THIS WOULDNâT DO. staying out here was a ridiculous thought, and it was all too clear when the boy â he was an adult, she needed to get out of that habit â before her seemed to black out momentarily. she worked hard to keep her panic and fear under control, a tight grip around the emotions swirling around in her head and her heart. now wasnât the time for the smothering woman eli had put up with for most of his younger life. she needed to be something of a rock, a stable support.
  so instead of letting tears overwhelm her, instead of letting the panic grip her like the vice she knew it could be if she let it, she offered a small smile at the question.Â
       â itâs really dead. you did good, eli, you have a day off, promise. â
  she had to spend a moment to look around, trying to take any account of how the area around was. too far from her truck to leave him to bring it, and too far into the woods, too. she was going to pick him up and take him there. Â
      â iâm gonna âŠÂ iâm gonna do something here, okay? hold tight, alright? âÂ
  mama couldnât just lift him, and she knew that. no, she needed to settle something, anything, she had to try. she hadnât been at the forefront of all this in years, she wasnât like leo, sturdy and trained to be forever fight-capable. it had been a long time, but she would try. removing the bundle of cloth from the wound, trying not to look at the blood soaking through the fabric. her hands settled over the length of the wound, and she had to concentrate for a moment.
  warmth began to spread through her palm and the digits of her hand slowly, like trying to move a singular flame to coax into something larger. it had been a long time since she had used magic like this, but her concentration held true, and the warmth jumped from her palm in a show of a glowing passage of light to spread across the length of the gash on eliâs body. meant to heal, to at least stop the bleeding and lessen some pain. he would need more assistance back at the lodge, no doubt, but it would do enough for her to lift him.
  she could feel the blood seeping through her own shirt from her side, but she ignored the stinging heat.
     â iâm gonna pick you up now, eli. bear with me, honey, okay? â
eli made a small noise , a cross between an approving hum and a strangled groan, and wrapped his arms tighter around himself. heâd always been cold - he was a small man , and chill cut through him easier than most , but this cold was different. it was bone deep , and seemed to radiate outwards rather than fall in closer to him. he knew , somewhere , that it was a balmy summer night , and when he thought hard enough it made sense , that something gave inside of him and that was why he was freezing , but then rationality gave way to cold and pain and this ever-swarming confusion.Â
â mâkay , â he rasped , his voice thicker and hoarser than it had been moments before , â ... sânot that bad ... i could get up , â he offered meekly , but mama wanted to try something first. of course. let her do what she needed. itâd be rude to deny her that.Â
eli settled back against the ground and , for the first time tonight , willingly closed his eyes. the stars had begun to swirl sickeningly above , and it wasnât helping the twisting knot in his stomach. he shivered freely now , having found it jostled him less to just ... accept the inevitable. and then the shivering stopped. the nausea stopped. the pain itself stopped , separating from his body , and what once burned and stung was replaced with a lazy warmth that flowed through him like honey wine. he didnât open his eyes - didnât dare , afraid this was some illusion heâd break. but his body relaxed , the bearhug he held on himself fading into something more casual , even as things went back the way they were. pain eased through him this time , coming in tolerable waves instead of the throbbing mess it arrived as. the cold came back with vengeance , somehow shuddering even more heavily, but it was good. it was just cold. he felt , suddenly , like heâd survive.Â
â whereâsit then ... ? â he slurred , and grinned internally. in his head he could picture her rolling her eyes , and it brought him strength. just before she got her arms underneath him , eli forced his eyes open , and rolled over just enough to grab his sword. it sheathed itself with reluctance , and eli tucked his dagger inside his coat. â mâkay , mama. i trust you. âÂ