tigertails
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"mother, come quickly!"
what is it, reginald? said lady morgan as she followed her boy out the door of the cottage into the woodlet. out the door, over the porch, through the terrain affixed with brick, back to the barren dirt path she followed to commune avec les cerfs. "my god what has happened to you?!!" it was the little buck. not the big one with 3 prongs on each antler. not the mid-size one with the grey on its flanks, but the little one, with the rust-colored horns and he was injured. and so very sad. maggie, who was sitting nearby him, turned and declared, "he's really hurt, mom." as that was all that could be said. he was alone, and frightened by his own pain. his mouth was abscessed deep inside, away from where I could tend. there was no poultice for this, as skittish fawns and even my most trusted friends of the deer family behind the wooded keep know - you don't take a deer to the apothecary or tend to them, you just stay with them until their wounds expire themselves. "my poor little angel" i coo'ed. must have said that a thousand million times before he laid down and left earth. that poor little angel. his hooves of fire tussled with another, his horns were ripped to shreds, his face attacked by some beast from his group. abandoned and outcast, he watched me watch him for over an hour longer than anybody could see another hurt that way and do nothing. maggie, reggie, and lady m. stood silent, sat nearby, and hung onto his every motion, until he left. we couldn't go, he had to. it is hard to imagine the look in his eye, watching me say he is okay with us there, when he was not well, and knew he was ended. he let us end him for him. we waited and he left. our good friend, the rust-colored antlers, and I - there broke a rap on the door frame, timid and quiet. mi'lady? are you awake? I'm writing a tale, lisette. what need of you to bother me here? mi'lady (i turned towards the door to hear her) the champion debate takes place at 4 this afternoon. would you watch it? yes! (and I slammed the tome shut) that is a well-happy diversion, lise (dust floating away from the bindings into the room) - do grab my cape (quill holstered). for i can write more about the gloom of life later." |


