It was like the pain was raw, leaving her crippled. Another roar, this one the branches shuddered at the power and pain behind it. She paced anxiously, back and then around to him. Lips curled in a growl as she circled closer, but never more. While this place was here - it was also different. Just as she was different.
Those wounds had healed at the surface, fur now hiding them carefully camouflaged by time. Yet here - time still left them open and gaping. But that wasn't the only thing. Time had aged the claw marks in the trees - they had healed but still bore them proudly. As if honored to have resisted her attack or to have been there for her in that great moment of need. The trees that could not stand - in their place new saplings now sprouted. As though her assault allowed them to multiply beyond their singular placement.
As she began to take these things in she stopped pacing. She could hear skittering in the underbrush circling them but she paid them no mind. Her eyes were soaking up the details of the space. Taking them in with this new light as she considered each broken limb, felled tree or marred surface. Life had still powered on - it had taken her rage and still bore more from it.
His eyes remained down cast, he expected blows and even now felt them justified if they fell upon him. His own coat hid the scars of the battle that had raged here and nights after. Not just with her but in him self at how he had let her down and betrayed her. He felt his own sorrow blossoming in his chest as he remembered those nights. This ache that had plagued him ever since - that had put him at the distance he respectfully kept now. Upholding the vow to never leave her and protect her - but any more was her call.
As she stopped his eyes began to raise, confusion knotting his brow before his eyes followed where hers looked. And now he saw it too, the new growth that had sprung from what had been a point of pain. The deep marks in the earth from their scuffle, new growth of plants that had seeded too deeply filled them. Reaching for the sun they had been denied so long because of the depth. Closer now he looked at those claw marks in the trees, bark had began to fill them in - different colored, but the trees where wearing them like honor.
He joined her in slow motion, looking at things more carefully now in the space that had been their war zone.
Even in this place of pain. It had began to heal - it still bore marks, damage and remains of that battle. But it showed signs that life keeps going, growing, moving beyond the events to find away. A paw moved to her ribs, dragging so she could feel the marks hidden by the fur as she found her self lost in wonder. Had she allowed the wounds to remain in a way that even the earth was rejecting?
Hidden deep in her heart and soul - spoiling her very being that created fault to the degree she refused to be that beautiful wild creature before the pain sat in? She found her self sitting, paw to her ribs rubbing back and forth as her eyes traveled higher. Several nest now dotted the canopy above them, a new flock of birds had moved in to this space - using branches and pieces of trees she'd torn down.
Life had found a way to make use of the damage that they had inflicted upon it. It had found ways to keep on despite the damage and destruction they had brought to this place. That anger seeped from her - she no longer understood why she'd been holding on to it. IF life could keep on, why couldn't she? Was she not apart of the great cycle? One of its amazing huntresses that helped cull the weak, that kept the cycle moving as she hunted prey - chasing them to places they had not been before.
Life was in the creation of her wake, yet in this place of pain was it the most evident to her right now as she looked around in a dumbstruck awe of it all.
She wasn't the only one, plants he had never seen before grew here now. Ones whos scent he didn't know - musk that had new notes for him to memorize as he carefully sniffed that new growth. This was beyond anything he'd expected to see. Part of him had assumed the ground would be scorched from the rage she had radiated while here. It was like a fire bomb had gone off when everything came out.
Yet here was the proof - life went on. It found a way even with the damage that had been done. Sorrow lingered in him still though, the growth eased the sting of it - yet it was his burden to still bare for now. He had gone against his own personal code, he'd behaved poorly and treated the creature he claimed to cherish above all even worse. But this growth gave him hope, hope that he may eventually find his own way to heal and let go.
When he noticed her sitting, he took a brave step and moved to sit next to her. Carefully hip to hip, allowing his tail to swish in to hers as they both seemed to still be soaking in what had become a place of pain and myth in their memories.
Where their is life, there is always hope and thus always a way.
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