Bearrunner darted to the side avoiding the enraged giant’s swipe as his 
spear came to a quivering halt in the bear’s left flank. His wolf rushed past him 
to harry it’s legs, but quickly retreated when a claw swept by inches from his 
head. Bearrunner panted and backed off several more body lengths as the 
giant bear seemed to crouch and watch his tormenters with feverishly glowing 
eyes. 
	“It’s no good, Tye, he doesn’t know when to go down!”
	“You think we’re going to leave him here after wounding him worse 
than he already was? You can go if you want, I didn’t ask you to come anyway!”
	Bearrunner winced at the reminder, but knew all too well that while his 
spear still clung to the bear’s flank, Tye’s own had been shattered earlier when 
the bear had managed to grab it in his jaws. “I’ll just go get help, ok? The other
hunters should be back by now.”
	Tye shook his head as he crouched before the bear meeting it’s furious 
gaze. “Don’t bother. I said I could do this by myself.”
	“But, Tye!” Bearrunner watched in horror as Tye drew his skinning knife 
and charged toward the bear. Time seemed to pass in slow motion as the razor 
sharp knife cut into the bear’s throat and dagger like claws met elven shoulder 
and arm. Time resumed it’s normal pace with a shower of blood coating the 
forest floor. The bear slowly collapsed and the elf was thrown to the side and 
rolled slowly to a halt. Neither moved. 
	“Tye?” Bearrunner choked out nervously edging toward the fallen elf. 
“Are you... all right?” He leaned down to push the other elf onto his back, 
wincing at the bloody ruin of Tye’s right shoulder. He watched with bated breath 
for a long moment and was relieved when he saw that Tye’s chest still rose and 
fell in a steady rhythm. He opened his mind and sent an open distress call, 
hoping that someone was within his range. Finally, knowing nothing else to do, 
Bearrunner ripped off the bottom of his tunic and pressed the leather against the 
bleeding wounds. It wasn’t much, but... Puckernuts! He was no healer! “Please, 
Tye, just hang on, ok?”
	**Bearrunner**
	He recognized that mind voice! Bearrunner looked desperately over his 
shoulder into the deep brown eyes of the Holt’s lead hunter. “Stalk! Thank the 
High Ones! I... I don’t know what to do! He’s bleeding so much...” Stalk knelt 
down beside the young hunter, his eyes taking in the bloody mess presented by 
the two elves and the dead bear. 
	“You’re doing the right thing. I sent the others on to the Holt to get the 
healer. She will be here soon.” Stalk reached out to trace the path of a long healed 
scar on Tye’s cheek. “Headstrong cub, why must you do this?” Bearrunner bit his 
lip and remained silent, knowing the question wasn’t for him. He could only try 
to slow the bleeding and pray that Tye’s mother arrived soon. 
	The wait was thankfully a short one, soon Bearrunner was rewarded to see 
the site of Flower bringing her wolf to a skidding halt beside the fallen elf. She 
threw her satchel of healing herbs to the side as she sprang to her son’s aid.  The 
herbs were basically useless with the wounds bleeding as fiercely as they were. 
She concentrated her limited power and laid her hands on the wounds. Her face 
was a mask of concentration as she fought to hold on. She would not let death 
have this one. Not her cub, it was an insult she would not allow. 		
	The gathered elves waited silently, unable to see how much progress the 
healer made with the blood covering everything. After a while Flower dropped 
back, wiping the sweat from her brow. “I need my herbs,” she whispered weakly. 
	Bearrunner sprang to recover the fallen herbs. “Healer, will he be all right?”
 he inquired tightly as she took the satchel from him. 
	Flower was silent for a long moment as she pulled what she wanted out of 
the bag. “I’ve stopped the bleeding, with my power there’s not much more I can 
do. The rest is up to him, High Ones willing, my son will recover, but he will be 
very weak for awhile.” Flower carefully packed herbs over the wounds and bound 
them to hold the herbs on and protect the area from farther injury. 
	“Can he be moved?” Stalk asked quietly.
	“Yes, but you must be very careful. If the wounds reopen...”		
	Stalk nodded shortly and gently reached down to lift the wounded elf. He 
turned to face the gathered hunters who had followed the healer back after 
alerting her. “I will carry Tye back to the Holt. It’s not that far and the trip might be 
too jarring on wolfback.” The gathered elves nodded their acknowledgement and 
faded back into the trees taking the exhausted healer with them. Soon Stalk was 
left alone with only his wounded son and a hovering Bearrunner. Tye’s wolf, 
Two-toe appeared from the undergrowth and whined anxiously at the smell of 
blood and her elf-friend mixed so freely. Brighteyes, Bearrunner’s wolf was sniffing 
the carcass of the dead bear warily as if expecting it to spring back to its feet at any 
moment. Stalk had sent his own wolf back with the other hunters when he had 
decided to walk back to the Holt. 
	  Stalk turned his head to address Bearrunner, “You can go ahead if you 
like, we’ll be along shortly.”
	Bearrunner shook his head and fixed his eyes on the ground. “I’d rather 
stay with Tye if I could.”
	Stalk shrugged his shoulders slightly to indicate his indifference without 
jostling his burden and then turned to stride smoothly toward the Holt. 
Bearrunner jogged quickly behind him followed by the two wolves anxious not 
to be left behind.
	The night was nearly finished when Stalk and Bearrunner reached the Holt. 
Tye had not moved during the entire process, but the leathers wrapped around 
his wounds appeared clean, so it was hoped that the bleeding had not returned. 
One of the other hunters, Screechowl, approached them as they entered into Holt 
boundaries. “Flower wants you to take Tye to her den so that she can watch over 
him while he recovers. Keen went back to dress the bear, he’ll return later,” she 
related. 
	Stalk nodded and moved towards the healer’s den, a location that he had 
studiously avoided since Tye’s birth. As he approached, Flower leaned her head 
out of the den’s mouth and gestured for him to follow her. She appeared to have 
recovered from the strain of healing Tye, her thick reddish brown hair no longer 
clinging to her face. Stalk mounted the few steps shaped into the side of the wide 
squat tree that was the center of the Holt. For convenience, the healer’s den was 
set near the ground.
	**Here.** Flower sent as Stalk stepped into the deeper darkness of the den. 
As his eyes adjusted, he was able to see that Flower had created a thick pallet of 
furs near her own sleeping place for him to lay the injured one. 
	He carefully laid Tye down on the furs and turned to Flower.  “I’ll come 
back later and check on him.”
	Flower shook her head. “No, send Bearrunner if you must, but I do not 
want you here.” Stalk rounded on Flower startlement clear on his face. Flower 
drew herself up and faced the hunter she had Recognized so many seasons ago. 
“You’ve done enough damage, Stalk. I don’t want you here while he is trying to 
regain his strength.”
	“*I* have done him damage? I taught the cub to hunt as he should, if you 
hadn’t..”
	“Quiet.” The two combatants spun to face Tye who glared at them weakly 
with pain glazed eyes. “If you two are going to fight, I’d rather go back to my own 
den with Bearrunner.”			
	Flower shook her head urgently. “No, Tye, you must stay here until you’re 
stronger.”
	“If I must stay then I should have a say in who sees me. Father can come.”
	Flower looked mutinous for a moment, but then sighed and dropped her 
arms to her side in defeat. “All right.”
	“Where is Bearrunner?”
	“Fidgeting around outside like a treewee with it’s tail caught on a branch 
last I saw,” Stalk stated dryly.
	“I want to see him.”
	“Don’t tire yourself  too much, Tye, you need to rest.”
	“I won’t, Mother, it’s just for a moment.”
	Stalk slipped out of the den and in a moment was replaced by Bearrunner. 
He acknowledged the warning look the healer gave him and rushed to Tye’s side. 
Gingerly, he took Tye’s hand in his own. **Are you all right?**
	**No.**
	**Sorry, stupid question, I was worried.**
	**Were you hurt?**
	**No, just scared witless,** Bearrunner sent with a shaky laugh.
	**Told you not to come. Told you..** Tye’s sending faded out as he drifted 
back into unconsciousness. 			
	Bearrunner sighed and replaced Tye’s limp hand to his side. “Yes, lovemate,
 but what would have happened to you if I hadn’t?” he whispered so that only he 
could hear. 		
	Bearrunner passed Flower and stepped out of the healer’s den. The sun 
had cleared the horizon and its bright rays stung his eyes. He ducked his head and 
trotted across the Holt to where he made his own den with Tye. Someone else was 
waiting when he arrived, however. Bearrunner nearly groaned when he 
recognized the tall slender figure guarding his den entrance. Windflower was the 
last thing he needed. “What do you want?” he inquired, resigned to being delayed 
even farther from a much needed sleep. 			
	“Where is Tye?”
	“He was hurt badly on the Hunt. He’s resting now in the healer’s den.”
	Windflower’s eyes widened in shock. “That’s simply horrible! I trust that the 
healer has seen that he is being Healed?”
	“Flower is not that powerful, Windflower. She has done what she could and 
now it’s up to Tye. It will take time for him to heal fully.”
	Windflower clicked his tongue in distress. “Why can’t you have a competent 
healer around then?”
	Bearrunner rolled his eyes. “Flower is our only healer. Tye was lucky that she 
has any magic at all.”
	“I must see him. He needs comfort in his pain.” Windflower spun allowing 
the long tail of his tunic to flair dramatically behind him. Bearrunner quickly 
reached out to grasp the pure elf’s arm. 
	“Tye is resting. He doesn’t need you to disturb him.”
	Windflower lowered his gaze to where Bearrunner gripped his arm. The 
gaze was so filled with disdain that Bearrunner self consciously released him and 
drew his hand back against his own side, now clenched tightly in a fist. “It’s late 
at any rate. The healer will not wish to be disturbed.”
	Windflower tossed his long swath of pale hair back and sighed. “I suppose 
that I can wait until nightfall again to see him. No longer than that, however, I do 
not want him to think that I am unconcerned for him.”
	“Sure, Windflower, good sleep,” Bearrunner muttered as he pushed past 
Windflower and into his den.
	
	Windflower beat Bearrunner to the healer’s den the next night. Bearrunner 
often wondered if the older elf ever slept at all. Flower looked harried and there 
was little doubt that Windflower had been subtly belittling her efforts since he had 
arrived. Bearrunner gave her a commiserating half smile and paused to inquire 
on the state of her patient, “How is he?”
	Flower sighed and ran one long fingered hand through her tangled hair. 
“Irritable. He hasn’t had a good thing to say to anyone since he woke up. 
Windflower is not helping the matter.”
	“That would mean he’s back to normal then, hm?”
	Flower laughed softly, “I suppose, I just wish..”
	“Tye is Tye, you just have to accept him as he is. Although High Ones 
know he can make you as crazy as a fermented dream berry.” Bearrunner shook 
his dirty blond hair out of his eyes. “I’ll go see if I can rescue him from 
Windflower’s clutches, are you coming?”
	“No, I have to replenish my herb stores, Tye should be well enough 
without me for awhile, just don’t let him strain himself.”
	“I won’t.”
	Tye was propped up slightly in the furs with Windflower trying to 
straighten out every crease in the lay of the furs. His face was fixed with a dark 
scowl and it was quite plain that he would rather be anywhere else than where 
he was. Windflower gave him a superior look before returning to his appointed 
task and ignoring Bearrunner’s existence. Bearrunner sighed and knelt beside Tye 
holding his silence while he worked on capturing some of his wayward mane into 
small braids to keep it out of his face. Finally, Tye broke the silence. “Can’t you 
get rid of him?” he snapped jerking his head in Windflower’s direction, “He’s 
driving me crazy.”
	Bearrunner shook his head slightly, “Sorry...”
	“Then I’ll throw him out myself,” Tye growled and started to push himself 
farther out of the furs. Both Bearrunner and Windflower jumped to stop him. 
	“No!” They shouted in unison and then glared at one another suspiciously. 
	“If you are going to be so difficult, my wolfling, then I shall return later 
when we can be alone. You mustn’t put up such a fuss on my account,” Windflower 
rose gracefully and brushed his lips across Tye’s forehead despite the latter’s 
attempt to avoid the gesture. He cast Bearrunner one last haunty look before 
sweeping out of the den to attend to whatever Windflower did during the night. 
Bearrunner neither knew nor cared what.
	It was nearly an eight of nights before Flower allowed Tye to leave her 
den. Even then, she made it plain that he was not to be allowed to pursue his 
usual past time. She instead enlisted his help in gathering the plants she used in 
her healing as well as anything else useful she found on their excursions. 
Bearrunner had rejoined the regular hunt, Windflower insisted on drifting along 
with Tye on these gathering excursions, occasionally finding a particularly bright 
flower to twine in his own hair, or much to Tye’s disgust his. 
	It was returning from one of these excursions, longer than any before as 
Tye gained more strength that he felt as if he had stepped into the past. His 
parents were faced off against one another, the night air fairly crackling with their 
fury. The argument was silent, carried on solely in lock send, but Tye didn’t need 
to hear to understand that he was once more at the center of their antagonism. 
Disgusted, he dropped the satchel he had been using to the side, drawing his 
parents attention to him.
	“Don’t you think I’m old enough now to make my own decisions?” he 
asked dryly. 
	Stalk drew himself up and turned his glare to his son. “When you show 
the maturity to take a part in this Holt and stop playing at hunting on your own, 
then I will consider you old enough.”
	“Playing?!”
	“You know it’s your influence that nearly got him killed, Stalk, I could use 
the help here, without him having to risk his life.”
	Tye clenched his fists and gave an inarticulate growl before spinning on his 
heels and stalking back into the forest. Windflower stood frozen for one long 
moment before twirling around to dash after Tye. Stalk and Flower’s argument 
barely took a breather for the retreat of the original subject of their spat. 
	Windflower finally caught up with Tye some distance from the Holt. 
Thankfully for him, Tye had not been trying to be silent or conceal his path from 
the other elf. Windflower drew up slightly out of breath at the foot of a tree and 
glanced upwards to where Tye sat among the branches. “Quite a scene, hm, 
wolfling? I hope you appreciate the trouble I went through to be with you in this 
emotional time. I ripped my pants and they were new too,” Windflower sat on an 
exposed root beneath the tree and critically examined the stated tear. “Completely 
ruined,” he moaned. 
	Tye sat on a low limb knees drawn up to his chest and arms wrapped firmly 
around them. “I didn’t ask you to,” he muttered.
	“I know,” there was a distinctly smug note in Windflower’s voice. “So?” the
 silent ‘now what’ hung in the air between the two elves.
	“I’m leaving.”
	“Back to the ol’ hole in the tree, hmm. How thrilling.”
	“No, I’m leaving this whole mess. If they want to argue, then they can do 
it without using me as an excuse.”
	Windflower blinked. “Isn’t that a bit.. drastic? Silly question, of course it is, 
you never do anything less.”
	Tye dropped down from the tree to land in a crouch a few feet from where 
Windflower was seated. “I have a few things to get together.”
	Windflower blinked. “You’re leaving tonight?”
	Tye shrugged. “Why wait?”
	“Well, it’s so sudden. I don’t have anything to wear!”
	“Who said anything about you?”
	“You certainly can’t leave me behind. Whatever would I do here? Of course 
I’m coming with you.”
	“I’m not waiting for you.”
	“I know. I’ll be ready.”
	Tye left Windflower behind as he made his way back to his own den. He 
knew what he had to do, he just couldn’t take being forced into the middle of his 
parents’  private war. The hardest part was ahead of him though. He didn’t know 
how he was going to face Bearrunner. He slowed his steps as he neared the den, 
he could hear the sounds of Bearrunner stirring around inside. Tye scrambled up 
the side of their home tree and slid easily through the den mouth. Bearrunner 
looked up from where he sat sorting through a collection of feathers and bits of 
bone and flashed a quick smile at Tye. “I was just trying to see if we had anything 
decent to decorate a new wall hanging...”
	“Bearrunner..”
	Bearrunner’s attention was instantly caught be the seriousness of Tye’s 
voice. “What’s wrong?”
	“I’m leaving the Holt. Tonight. You’ll have to decide on that wall hanging 
yourself.”
	Bearrunner’s green eyes widened. “But... why? I know your parents were 
fighting again, but they always fight..”
	“Exactly, they always fight. Usually about me, I’m sick of it Bearrunner, and 
I’m not going to tolerate it anymore,” Tye reached out and brushed the back of his 
hand across Bearrunner’s cheek. “Take care of yourself.”
	Bearrunner leaned into the slight caress. It was the first time that Tye had 
ever really shown any affection toward him since they had become lovemates. His 
eyes misted, but he gave a slight smile. “You also, Tye.”
	Tye nodded sharply and pulled away, moving across the den to gather his 
things.   Bearrunner turned his face away and sightlessly began sifting through the feathers 
again, unwilling to watch Tye leave. He stilled when the sounds behind 
him halted. He could feel Tye’s eyes on him, but made no move to acknowledge 
the attention. Bearrunner’s stiff shoulder’s slumped when he heard Tye exit the 
den. He moved to gaze out the den mouth and saw Windflower join Tye at the 
foot of the tree. He sighed and turned away, it was time for the past to become the 
past. 
	Tye glanced back at the den just as Bearrunner turned away. He would not
 ask the other elf to leave his familiar world, and the other did not offer. It was
 better that way. If only Windflower had taken the same attitude... He called 
Two-toe, and laid his furs across her back, carefully avoiding Windflower. 
Windflower for once kept his opinions to himself and silently followed after Tye as 
they left the grounds of the Holt. Neither knew where they were going or what 
lay ahead. They would just take things as they came.