Laelinus had never planned to go back home. He actively swore not too, in fact, but here he was, overlooking it, trying desperately to convince himself this was the right plan of action.

    He wasn’t going to stay. He wasn’t going to talk to anyone. He just had to do this one thing, and then he could run away again, and not have to think about this.

    He just had to do this once.

---

    The entire source of this issue had been the interesting discovery him and Dachs had made earlier that night.

     It had been fairly normal up to that point, for them- Dachs had found work of dubious provenance, as per usual, and they tackled it with ruthless efficiency, as they did. They worked well together- even if Dachs managed to have less scruples then him somehow, it was satisfying how well things went.

    Then they set up about wrapping up and finding someplace warm for the night. While they weren’t north enough to actually hit Northern territory, it was still far too cold to be comfortable, especially at this part of the year.

    Dachs did make a pretty good heater, and Lael had a pretty good tolerance for the cold himself, what with having a block of ice attached to him, but regardless.

    However, at some stage of this- it all blurred together now, honestly- they found the problem.

    A damned kitten.

    There was a moment where they considered if someone else would take it, given it couldn’t have been there for long, but it only lasted for a second- who knew how it had even made it for this brief amount of time, given the circumstances.

    Dachs only gave him the slightest nod before he went for his mane. Lael wasn’t really surprised, somehow- for all he knew Dachs to be cruel, he seemed to have a heart for those left in the cold.

    He knew this better then most. Dachs was the only reason he was still here, after all.

    He didn’t take long to join in.

---

    It was after then managed to swaddle the kitten, and that it hadn’t immediately gone wrong, that they realized quite how in over their heads they were. If this even kept working- Falena only knew, but hopefully there’d be some mercy for the poor kitten- there was no way they could actually deal with this.

    They were two assholes-for-hire that kept running around the mountains. What where they supposed to do with a kitten?

    It was then Lael remembered where exactly they were.

    He was from around here. A small settlement, about as far as standard Mothcats could really stand, that mostly persisted due to sheer stubbornness. He took their traits in spades, but went too far, even for them.

    Which resulted in him nearly dying up north, but that wasn’t here nor there.

    He knew them, though. He knew they wouldn’t leave a kitten to the cold, and he knew they actually could deal with this. As such, that’s how him and Dachs ended up standing at the border of the place.

    Dachs shuffling beside him took Lael out of his thoughts- he found himself being offered the wayward kitten, that up to this point had been shoved into Dachs mane.

    It took him a minute to take the bundle, until Dachs finally spoke, “You’re the one that knows this place.” He couldn’t really argue with that, softly taking the offering. Not like he really had much of a plan for this…

    Then, under the cover of darkness, he bolted for the nearest house. He didn’t want to get caught, there wasn’t the time for that. He nearly slammed into the nearest door, dropping the bundle on the doorstop and peeling off before anyone could really process the events.

    Hopefully that was enough noise, that someone would take notice, and hopefully not think too much about who could have been responsible for this.

                ---

    He reconvened with Dachs just outside of the borders again, safely away from view. He really just wanted to go, but…. Dachs kept looking back. He looked more unsettled then Lael could really remember seeing on him for quite a while. It really wasn’t the reaction he’d expected… He had been expecting some commentary about his method of dropping the kitten off, but…

    He barely could hold back his growl of discontent. For all the times to Dachs to suddenly be worried… “Did we really have another option?”

    That snapped Dachs out of it, and he quickly resumed his much more usual, mildly cranky, look. “No.”

    “Then why do you keep looking? I just want out of this damn place.”

    Dachs paused, like he hadn't actually considered that they could actually be done here. “… I can’t blame you. Wouldn’t want to do this either.” And then, as if that was somehow the magic words to solve this predicament, he got up and started moving.

    Lael could only sigh and follow.  Actually getting some rest sounded good after this mess.