Expedition Private Post Urk: When the Dog Bites

[FinnianBrightfur]

Finn saw the jill pause -- and the moment of hesitation captured his full attention. So many adults just wrote off questions from kits, and were too busy to give anything other than a trite little response... but Morgan actually cared. His ears perked up as he listened, his tail swaying pensively behind him.

Morgan's analogy landed soundly with him. Indeed, there had been a terrible cost to the expedition. Even the shrewbabe had lost its parents -- something Finn tried to not think about for very long. His mind raced along, tail picking up into a quicker flick. "Yeh, but... ...the idol didn't make us do that... the shrews attacked us. Silvie was dancing for 'em, and we were try'na give'm hats 'n banana bread 'nd everything!"

And then, a sudden realization hit. "Oh beans... I forgot I stole the banana bread from Bootnose. I probably should pay him ba--" -- and then, with dramatic flair, Finn gasped. "MORGAN!" Realization had struck, and Finn was enlightened! With a sorrowful face, the foxkit spilled his guilty conscience.

"The idol made me steal banana bread!"

 

[Morgan Liu]

Morgan burst out laughing. She hadn't intended to; Finn's guilty outburst simply caught her off-guard. Unfortunately, with the tube in her chest, laughing was very painful, and she was soon choking and wheezing as she struggled to regain her breath. "Sorry," she apologized as soon as she'd managed it. "Doc gave me somethin' 'at's still makin' me a bit loopy an' makin' some things funnier 'an they should be." She patted Finn's shoulder sympathetically as she commented, "Yeah, yer righ'. Ya did it fer th' idol, maybe indirectly, but still." She couldn't spill her own guilty conscience; knowing that the shrews had died because she'd failed as a translator and negotiator still haunted her. She tried telling herself that if she'd confessed that she couldn't understand a word they said, Talinn would simply have ordered them slaughtered. It was as cold a comfort as the waters below them had been.

She pulled Finn in for a hug, letting her coat close around them as she shivered. The dark and cold of the night air reminded her too much of being beneath the ship, and feeling the youngster's presence in her arms was all that was keeping the darkness from closing in against her. "Finnie," she said quietly, "I'll tell ya th' truth - I'm gonna be havin' nigh'mares too for a while. Ya don' needa, bu'... ya min' keepin' me company, leas' until I fall asleep?"