It’s been several days since uncle died… and so far, only grandmother had shown herself since then.

And she hadn’t cared at all upon learning of uncle’s death.

Crawling off the roof, I huffed as I landed on the dirt ground. Then I stepped over to the edge of the house, to peer up and into the building… and sure enough, the spot I had just been fixing was no longer dripping as much.

There were still a few drops of water dropping from the ceiling, but they were already slowing in number. It must just be the water that had leaked and pooled in-between all the layers of woof and branches and leaves.

Honestly I was getting better at this. This section of roof had only taken me a small portion of the day. When I first started fixing the roof years ago, it used to take me so much longer.

Feeling a little proud of myself, I clambered up and into the house. As to better stare up at the ceiling.

The section beneath it, the open space underneath the floor, had a lot of pools of water beneath them. It was a good thing it was starting to get pretty cold… otherwise there’d likely be a bunch of bugs now.

Those bugs born from water were annoying. They made one itchy beyond belief and…

I looked down from the roof and found my grandmother. She had just put something in her mouth and was chewing it, likely some kind of piece of meat based off the smell in the air. She had been cooking something earlier.

“Should have the whole roof fixed in a few days,” I told her.

“Hm,” she nodded as she continued chewing.

It was apparent my grandmother really didn’t care much. But it was no surprise. She like most of my other family members didn’t seem to be as bothered by the cold or the wet of the forest. Likely thanks to their extra fur.

“After you’re done you could…” grandmother started to say something, but went quiet without warning.

I stood up straighter as I watched grandmother’s face change a little. Her eyes went wider, her ears tilted oddly… and then she spun around, and hurried away.

Shocked, I glanced behind me… to make sure nothing, and no one, was behind me. She had just looked as if she had gotten scared for some reason…

Nothing was behind me though… so I turned back around, and then hurried to follow after her.

She was already out of the house, and by the time I reached the edge of the house I watched as grandfather approached. He stepped around one of the larger trees as grandmother hurried over to him.

For a tiny moment I couldn’t believe what I saw… and because of it, I couldn’t hear whatever grandmother was shouting. It sounded more like snarls than anything else, as she walked up to grandfather who was walking slowly, and at an odd angle.

Grandmother was distressed, and was making more noises than saying actual words as she grabbed at him. She looked even more stressed and bothered than he did.

He was bloodied and hurt. He held an arm close, and it looked like it wasn’t moving… Plus his right leg was strangely mangled… being dragged behind him, barely able to hold up his weight.

“Enough!” grandfather snapped at grandmother, and even shoved her away. He did so with such strength she fell backward, landing on the wet ground.

For a heavy moment grandmother sat there, staring up at him as he snarled at her and then huffed away, walking away from the house and towards the south.

Likely towards the lakes.

Staying in the house, I reached over and grabbed my tail.

The world wasn’t making sense anymore.

Uncle. Glennessa. Now grandfather…

Grandmother huffed as she got to her feet. She shook herself, as if shaking off the rain, and then turned around. She stormed away, going north. Leaving grandfather alone.

Watching the two leave, I did my best to keep myself from following after either of them. Grandfather looked hurt, and grandmother was obviously upset…

Neither would treat me kindly if I bothered them right now.

Gulping, I walked over to one of the support pillars of the house, and held onto it a little as I leaned out of the house as to watch grandfather.

He had picked up the pace a little, now using his broken leg a little more than before. Had it already started healing? I wish I could heal that quickly.

I wonder who had done it… father maybe…?

But why?

Father attacking Glennessa I understood… to a point. But why start such chaos with the other men…?

Maybe these family injuries weren’t from family claws…

Stepping away, I returned to the other side of the house. Back to where I’d been working. Both to distance myself from my grandparents, as to avoid getting beaten or yelled at, but also to occupy my mind.

I hadn’t planned on going back onto the roof so quickly, but better to be up there working than to get noticed.

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Climbing up onto the roof was easy, but walking across the roof wasn’t. Some spots were very fragile. Soft. I had to crawl along the roof, carefully avoiding the spots I’d both just fixed and that still needed to be fixed.

Honestly the whole roof needed to be re-done. But although I could attach leaves and branches…

Tapping one of the more solid pieces of wood, I wondered how they made it. I understood the concept of cutting down a tree, but some of these were really flat and uniform. They fit next to each other perfectly. How did one cut and shape them? Whenever I tried, the wood always ended up bending or curling…

I focused on those thoughts as I crawled back to the spot I had been working on earlier. There was a small pile of twine and large leaves waiting to be added to the spot over the hallway. The hole here was so obvious that I could see the inside of the house without even moving anything. The holes were that large.

As I went to patching the hole, I was about to tie the very last bit of twine as sounds drew my attention elsewhere.

Staring out into the nearby forest, I frowned as I watched a shadow approach.

They were walking quickly… and…

“Fellisee…?” I sat up at the sight of my youngest sister.

She was hurt.

“What’s going on…?” I whined as I hurried to get off the roof.

By the time I got off the roof, and then stepped off the house floor to the ground, Fellisee had left the forest. She approached the house, and at first looked to be doing so with a good and healthy stride but…

Hesitating, I groaned at the mess.

She didn’t look as badly as grandfather just had, but she was definitely hurt. She was holding her stomach, and had a nasty snarl on her face from the pain.

“Fellisee,” I stepped forward and reached out in worry.

“Don’t touch me!” she shouted, slapping my hand away.

Although her slap hurt, as did the look on her face as she shouted such a thing, I didn’t let it bother me. She was hurt right now.

She needed help, though I wasn’t sure what to do…

Should I take her to the lake? As Glennessa had done? To clean herself off that way? That was what grandfather was doing too. Maybe it was the right way to deal with such wounds…

Little Fellisee though didn’t seem to have cuts like Glennessa had.

No…

Little Fellisee wasn’t little anymore.

She was now as tall as me, and likely weighed twice what I did. She had larger arms and legs, with sinewy muscles. I’d not seen proof of the assumption, but I was fully under the impression she was now the strongest of all us children. She just had a certain… attitude to her that even Glennessa wouldn’t mess with.

Yet right now she didn’t look so strong anymore.

“Fellisee…” I groaned as I watched her walk past me, slouching and her head hung low.

She was hurt. She was covered in muck and mud, and most of it was still very wet and fresh. It hadn’t been that long ago. The mud in this forest usually hardened rather quickly, even when soaked and raining…

Yet although filthy, I could tell that her wounds were not as bloody as Glennessa’s had been. She didn’t have gashes, but bruises. Likely broken bones.

Fellisee ignored me as she stepped away, heading for the house. She had a weird limp as she walked, and…

“Your tail…!” I cried out in shock at the sight of it. Or at least, what was left of it.

It was now half as long as it had been. The end of it was a blotchy mess, implying that whatever had done the deed had more so torn it than bit or sliced it off.

Fellisee made a grumbling noise as she reached the house. She climbed up into the building quickly, but did it in a way that told me she really was hurt and exhausted. She had rolled upward more than climbed, and instead of going straight to her feet she instead went to her knees… then she stood on one leg, then another.

Hurrying after her, I groaned at myself as I too climbed up into the house.

First uncle, then Glennessa… and now grandfather and Fellisee!

There was undoubtedly something happening. And I was starting to doubt the cause. I had thought maybe it had been father, particularly now that uncle was dead, but…

Following Fellisee into the house, I hesitated as she stepped through a large puddle. She didn’t even seem to acknowledge its existence as she headed down the hall… towards our room.

Or at least, what had been our room.

It was the room we shared. And had since her birth…

Yet Fellisee hadn’t slept in it for many years.

In fact… this was the first time I’ve seen her in many moons, maybe even longer…

My youngest sister let out a strange huff as she entered our room… and for a tiny moment stood there, staring into it.

Only half the room was dry. There had been a small leak in one of the corners… but it still wasn’t as bad as it could be, thanks to the thin walls. The rest of the house all had a layer of wetness just thanks to the mist and haze of the world, but our room had been spared such a thing.

“Sister…?” I stepped forward carefully.

Fellisee shifted, lowered her head as if to cower… and then stepped into the room.

Feeling helpless, I watched as she walked over to the driest corner of the room… and then promptly collapsed.

I startled at the sudden fall, and hurried over to her. Fellisee curled up into herself, on the ground, and I nearly begun to weep at the sight of her.

She suddenly looked like she did when young. Back before she had been strong enough to defend herself. Back before the family had realized she was more like them, and less like me.

“Fellisee…?” I asked softly as I knelt down and went to my knees next to her.

She sniffed and curled up tighter, and even went to hiding her face and head from me. She wrapped her arms around her head, clinging to her hair and ears as if desperate.

Just what had happened…? I’d understand if she got into a fight with another sibling… but…

Fellisee wasn’t young anymore. I’d seen her hurt. I’d seen her tending her own wounds before.

She’d never acted like this. She never cried. Never curled up in a ball where she used to sleep, all those years ago, with me.

This hadn’t just been a beating. These weren’t just physical wounds…

Little Fellisee then began to tremble. Shaking as if freezing.

Without hesitation I bent down, and wrapped my little sister’s head and arms with my own.

For the tiniest moment I expected Fellisee to fight me off… to push me away, just as grandfather had just done to grandmother.

Instead though Fellisee only tightened up even more… and began to weep.

Holding the soaked, muddy, and hurt girl… I too began to cry.

I’d help clean her off and tend her wounds in a moment… but right now…

“I’m here, sister,” I whispered, as I held my oh-so strong younger sister… as she sobbed and shook.

The whole world was changing… and it was obvious I had no idea the how or why…

Yet I wasn’t strong enough to protect her. I wasn’t strong enough to keep her safe, from enemies I didn’t comprehend or know.

But that didn’t mean I couldn’t be the only constant for her…

Even if she had long since stopped loving me back… I’d remind her here and now I’d never stopped trying.