Freda Pov
The rain did not stop for hours and by morning the ground was soft and dark and already showing faint green at the surface where new shoots were pushing through the mud and every wolf in camp had gone outside at some point during the night just to feel the ground under their feet and try to believe it was actually real.
I had barely slept.
I stayed close to Urdon through the night and by dawn his breathing was steady and his fever had not returned and I let myself eat a few bites of the stored grain we had left and drink two full cups of clean rainwater and I felt more like myself just from that small amount.
"You need to sleep," Urdon said when I came and sat back beside him in the early morning light.
"I will sleep later," I said.
"You said that yesterday."
"I meant it then too," I told him.
He gave me a slow look and I held it and after a moment he let it go because he knew I was not changing my answer.
