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Kill him now. Just kill him now. He was done with this life. He was done with being a failure. Hinoko had no idea what he'd done to deserve the things that had happened to him in days past, but he'd like to know how he'd offended the gods just so that he could be certain never to do such a thing again.

Melinoe was thoroughly disgusted with him and had little interest in helping tend to his wounds. A few of them were quite painful - and possibly festering, without the reach he needed to apply his own salve - and so there he laid in a spot of sun as far from his den as he could get.

Rotting away, and nobody cared.

Sniff.

Klona cared. She cared quite a lot, thank you very much.

The pale little lioness had been watching the dark male for the past hour or three; he'd not moved since his arrival, and Klona was growing slightly worried by his lack of animation. Part of her wanted to approach to see if he was, indeed, dead. Then again, if he was dead - what happened next?

Klona certainly had no idea.

She crept closer, eyes wide and wary. He didn't smell like he was dead. Then again, she'd never been this close to a dead body before.

"Hi?"

It seemed like a good way to start.

Hino's ear flicked in the direction of the soft, childlike voice. He groaned, a weak sound, and glanced towards Klona. Great. Just what he needed - a curious little brat.

"Go away."

His everything ached with a sharp constant burn, and each time that he moved he felt like his muscles might just snap. Despite the beating his body had taken, the blow to his pride had been worse. With a grunt, Hinoko spared another glance in the girl's direction.

She'd come closer.

"I said go away."

She was creepy. He wasn't sure what it was about her that was off-putting.

Tilting her head so that he was sideways in her line of vision, Klona was silent. It was an 'oh thank Gods you aren't dead' sort of silence, honestly, and when he turned away for a brief moment she silently shuffled forward.

"Stinky. Wait."

With one quick sigh, Klona was on her feet and on her way back to her den. Her papa made sure their forest home was well-supplied, and because of that there was a massive array of salves and tinctures that he'd collected from the healers just in case anything ever went wrong while they were in the jungle.

Hinoko let out a gruff grunt of disbelief, shaking his head while mumbling to himself.

"Not going anywhere," was one of few understandable phrases he spoke, but when he looked back she was gone.

Good riddance. Now he could go back to dying and rotting in the unforgiving heat of the sun. He could smell the pus that oozed from his leg. It was foul, to be sure, and he hoped that it all ended soon.

If he loss the use of his leg he would be truly worthless. He wouldn't be able to fight, wouldn't be able to do anything except take up space.

Hinoko waited for death.

Almost an hour and a half later, Klona was back. She'd been sidetracked by an interesting pattern in the dirt, four flowers, a bird's feather, eight shiny rocks, a spar on the sands, a leaf shaped like a heart, a half-rotted hare, and a trail of ants.

But she was back, salve in tow, and settled herself unnervingly close to the male so that she could get a better look at the gashes along his backside.

"Gross. Bugs." A heavy sigh. "Stay here."

She'd need some kind of way to carry water so that she could clean him. Alternatively, she could make him move, but she didn't think that would be an option. She padded off in search of a way to carry water - maybe a nice big leaf would work. A turtle shell?

"Stupid," she called over her shoulder.

Excellent. His leg was farther gone than he'd realized. Now that she'd mentioned it, Hinoko was fairly certain he could feel maggots worming around. Thankfully she'd left again, but it sounded like she would be back. He was curious as to where she'd gone, truthfully.

On second thought, the maggots were kind of freaking him out. Did he really want to lose his leg? What if he lost use of his leg, but he didn't die?

Gods.

With a groan, Hinoko forced himself to glance down at his leg. It was absolutely foul, and he dropped his head to the ground with a thud.

He hoped the little one came back soon.

Klona did not take as long getting back this time; thankfully he'd situated himself relatively close to the nearby lake. The hardest part had been figuring out what to carry water in. She'd found a mangled turtle shell that she'd used her teeth to separate. It was small, but it would suffice - and it wouldn't take long for her to walk back to the lake for a second round of water.

Mumbling something around the shell in her mouth that sounded like a greeting, Klona tapped his side in warning before dumping the cool water over the wound. The rush of water dislodged the few maggots that had taken up residence.

She made another trip for water, dumping it over his leg upon her return. This was repeated four or five times - until the wound was clear of pus, dirt and bugs - before Klona sat down and took a good look at what was left.

Hinoko wasn't sure why the pale lioness youth was doing this. She didn't have to. He hadn't even seen her before, in truth. Who were her parents? Who did she belong to? He would be lucky to have a daughter like her. Hino's expression gentled slightly when she made another trip for water, another, another.

When she finally settled, Hinoko grunted, the sound grumpy more than anything. He wasn't sure how to feel. Thankful? Yes, absolutely. A little awkward, too. Hino peered at her, brows lifting when she started to hum a strange little disjointed song.

"I am Hinoko."

He sounded resigned.

Klona hummed softly as she worked, gently using her paws to apply the salve she'd retrieved. Once she'd cleaned the wound, it really didn't look all that terrible, truly. In fact, she wasn't entirely sure why the big lion seemed to be laying about and moping. It didn't make much sense to her. He could probably even walk, but instead he'd been roasting beneath the sun letting gross bugs eat him up.

Stupid. She shook her head.

It was only when he spoke, introducing himself, that Klona glanced at him. Her head tilted to the side.

"Klona."

Enough said. The next few hours would be spent applying the salve. Once finished, she would waste no time in urging him to his feet before escorting him home.