Her world was numb with pain and hazy to push through. Coming back to consciousness was slow going for Maske and even upon waking, she felt groggier than ever. The numbness was welcome though. She would rather pretend she was nothing than to return to the reality of life.
It had been a few days since the incident. She had remained comatose for most of it, and despite coming to wakefulness, she had mostly stared listlessly at the wall, more just going through the motions of life than really trying to live. As a clergy, she knew what she needed to survive, to heal, but having experienced tragedy, she could honestly say that it was a hollow knowledge. It did little to soothe the mental wounds.
Aside from the clergy members watching over her, she had frequent visitors to the den. Her family were probably the most common of them. She could swear that they had a rotation between them, given how often she had one of them there. They tried their best to get her back on her feet, and in return, Maske tried her best to go back to normal. The smiles never reached her eye though... her one working eye. She winced at the thought, immediately trying to banish that area of thinking before she could dwell on it more.
Unwillingly, her thoughts turned instead to her king. Upon waking, she was surprised to see that Aragon wasn't at her side. It was a nice surprise when he at last showed up later that night, albeit also a scary one. He was clearly frazzled, and there seemed to be a storm cloud above him as he walked. It left her feeling uneasy. Was he ashamed of how she looked now? Was he disgusted? Everyone else told her that he had remained by her side during her unconsciousness, but why would he? She doubted she was very appealing now....
It was almost funny to her - she had spent so much time battling with herself over whether to stay with him or let him go, but now that he had every reason to leave her, she wanted nothing more than for him to stay. Her feelings were being played with by herself, because as much as she told herself that it was because she loved him, there was a small voice in the back of her head that wanted it for protection. The thought made her feel sick. What sort of farce had her life become? She loved traveling... but was it worth the cost anymore?
She couldn't even consult her loved ones anymore. Her family tried to feign ignorance, but she could tell they would prefer she stay close to home now, thanks to her injuries. Her friends just wouldn't understand, nor did she want to burden them with any of this. And Aragon was obviously out of the question. So what was she to do?
Then again, this would probably all be moot point anyway. There's no way he'd still be interested in her now. She was surprised he still visited daily, though it was almost night now and he still had not returned. Perhaps it was for the best....
Of course, fate would decide then to prove her wrong. Her ears flicked up at the sound of soft talking, a familiar baritone voice making her close her eyes, followed by the pit pat of footsteps coming closer.
Had she been able to read his thoughts, she would have found that his frustration was over the loss of his prey. That the berserker got away was irritating beyond belief, but there was nothing more he could do about it. Hopefully his pack had at least shown the villain how badly of a mistake he'd made by coming here.
Still, seeing Maske recover was a bright spot in his days. He hated seeing her look so defeated. If he could, he would take it all away, would have gladly given himself over in her stead, but that was impossible. All he could do now was be with her.... not that knowing that helped him feel any less useless.
He was later than usual today. The pack was busy with everything going on, and he had barely had time to himself. Once he finally did though, Aragon had stopped to grab a chunk of meat from a recent hunt, hoping to bring her some dinner before the clergy got to it. He took a moment to check in on the wolf pup they'd found too. She was doing okay. Still frightened of everyone, but she seemed to have accepted that they weren't going to hurt her.
Padding into Maske's area, his eyes softened at the sight of her, a mixed feeling of happiness (at seeing her) and sadness (at her condition) overcoming him. Walking closer, he dropped the food down in front of her, which made her open her eyes and lift her head.
"I brought you some dinner, if you're hungry. If not, you can always set it aside for later. " Maske was silent as she stared down at the food, which made Aragon fidget. She was so quiet nowadays, and while she'd never been a hugely talkative wolf, it was a bit unsettling at time. "Sorry I'm late. The pack is still getting its footing again, after..."
He trailed off, realizing that that probably wasn't something he should bring up, and instead cleared his throat. "Anyway, we're all looking forward to seeing you back on your feet again... I'm looking forward to it. I miss our walks, and our conversations, and well," he let out a quiet bark of a laugh, "... everything. You should meet this pup we found. I bet she'll like you. Pups always seem to like you. It's one of the things I love about you. You're so good at getting others to like yo-"
"Why?"
He froze at her tone. It was watery and full of emotion, and crap, looking at her face, he could see that tears were growing in her good eye. Had he made her cry?! He felt his heart drop to his paws, and he mentally went over everything he'd said, trying to figure out what was wrong.
"I... I don't... I didn't mean to bring up-"
"How can you still love me?!" The words echoed through the silent den. Outside, the quiet chatter of the clergy seemed to die down too, though neither seemed to notice. "I've done nothing for you but cause trouble, and now I've brought that... that monster to our pack too! A-and... and h-how could you love someone w-who looks like.... like..." Maske let out a sob as she trailed off, curling into herself in an effort to protect herself from whatever he said in response. In her mind, it would be nothing good.
So she wilted back as she felt the small nudge against her face, then held her breath as the nose twirled back around her ear in a comforting gesture before the feeling of a warm body sidled up next to her. Through her bleary green eye, she looked back at the other wolf dog, now staring right at her with warm amber eyes.
"Like someone worthy of love? Because I love you, Maske, and I always will. Nothing will change that. Even should you never return those feelings," he glanced down at his paws then, knowing that the option was still on the table, and then looked back up with a harder resolve, "I'll still feel that way. What happened was not your fault, and I will do all that I can to make sure it never happens again."
Aragon nudged his muzzle over hers as he finished, wishing he could do more to reassure her, and when she buried her face into his chest, sobbing nonsensically, he lowered his head down to rest atop her own. There was nothing he could do to change what had been done to her. He could not heal her right eye, nor could he remove the scars streaked across her face, but he hoped that she would let him be there to help heal her heart.
They sat quietly together as her crying died down. Aragon had closed his eyes at some point, but they slid open again as the other wolf began speaking. It was so quiet, he would have missed it had there been any other noise.
"I'd like that.... I'd like... to be with you."
That got him to lift his head, looking down at her with shock, "Wait... Maske, do you mean...." But he trailed off as he noticed her relaxed face. She'd fallen asleep with her nose buried in his fur.
Aragon blinked, unsure what to do with this new information, but also unwilling to wake her when she needed rest so badly. Resolving to ask her about it on another day, he gently set his head back down and closed his eyes to return to his dozing.
Word Count: 1503