I Won't Give Up On You

Rah'ki... might have a problem. Ever since the rescue from the shelter and discovering his mentor's body, he'd been eating less and less. Just enough to keep himself alive but not enough to keep a healthy weight. He wouldn't call himself malnourished just yet, but he was certainly on his way there in a month or two.

Currently he was staring down at a katha'chek. A squirrel one of the long-legged dogs had pulled down straight from a tree. He should have chosen something smaller. He'd nibbled on it a bit, too much to justify putting it back on the kill pile, but he'd have to force himself to eat the rest.

A canna hollered out a greeting and started in his direction. At first Rah'ki ignored them, thinking they were talking to somebody else. He only realized it was Navira when she was right next to him, and only realized she was talking to him when she said his name.

Navira... wanted to walk with him? On a patrol? Just the two of them? Had he done something wrong? He hadn't been putting much effort into his duties to the Clan since Canna'e's death. Did she want to talk to him about that?

Anxiety made what little he'd eaten curdle in his belly, and Rah'ki mentally dismissed the thought of eating the rest. "Have you eaten yet? You can have the rest." he said, nosing it over to his chief. He hadn't seen her amongst the dogs choosing their breakfast so he assumed she hadn't had something yet.

Rah'ki realized, with an odd sinking sort of feeling, that Navira had no intention of taking the katha'chek from him. Even worse, she seemed pretty determined that he eat the rest.

Rah'ki grumbled to himself before taking it back and picking at it. "I still remember when you were tripping over your paws bumbling about the camp as a pup. You were never this bossy back then." he huffed, snapping up a quick bite.

It was tasteless in his mouth, but he forced himself to chew and swallow under Navira's gaze. He took another bite as Navira scratched behind her ear. Rah'ki idly hoped they weren't about to deal with a flea epidemic. The last thing the Clan needed was to itch all day every day when they were still recovering from the Rozo'ama Akoda.

The reminder of the cataclysm and everything it took from them made his heart ache. Rah'ki didn't want to eat, he really didn't, but he knew Navira would not be moved. Better to get it over with.

He finished the katha'chek in just two more bites with zero enthusiasm, making a face as he chewed and swallowed. "There. I'm done. Let's go."

Rah'ki followed Navira out of the camp, glancing at her when she fell into step beside him but otherwise not reacting to it. "That's the way of all siblings, or so I'm told." he mused aloud. "You either fall in behind them or you're in their way. Mind I've never had siblings that I can remember, so it's purely observational."

They left the relative warmth of their shelter behind and Rah'ki shivered heavily. His pelt wasn't exactly thin, but it didn't have the thickness of Why'o born canna. He eyed Navira's thick fur jealously before responding to her comment wryly. "Do you mean the disappearances of the humans, allowing us to expand our borders to the entire town up to and including where they used to chase us out? Or the disappearances of our Clanmates and thus less bodies for us to put on patrol to allow the others to rest? Either way, agreed."

A sharp wind blew suddenly, causing a vicious shudder to ripple down his spine. Rah'ki sneezed and shook his head, pawing at his nose afterward. "I hate the cold." he whined. "At least when the humans were around we could leech off their heated buildings while we were out and about. Now their buildings are as cold as ours."

Rah'ki didn't even glance to this side when a sudden warmth and pressure appeared. He hadn't expected any different. It was the Why'o way, after all. If Navira had been the first to say she was cold, he would have done the same thing.

For all the good his short fur would have done her, anyway. There was no doubt in Rah'ki's mind that he was benefiting more from their shared heat than her, and that bothered him more than the cold had.

He did, however, stiffen up when Navira teased about not sleeping piled up with their Clanmates. She didn't mean it cruelly, he knew her well enough to know that. But it was a reminder of WHY he wasn't sleeping near anybody anymore.

He'd used to sleep bundled up with Canna'eu, even underneath him when he was small enough. He didn't have that anymore, and even the idea of approaching Clanmates felt too much like he was replacing his father figure.

That wasn't what Navira wanted to hear though. And she DID have a point, but also... "Really?" he said, side-eyeing his chief and Clanmate. "You really trust Kira to not bite anybody in her sleep?"