Namir

The muscles in his back and legs burned by the time Namir neared the territory, attesting the the unusual weight he bore in the form of Liseli's battered body. He was panting heavily upon crossing the invisible line of their terra, yet didn't stop until he'd made it further into the land where he felt they'd be safer, and only then did the cougar ease his body to the rain-soaked earth and shifted himself carefully to slide the wolf off. The thunderstorm that had started halfway into their trek back home had washed a lot of the blood from Liseli's coat, and continued to cascade over them in relentless sheets, yet as Namir looked down at the beta, he grimaced at the viciousness of her injuries still.

Not sure where Cortinarri was at the moment, Namir faced the pelting drops of rain to let out a yowling roar to call her in. He then sat down, ears flattened at either side of his tawny skull as he endured the wetness, and peered down again at Liseli to assess her condition.

Liseli

Perhaps the only good thing that could be said about the arduous journey back was that Liseli had not fought his help or tried to wiggle off of his back at any time; she hung there compliantly enough, unaware that he was enduring so much to bring her to safety, and by turns was consumed by inane murmuring... and frightening silence. She'd several times asked him who he was, and then promptly forgotten the answer without ever seeming too bothered by it, and aside from that she hadn't been much for conversation. Indeed, she was apparently content to ride along on his back to wherever it was that he was going, and it wasn't until he finally came to a rest back in Aspen Grove that she finally said something that almost made sense. "You... stupid cat... get me out of here! I've... no intention of staying-" Her voice was breathless and ragged now, and despite her words she made no effort to get up; and as might have been expected, she picked up her words in a different place. "... doesn't want the truth here, fine... won't be... her lil yes girl, no sir."

Cortinarri & Others

It wasn't just Namir's body that was exhausted after the toiling ordeal, his mind was ready for a break too. The big cat typically enjoyed the silence of living on his own, which was why he didn't mingle with the pack often, so dealing with Liseli's repeated questions and nonsensical utterances was enough to make the cougar pin his ears back several times. On the other hand, he did worry very much about her wellbeing, and the jabbering did let him know that she still had the strength to talk and wasn't on the verge of dying. And by the time he'd gotten her laid down on the ground, she was still going, and he sat down beside her with determination to keep her safe, "This stupid cat just saved your hide, Liseli. Save your strength and quiet yourself now, family is on their way." I hope. No matter how greatly he wished to slink off to one of his nearby caves in the foothills to escape the downpour, Namir lowered his head, shoulders drawn up in a point, and endured the ceaseless rain without complaint.

It took many minutes before his yowl was answered by Cortinarri's appearance. The old wolfess was jogging in a most curious gait that accounted for her crippled hind limb, yet was rather impressive for its speed, considering her age and hindered mobility. "What happened?" She came straight up to Liseli before stopping, and wasted no time questioning Namir in a hardened voice and looking over the ugly wounds that scored Liseli's neck. Just seeing her limp form lain across the ground had been enough to spur dread in her heart, and guilt was very quick to follow. "Liseli, what have you gotten into?" It wasn't really a question for her friend as much as it was distress that it had been she that had driven the wolfess out.

Liseli

"I was... fine," the beta replied, despite the fact that Larsan had pinned her with ease and outweighed her by a good bit; it was so terribly clear that she was not fine. "Nobody... asked for your... help." To the creature that had saved her life, Liseli had no gratitude to offer, and indeed seemed definitely determined to be ungrateful and ugly - but most of that anger was directed at Cortinarri really, and soon enough the former alphess herself was available for the white fae to direct her temper at. "Tell your... kitty to put me... back where I was!" She spat, though the fact that she was a little breathless as she tried to pant around the pain didn't really lend her words much sharpness. All of her teeth bared themselves in Cortinarri's direction, and inside the thankful privacy of her mind, the little voice sang, Rabid skunk, rabid skunk! No use for a rabid skunk! You're nuts A snarl rang out, and this time it was directed as much at Cortinarri as at the voice. "Get... away from me. I can-" At that point, she was cut short, for she'd made the effort to haul herself up by brute strength, causing the crimson from her neck to spill over again where the rain had washed her mostly clean, and the slick ground beneath her gave beneath her unsteady feet, sending her down into the mucky mess of the ground. Insult and threaten Cortinarri, she might - but she was at least clearly in no shape to either run away again, or to do the elder wolf any harm.

Cortinarri & Others

The elder's tail was cricked in an ever-growing concern. When normally such words from Liseli would have gotten chastisement from Cortinarri, they elicited no reprimands now, or even a fang displayed in warning. "Liseli..." Even the wounded wolf's fully bared canines did not drew such a reaction out of her, but greater worry.

"She was ambushed by two Haunters. I killed one, and the other fled." Namir began to explain the situation as a horrified Cortinarri tried to grapple with it all, "And it was an ambush, not a chance encounter."

One of the wolf's ears swiveled back to Liseli as she snarled on about Namir, and for a brief moment, the elder turned to her battered and disturbed friend, making the rare gesture of lacing her ears back, "I would never abandon you, Liseli..." Cortinarri took a brisk step forward when Liseli tried to haul herself up, and in this time returned a quick, questioning glance as Namir started to turn away from the two.

"I'll be back, Cort. Rally the pack and defend yourselves; I don't know what the Haunter's reaction to this will be, but a Haunter's death will not be overlooked lightly." Even in the pouring rain that weighed down his coat and took the fluff out of his robust face, the cougar retained a strong, solid expression. It was the last thing Cortinarri looked at before the big cat turned away completely and disappeared into the forest.

Left alone for now, the wolfess was able to turn her full attention on the wounded pack member, and she went to it with all her energy. "You must stay down." When the beta did go down, against her own volition, Cortinarri immediately crouched down beside her, "You've got to calm yourself, you're losing too much blood." She could bleed to death, if shock doesn't take her. The stark realization, and Liseli's raving ways, buried the dagger of guilt deeper in the elder's mind and her ears flattened back a smidgen more, so that she scarcely resembled the proud, dominant fae she normally was. "Keep yourself still, rest your head down." While the guilt demanded that she make up for her harsh words from earlier - and she fully intended to do so - Cortinarri's first priority now was to make sure Liseli didn't die first, and Cort was not entirely certain she could even help with that. She did her best though, braving the beta's hysterical words and threatening fangs to that she could lay her grayed muzzle very carefully across the other's neck, placing it over the soggy fur where the flesh hadn't been torn by Larsan's fangs. It was an act of comfort as much as it was an attempt to convince Liseli to lie still. "Quiet yourself."

Liseli

"Too late... you just did," the suffering fae managed to choke out, around the continued growling and the panting. That was certainly one way to dig a little deeper at the elder's guilt, which in truth was already tormenting the older wolfess enough; poor Cortinarri was getting the backlash not only of her own actions, but of Liseli's temper, which was understandably not good with the pain she was in. There was one small benefit to this at least though - she stopped raging at Namir, who truly was innocent in all this and had actually saved her life, and instead turned her anger toward Cortinarri, who was actually mostly to blame for this. Once she went down though... she stayed down, unable to try to raise her battered body up again, and not offering much in the way of sensible words in response to the other female's pleading with her to lie still - but she did flinch, when a touch laid itself gently to her neck; not because it hurt her, as Cortinarri had been very careful with her choice of places to touch her friend, but because the loss of blood was starting to get to her already-unstable head, and producing wild-running anxiety, which the unexpected touch had elevated. After a moment though, she ceased her struggles, the momentary panic caused by the touch overrun by lethargy, which settled over her body like a heavy weight, til she felt she couldn't have moved a muscle, even if she wanted to. At last, after a span of several minutes with no words from her, she managed, "I don't... want to lie still. I want to... get up and give that sneaky... son-of-a-bitch... a piece of my mind. Your... stupid cat... killed him."

Cortinarri

"Those were the words of an angry old fool." Cortinarri came back, unafraid to call her own self out for what she'd said. Bold of tongue and sharp in temper like her son, she was just as willing to admit her faults and mend what damages she brought up against her friends. Cortinarri kept her neck stretched out over Liseli's, with her head placed close to the other fae's, and didn't move it away when the beta reacted with a flinch at first. To anyone that might witness the scene, it was certainly a poignant one, and mad sadder yet by the fact that neither of them could offer the other any real protection of danger did strike; Liseli was too wounded, and Cortinarri too old. That didn't stop Cortinarri from offering her support however, and if anything else, it was small attempted to shield some of the rain from her friend. When at last Liseli settled beneath her, Cortinarri wondered whether this would be among the last of their conversations. "If he's dead, there's no sense in thrashing him further." For whatever warmth it was worth, the elder wolf shifted her body up against her friend's, and prepared to keep this position well on into the night and through the rest of the storm if need be, either until... Liseli passed on, or she regained enough strength that the elder wolf could start in on re-cleaning the wounds and securing food for the battered beta.

Liseli

"Rabid skunk," rabid skunk rabid skunk. Like a needle lost in the uneven groove of a record, that phrase kept repeating itself in Liseli's mind, and she produced it again outloud; the viciousness of her tone made it sound like she was deliberately throwing that up in Cortinarri's face, but she wasn't actually... oftentimes, the beta could be caught murmuring aloud to herself, the same words over and over. It seemed to get the words out of her system, which in turn allowed her brain to return to normal a little faster. It was this that she was trying to accomplish in bringing up those words again... and as if to disprove the possible theory that she was trying to hold that out as something against Cortinarri, the beta sighed heavily when her old friend sank down beside her, providing a blessed sense of warmth along one of her drenched, water-logged sides. "If nothing else... make his corpse pay for his sins," she whispered, and her mind echoed, ...his sins ... his sins. "The sins of many make the suffering of the ancients," she murmured, and though that phrase made little to no sense, it was the steadiest in volume and tone that she'd managed, and she heaved another sigh, seeming to forget her anger at Cortinarri as she shifted her weight a little toward the elder wolf, and tucking her head down against her shoulder, unaware of the fact that her nearness caused some of the slowly-oozing blood to drain off into Cort's fur. "... suffering of... the ancients..." she rambled again, and then finally fell silent, her weight sagging a little against Cortinarri as the blessed darkness claimed her.