. It had been her failure in communicating with Caedwyn that had gotten him hurt.  To Caedwyn's question of whether or not she'd been successful in bringing Buck down, "I can't bring him down. We are linked. But... it's weird. I used to be able to feel his presence, his emotions and even understand him. I should have known he was there in the clearing, and yet I hadn't a clue until you went for him." Caedwyn shifted to his paws and Enya let out a sigh of relief. His legs all seemed to be working, though perhaps sore. She stood to let him inspect her wounds that had re-opened. "I'm fine. It's nothing life-threatening. Don't worry about herbs. I've had worse." Like her hind leg nearly being torn off. "I'm more worried about Buck. We had him. We had him. He had fallen limp in my grasp," She lifted a paw up to her neck where she'd inflicted wounds on herself while simultaneously holding Buck's neck with her teeth, "but I couldn't command him. He resisted every attempt. His defiance won out. Even if we had restrained him, he had given up. You saw it, right? How he laid there limp? He'd given into his prey instincts. He was ready to die. You understand what that means." She knew Caedwyn was smart enough to put two and two together. "I had to let him go. I didn't have a choice. Now, though, he's out there, running wild. He's aggressive because he's mad. He's vulnerable because he's alone. He's a prime target for predators." She needed to figure out what had stopped her bond from linking with Buck. She also needed to figure out how he had even ended up here. If he could recall, would it be possible to go to the world of her own? Would she be able to continue searching for her children? Was it possible for them to find her? She prayed to Tsillah the answer was yes.  Weariness overtook Enya as the adrenaline from the hunt and fight waned. Her legs ached. Her shoulders, neck, and back all ached. She yawned, her jaws wide and her forked tongue curled, then closed her muzzle. The day was full of twists and turns. She wondered if it was done, or if there was more in store. She let herself fall into a sit, but she didn't dare let herself relax. Buck was still near. He could have a change of heart and charge the pair at any given second. She stayed alert for crashing underbrush, or her Buck's grunts and groans. A thought struck her and she chuckled as she spoke her thought out loud: "It's never a dull day with me, as you can tell."  "Speech."