The Broken Home

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By the time I left Bone's hut, the sun had already started making its slow descent behind the mountains.

I hadn't realized how much time had passed. Between cleaning the storage den, eating salmon, and engaging in conversation, what Bone had intended to be just a simple lunch between the two of us ended up bleeding well into the afternoon. Not that I minded all that much. My stomach was full, my body wasn't aching nearly as badly as it had been earlier, and for the first time since I'd woken up in this strange place, I didn't feel like I needed someone there to constantly point me in the right direction.

So, rather than heading straight back to the healer's den, I decided to wander.

The village felt different without Rain there walking next to me. Bigger somehow. Once or twice, I found myself needing to stop to get my bearings, but I was starting to recognize things. The path that led back towards the healer's den, the trail that led to the training grounds, a few huts that we had passed this morning that just seemed to stand out to me - little landmarks that had meant nothing a few hours ago that were now slowly starting to come together to form a basic map in my head.

The people were starting to become familiar, too. Recurring faces that I always seemed to see hanging around the same spots.

And it seemed like I was becoming familiar to them, in return. Not in the way that Thorn already was. No, this time it was different.

I caught the first whispers about it before I'd even made it halfway across the village.

"He helped her carry the whole thing!"

"Thorn did?"

"That's what she said."

"It has to be some kind of trick..."

I kept walking.

A little further down the path, two women went quiet the moment they noticed me heading in their direction. One of them suddenly became very interested in something inside of the basket that was sitting on her lap while the other watched me pass with narrowed eyes.

I tried to act like I didn't notice. It wasn't difficult to understand what was happening. As I'd already come to find out, word around here travelled fast.

By now, half of the village had probably heard about something I'd done that day. My assessment with Rain, helping the elk that had fallen with his load of firewood, sitting down and sharing a meal with Bone without one of us trying to tear the other's head off. Even apologizing when I accidentally bumped into somebody seemed to cause a stir.

I wasn't sure whether I was starting to find that funny or just depressing. Probably a little bit of both, if I was being honest.

They were just little things. Normal things.

Things that apparently became a pretty big deal whenever Thorn did them.

I looked around as evening began settling into the village. Hunters that had gone out for the day returned with fresh catches as fires began illuminating the interiors of huts and other dwellings. Children were being called home as the temperature slowly started to drop and the smell of food being prepared began rising into the air. As the sky darkened and night approached, the hustle and bustle that had been carrying on throughout the day died down into casual chatter and laughter around firepits.

From the corner of my eye, however, there was a place that didn't seem to follow the same rhythm as the rest of the village.

It was a hut, one that sat further up the mountain near the treeline and out of the way of everything else. No smoke, no firelight, no voices, nobody coming or going with food or supplies.

At first I thought it might have been abandoned, but that thought was quickly dismissed when I noticed the path leading to it. It wasn't overgrown or unused. There were footprints. Not fresh ones, but they'd been made recently enough to indicate that someone was still clearly living here.

I called out as I approached, prepared to meet whatever angry or fearful therian that lived here that might not be too pleased to see Thorn marching up to their doorstep.

Nothing.

I knocked against the wooden door frame, flinching as the sound bounced off of the stone walls.

Nothing.

Taking a step inside, something immediately felt off.

The inside of the hut was dark, cold, and completely silent. It wasn't dirty, necessarily, but it looked like the sort of place where the inhabitants had only been surviving in it rather than living.

Broken bowls nobody had bothered to replace lay scattered across the floor.

There were dents in the walls left behind from something being thrown at them. Likely the bowls.

Tattered pelts that had long worn out their use lay draped over a messy bed of straw.

There was clothing that appeared to have been repaired several times. Some sat stacked neatly in a pile in a designated corner while others had been tossed casually to the side.

On a crudely-assembled stone table, one surviving bowl held the remains of bones that had been picked completely clean. Not just eaten from, but had been cracked open for the marrow inside.

As I continued to look around a few things started to become clear. The first was the type of therians that lived here. Based on the types of furs I saw, there was at least one wolf and one lynx.

The second thing I gathered was that the wolf seemed to maintain things a lot better than the lynx. The wolf pelts around the hut that had been fashioned into winter clothing and bedding were cleaner and more intact than those of the lynx, so they were either newer, or they had been handled with better care.

And the third...

There was a child.

Among the ragged clothing and tattered lynx pelts, I found those that looked to be way too small to have been made for any adult. In a corner on the floor, the pelts of two rabbits had been sewn together to create a crudely-made toy.

I went over it all again in my head.

A wolf and two lynxes. Two adult therians and one child. A family that was clearly not very well off.

Rain's words from last night rang through my head.

"Tribe members help each other out. Being an outcast or a loner isn't going to be an option for you, if you intend to stay."

Was that what was going on here? Did this hut belong to a family that had been rejected by the tribe? If so, why? Where were they now? Had they taken what they thought they could salvage and left, or were they still here, barely scaping by?

"David?"

The soft voice that came from the doorway cut through the silence of the hut, making me jump. I spun around to find Flower standing behind me, looking confused, probably as to what I was doing in some random family's house.

"I didn't think I'd find you up here so soon," she commented, taking a few steps towards me, "What are you doing here?"

"Nothing," I replied, "I was just... seeing if there was anyone here that needed help."

Flower let out a small sigh, "Plenty of help needed in this place..."

That had to be the least optimistic thing I'd heard her say yet.

I took another look around the hut, holding the rabbit toy in my hands.

"Who lives here?" I asked.

Flower hesitated, looking away before she finally answered.

"Raven, Shade, and Thorn."

My stomach hit the floor. Something in my chest broke.

This was Thorn's home?

I looked around again. Slower this time. My eyes immediately went back to the dents in the walls and the broken bowls on the floor, my mind putting the pieces of this puzzle together and forming a really grim picture.

"What did he do?" was the first thing I asked.

Flower just shook her head, "He and Raven got into another argument. This was the state of their hut when they both left."

I felt my eyes narrow. I knew Thorn had left to go ice fishing after his fight with Raven, but Raven had left, too? To go where? How long had she been gone? Where was their son?

"So where is Raven?" I finally asked.

"Far-hunting," Flower replied, "Her party's not expected to return from the valley for a few more days yet."

I nodded, "And Shade? Where is he?"

"Don't worry," she said, giving me a reassuring smile, "The tribe has been looking after him while Thorn and Raven have been out. Echo normally looks after him in their absence."

I thought back to the wolf I had seen pass by us when I set foot outside of the healer's den for the first time and the freshly caught rabbit that had been dangling from its jaws. I let out a small sigh, feeling kind of bad now for being so startled by her. At least she was putting in the work to keep Shade fed.

Even so...

My eyes locked back onto the bowl of cracked bones sitting on the table. A sense of unease started to creep in as I stooped down and chanced giving it a small sniff.

"Smells fresh..." I stated, and my heart dropped.

Why would a bowl of bones that had been left to sit out in the open for two days smell fresh?

I lifted my head and gave another sniff. A sharp, chemical-like smell pricked at my nose.

I turned to Flower, "I smell fear."

Flower's eyes widened and the two of us began a frantic search around the hut. Truthfully, there weren't all that many places to search. Flower checked under the stone table while I got down on my hands and knees to look around the bed.

One of my hands brushed against something firm and soft that was tucked under a pelt, and that something proceeded to scramble away from me and retreat into one of the far corners of the room.

There, curled up in a small fluffy ball, sat a little lynx cub. Shade.

"Found him," I called over to Flower. "Looks like he's alright."

I crouched down and tried to reach for him, only for him to push himself further back into the corner he was in. The cub let out a screech that I was sure could be heard by the entire village, and I immediately drew my hand back. It was only then that I noticed the look in his eyes - round, wide, and absolutely terrified.

"He's scared of you," Flower stated, crawling up beside me, "Here. Let me..."

I lifted my hands and scooted myself back out into the middle of the den.

Flower inched forward up to Shade, laying herself flat against the floor as she began speaking to him softly; a one-sided conversation that I could only get bits and pieces of.

"Hey, Shade. Remember me...? That's right. I'm your mom's friend... No, you're not in trouble... No, he's not angry with you... I promise..."

After a couple of minutes of this, the small, tan ball of fluff slowly inched his way out of the corner, allowing Flower to gather him into her arms.

Shade took one quick look over at me, and instantly pressed himself closer to her, burying his face against her chest as Flower stood back up.

At that moment, I couldn't tell if my heart was melting or breaking. Aside from the fact that I had a soft spot for pretty much any baby animal, this little cub was so cute. And yet, the mere sight of me - the mere sight of Thorn - was enough to send him running back into a corner.

A nagging guilt started eating away at me. I had spent all day wandering around the village, learning about my abilities as a therian, looking for work to do, and talking and eating with Bone. All the while, this child was hiding out here, sitting alone in a cold, dark hut, living off of meat that he had resorted to cracking open the bones of for sustenance.

And Shade wasn't even my child!

"David?" Flower piped up, making her way back over to me, "Is something wrong?"

"I-It's nothing..." I stammered, trying to rein in my thoughts, "It's just... You're sure he hasn't just been left to fend for himself in this miserable place?"

"Of course, he hasn't. Rest assured, he hasn't been alone this whole time. Someone's been there to look after him since you were brought into the healer's den. I saw him eating with Echo earlier this afternoon, in fact."

My guilt eased slightly, but I couldn't get my mind off of that bowl of broken bones that had been left sitting on the table.

"Then what's he doing back here?" I asked.

Flower sighed, "Because he has legs, and he knows where his home is."

I smiled a little at that, but it quickly fell from my face as I looked back down at the lynx cub that still had his face buried against her chest. The smell of fear rolled off of him in waves. He had been hiding, tucking himself out of sight, for who knows how long. All because I was now wearing the face of his father, and he was scared of him.

And yet, he still chose to come back home.

My gaze fell back onto the rabbit toy, which had fallen to the floor during our search for Shade. I picked it up and walked it back over to him.

A wide hazel eye peaked up at me from Flower's furs as I held it out to him. He hesitated for a moment before taking it into his mouth and wrapping his paws around it.

My hand moved to stroke at his fur, but I stopped, letting my hand hover just over the arch of his back momentarily before I pulled back. He was cute, he was terrified, and I desperately wanted to do something to reassure him, but I thought better of it. There wasn't anything that I could do right now that would be able to undo years of whatever Thorn had put him through, and as far as Shade knew, I was Thorn.

He wasn't ready, and I could accept that.

"We should probably get him somewhere warm," I said, looking around the hut again, "This hut's going to need a lot of TLC before it can be considered livable."

Flower's face broke into a smile once more as she started towards the entrance, "Well, then you'll have your work cut out for you."

I began to follow along behind her before I noticed Shade tense. His ears flattened against his head again as his eyes locked onto mine, and I stopped.

Right. Of course...

"Should I stay here tonight?" I asked.

Flower paused and turned back to face me.

"I think that would be for the best," she answered, "For now, at least."

I nodded in understanding, "Alright. Good night, then."

"Good night."

I leaned over and offered Shade a smile. Hopefully, one that was kinder than anything Thorn would have given him.

"Good night, Shade."

Shade looked away from me again, and he let out another whine before Flower pulled him closer to her and carried him away from the hut.

The silence that followed was deafening.

I took in everything around me again - the broken bowls, the damaged walls, the tattered bedding, the clothing that desperately needed to be replaced. Everything about the place had changed its meaning.

It wasn't abandoned.

The family hadn't been rejected.

This was Thorn's home.

I guess, in a sense, that made it my home, now, too.

Anger boiled in my chest at that.

No matter how bad things would get on the Willoughby homestead, we had never lived like this. There was always food and always warmth. A fire burning in the woodstove. Warm beds with layers of clean bedding. More wool caps and sweaters than Grandma, Grandpa, or I knew what to do with. And no matter what the day brought us, we were still able to come home to each other and greet one another with a smile and a conversation to hold.

Here, there was no warmth, and Thorn had made it that way.

A pang of sadness hit me as I sat down on the bed. I was sure I heard a mouse squeak from somewhere underneath me.

"Damn you, Thorn," I muttered to myself, "Damn you and whatever hell you've turned this place into."

"You know, talking to yourself isn't going to fix anything."

The sudden voice made me lift my head.

Rain stood in the doorway, leaning against the frame with a stack of cloths draped over his arms.

"Flower told me I would find you here," he stated stepping into the hut, "I originally came up here to see if you were ready to go into the grooming den, but I can see you have a lot still weighing on your mind."

"I guess you could say that," I sighed as the two of us settled around the cold firepit, "I met Shade."

Rain nodded, "That's what I heard."

A silence settled between us as we both stared into the pit. The light coming in through the doorway was growing dimmer. The cold inside of the hut was starting to work its way through my furs.

I looked around.

No firewood. Figures...

"You know none of this is your fault, right?" Rain suddenly piped up, "It was Thorn's."

"Yes," I responded, "But I feel like it's become my responsibility. Shade, the hut, Thorn's reputation... I've inherited a mess."

Rain snorted, "You're not wrong."

Another silence settled between us until I mustered up the courage to ask the question I'd been too afraid to ask.

"How badly did Thorn treat that poor kid?"

Rain frowned, "Shade learned early when to stay out of his father's way."

My stomach tightened.

"Thorn hadn't always been cruel to him," he continued, "In fact, he could be rather affectionate. But as things got worse, there came days when it didn't take much to set him off. Shade learned that if Thorn was angry, it was better to be somewhere his father couldn't see him."

I turned my head back towards the bed, gazing at the mess of pelts where I had first encountered the little lynx.

"And Raven?" I asked, "What's she like?"

Rain lifted his head, "Why do you want to know?"

"Well, she's my wife, apparently... Thorn's wife..." I cringed, "You get what I mean."

Rain cracked a half-smile as he straightened his posture.

"Raven is a hunter," he explained, "One of the best trackers we have, and one of the strongest women in the entire village. She's patient, but direct. She'll tell you exactly what's on her mind, most of the time. That's what Thorn liked most about her."

I raised a brow, "And she liked him ?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

Rain gave me a look.

"It might be hard to believe, but Thorn wasn't always the man you hear about now. Distant, maybe, but he was still capable of showing love and care towards his mate and his cub."

Love? Care? I had yet to hear anyone use those words in correlation to Thorn.

"So what changed?" I asked.

Rain's expression darkened slightly.

"We don't know the exact reason," he said, "But we do know that it had something to do with an attack our village faced from his home tribe about four years ago."

I leaned forward slightly, "An attack?"

Rain pointed in the direction of one of the mountains that loomed over the village.

"The Tribe of the High Mountains," he stated, "Warrior tribe. Highly aggressive."

I let out a scoff, "Just like Thorn."

"No, even worse. Thorn was tame by comparison."

My eyes widened a little at that. Thorn? Tame?

"Anyway," Rain continued, "I guess Raven saw something in him that was worth building a life around... Until he started giving her fewer and fewer reasons to keep seeing it."

I didn't know what to say to that.

My eyes wandered around the hut again as I thought about home. Grandma fussing over the state of the cabin, even when it was already clean. Grandpa bringing in wood before a really bad storm. Hot food on the stove. Fresh sheets covering the beds. A fire that kept the house warm throughout the night.

Then I tried to picture Raven, coming home from wherever she was now. Walking through the doorway, tired and sore, only to be met with this. Eventually, Shade would come back, too.

That thought made me frown.

"No."

Rain blinked, "No, what?"

I rose to my feet and started gathering the pieces of the broken bowls.

"Raven's been gone for days, right?" I asked, "Gone far-hunting?"

"Yes..."

"That means I've got time."

"Time for what?"

"This," I held up one of the pieces I'd picked up from the floor before gesturing around the hut, "Look at this place! Half of the dishes here are broken, the bedding looks like it should have been thrown out months ago, and I don't want to know how exactly those dents in the walls got there."

Rain stared up at me in shock, "David-"

"Maybe I can't change what Thorn has already done. I might not be able to get Shade to not be afraid of me, and I might not be able to explain any of this to Raven. Hell, I don't even know what I'm supposed to say to her when we eventually meet..."

I looked down at the fragment of bowl sitting in my hands.

"But I know how to clean."

Rain stared at me for several seconds before he finally spoke.

"Don't you want to get clean, first?" he asked, "You smell terrible."

I remembered the grooming den, and I vaguely remembered the rules Rain had laid out to me about it back in the healer's den.

"We have all night, right?" I asked him.

Rain nodded, "Until the fires are put out and the hot stones go cold."

"I'll go after I get some of this cleaned up."

Rain's eyes narrowed as he folded his arms over his chest, "David..."

"Well, I'm not just going to leave it like this."

Rain stared at me for another moment before his shoulders finally sank.

"You're really determined to do this, aren't you?"

"Yes, I am."

Rain muttered something under his breath as he pushed himself onto his feet.

"What's that?" I asked, raising a brow at him.

"I said you're stubborn," Rain grumbled.

I could help but chuckle. The sentiment was familiar.

"Funny, My grandma says the same thing."

Rain shot me a half-smile, "I can see why."

For a brief second, I thought Rain was going to leave as I watched him walk towards the doorway. Instead, though, he stopped and turned back to me.

"If you insist on doing this tonight, you're going to need somewhere to put all of that," he said, pointing to the cracked bones and broken bowls, "I'll find you some baskets and something to sweep with."

A relieved smile broke across my face, "Thanks, Rain."

"Don't thank me yet. Thank me after Raven returns home and she's satisfied with the state of her home."

I smiled.

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