Ataji

An hour after Umbrik had abandoned the hunt, Ataji made it back to the packlands. The ebonite wolf was moving slowly, making sure his pace was not too fast for the dog he was leading back to their home. He'd been relatively silent during the trip, saying little to Denver as conflicting thoughts swam through his mind.

"Just a little further." Ataji announced, leading Denver through a stand of young trees and towards the dilapidated structure of an old house with a sagging roof and rotten floorboards. He stood at the doorway, his dark paws pressing into the mulched remains of the door that had once stood there. "There is some bedding inside. Find a comfortable place to rest, and I'll see to your injuries."

*Denver*

The spaniel had moved as quickly as he could, but his shorter legs were no match for Ataji's. His injuries only exacerbated this, and Denver couldn't help but whimper during most of the trip. When they reached the remains of the old house, his spirits fell even further as he was reminded of the home he should have been going back to. He had no words for Ataji, even if he was a little taken aback by the wolf's offer to clean his wounds. Merely glancing up at the larger canine, Denver tucked his head back down and slunk into the shadows of the house, where he collapsed in a mouse-chewed nest of blankets against one wall.

Ataji

The whimpering from the little dog tugged at Ataji's heart. Where the rest of his family would find it irksome and pathetic, he couldn't help but feel pity for the spaniel's plight. He followed Denver into the house, stepping gingerly across strewn blankets and chunks of fallen wood and plaster, while wrestling in his mind about what exactly he was doing. Surely, he was just prolonging the dog's suffering by bringing him here, instead of letting his sister kill him out at the lake? What was his goal?

The wolf settled down in front of Denver, crossing his ebony forelegs and stretching his long muzzle out to sniff at the spaniel's wounds. In a voice that betrayed none of his internal tension, Ataji spoke firmly, "For your sake, you should stay in this human den and answer any questions my family has for you. The more helpful the information, the longer they will spare you." He turned a tongue against the dog's fur now, to clean away the blood.

Denver

He winced both at the wolf's statement and the touch of his tongue. With a plaintive whine, he dropped his head down on his forelegs, "I just want to go back to my master." Denver shifted his head after a moment, curling it in closer to his body as he sunk deeper into the ratty blankets. His mind trailed to thoughts of his human, and of the foul wolfess who'd separated him from his buddy.

Ataji

A silence fell over Ataji. What was he suppose to say to that? The dog's masters were surely dead by this point, and Ataji wasn't sure why he even felt compelled to assuage the hound's feelings on the matter. And yet he grappled with it, feeling that uncomfortable tug at his heart, the same kind he felt whenever Umbrik slipped up and earned a harsh word or nip from their parents.

The wolf focused on the wound that marred the spaniel's neck, cleaning the red from his coat, and the bits of seed and leaf that had gathered their during the trek back. After a long moment, he murmured, "Just get some rest, and remember what I said. I'll have fresh food for you in the morning." He continued to clean the dog's injuries, even as Denver coiled in on himself and tried to disappear among the tattered sheets.