Forgotten Feathers was unable to forget her run in with Fire Made Flesh no matter how hard she tried to. Every day the darkness in the swamp haunted her, reminding her of the evening she'd run into him. Oh, how such fear had bestowed this sweet doe. She wanted to fly into the sky where she would be safe. Corners of the swamp lingered in her eyes, fear in every crevice of water, leaves and bark. Caves were no longer a safe place to find shelter for the brisk air of the swamp's night, and although she had little thought of where this cave actually was she tried to move away from it. She wanted to find home but the doe had not been home for so long now that she barely knew where to start.
She wandered in a direction she could only hope was away from the cave, guided only by the fact the eaglehound had not puffed up like a fertile dandelion. She had no idea if she was heading in the right direction but at least she wasn't heading in the wrong direction. For a small moment the doe felt calm, walking almost confidently on her four legs but it didn't last long. The eaglehound suddenly puffed up and then leap into a bush, scaring Forgotten Feathers so badly that she actually forgot she had legs entirely and simply dropped to the ground.
Several barks and a lot of shuffling of leaves and finally a rather pale pink mongoose jumped out of the bushes only to have the eaglehound grab it by the fluff of its tail. Proud, like he'd protected her from something threatening, he held it up for her to see. Her reaction definitely wasn't one he'd expected but given Forgotten Feathers was only breathing for the first time in a minute now it could have been worse. She went to say something to him, probably tell him to put the poor thing down but there was a rumbling from behind the eaglehound that caused the poor doe to squeak and shut right up.
"Children these days! No respect for other kin's property!" It was an older voice, definitely male, and very cranky. It wasn't threatening in the same manner Fire Made Flesh had been but she'd felt bad now. Had she stumbled into yet ANOTHER kin's home? Were her senses really that bad? Her head definitely lowered and she whispered a very weak and very sincere apology to the pale buck. He couldn't hear it over his rambling as it continued though.
"Don't children these days know better than to come into another kin's home and steal their mongoose? Oh, Motherfather, why do you do this to me? I am but a simple buck with a simple dream of living here in peace and quiet but instead you continually throw these... these... does! These does at me! What good are they? They break into your home? Use your stuff and then leave when it is convenient for them with no regard for any kin else's feelings!"
Slowly Forgotten Feathers' head lifted as she began to think that maybe he wasn't exactly yelling entirely at her. Mallowstar was simply a cranky buck but now he was cranky and bitter. Jade Storm was a beautiful doe and she'd come into his life much like her name implied, but not before bringing happiness to the buck for a short time. He thought they would be together forever. They'd had four wonderful children together and even Peterhunter had gone and brought more little rascals in. In an act of love, he'd given her one but in an act of betrayal one day she'd simply left. He'd look for her, despite how he felt about miserable weather and birds chirping, but he'd traveled the swamp in hopes to find her. Unfortunately, he hadn't and bitterness crept in to make a home in his heart where his love for her had once been. He returned home and his life went back to how it had been before her although somethings had changed: He didn't use to complain about does quite as much.
"You!" He grumbled. "Stop playing with my mongoose and get out of here."
No one was quite playing with the mongoose so much as trying to eat it but Mallowstar had missed that small detail and simply seen it and determined the outcome at a single glance. The buck froze though, right after the words slipped out of his mouth. Deja-vu had never sunk in has hard as it had right there. His eyes fell on the eaglehound with great sorrow before falling on the pale doe. She looked nothing like Jade Storm but she was also a doe and that connection seemed to be enough for the old buck.
"Please... please just leave!" He growled. He was asking nicely but he really didn't sound like it at all.
Forgotten Feathers was all but ready to leave but when she finally got to her legs and her eyes fell on the eaglehound (who was finally putting the mongoose down) and then back to Mallowstar she simply couldn't. It wasn't fear that held her this time but compassion and sympathy. She could see the great sorrow that this buck felt and she too could relate to what he felt. He hadn't said anything explicit but she could see it in his old and tired eyes that he had lost the one he loved like she had lost loved ones. She would never forget the beautiful night she'd had with Night Heron but having lost him due to her own inability to do what simple kin could do crushed her heart so. She had children, grandchildren, and even great-grandchildren that she never met. It was a great weight on a mother's heart to know it had been her fault that her children were gone and she could never see them again. Even Swan had been lost to her because of her own challenges.
She sighed softly, her white body carefully trotting over the roots that surrounded the eaglehound, mongoose and Mallowstar. She lingered for a moment, her eyes looking at the large back of the buck as he turned to leave. Next her eyes fell to the mongoose that seemed to be his. She scooped it up from where the eaglehound had dropped it and then she stumbled her way over the roots, trying not to fall if only because she didn't want to crush the poor mongoose, and made her way to Mallowstar. She couldn't speak with the mongoose in her mouth but her eyes were soft and warm as she looked at him. His eyes met hers and he scowled, grabbing the mongoose from her rather roughly.
"I said leave!" He screamed, sorrow overflowing from his mouth in a facade of rage.
"B-but... but..." She tried to object, her hooves practically turning to leave before something inside caused her to stop. She wasn't going to leave! She tried to hold her ground, her wobbly feet shuffling uneasily as she gathered up her courage.
"No..." she objected, even if a bit meekly.
"This is my home. I said leave so leave!" He demanded with more force. He couldn't understand just why does were so stubborn, or what drew them to his home like a moth to a flame, but he'd had enough of their games! What did this doe want from him? The other had already taken his heart, what was there possibly left for this doe to take?
Forgotten Feathers didn't want to take anything though. If anything, she wanted to give him something. She didn't have much though, and the only thing of value she had was sentimental and she couldn't even give him that because it was back home at a place she couldn't remember how to get to. The thought of leaving to find something amazing to give him had occurred to her but so did the fear that if she left she wouldn't find her way back. She could give him the eaglehound to keep other kin away from his home but given how attached to her it was it definitely wouldn't go over well plus Forgotten Feathers certainly didn't want to make him anymore of a hermit than he already was. There only one thing she could give him and with a very shy movement she leaned her head over his scaled back and rested it there in what she could only try and describe as comforting.
"I'm sorry," she said softly. "Everything will be all right."
Mallowstar didn't move. His body seemed to be frozen where he stood, betraying his initial emotions of screaming at the doe for touching him. The warmth of the doe was so familiar and comforting, even if he just wanted to hate it just like the world. There was a brief pause and then slowly Mallowstar quietly moved away.
"Maybe," he said faintly. "Maybe."
Wounds took time to heal.