Moonspear The higher we climb, the farther we fall

The wound on her shoulder seemed to be healing well, no infection had set in since she washed it regularly. A thick scab had taken over most of it slowly, the edges beginning to thicken with hairless scar tissue. It was noticeable but looks didn't matter to Heldi.

What was more concerning to her was the fact that she could no longer walk or run without a limp.

Now she paced in agitation, tears of frustration welling in her eyes though she refused to let them spill. She shoved her leg forward hard as she walked, trying to lengthen her steps in attempt to make her leg move properly. 

"Come on. Dammit, I didn't join this pack to become useless." She growled through gritted teeth, jerking her shoulder painfully though it was no use. The muscles would no longer move properly and she would always bear a limp. It wouldn't be enough to stop her from hunting, though it would slow her down. 

It was the price she had paid for straining herself to find Dash, not allowing the wound to heal. The bastard of Vledfest didn't regret it, though she hoped fervently that her pack wouldn't find her utterly useless now.

For the most part, she was enjoying the return of the prey by hunting the waking hours away -- and this time, to much better success than the last several weeks. It was good for morale, although it did trouble her sometimes how quickly she would tire. Since the lightning strike and all things that had followed in the wake of it, that had been the case for her. Now, she was starting to wonder if she would be able to tell where one cause ended and another began.

Determined to see it through and willing herself into action to cover the mountainside, she'd parted ways with Charon's company with reluctance and wandered onward. Eventually, Heldi's scent pulled her forward. Amekaze felt a flicker of wariness, recalling the female's exhaustion not so long ago while curiosity still fueled her steps closer anyway; she may as well investigate a little further. She had continually been glad she had joined them, although still felt like she knew the female very little -- mostly because of the timing of things lately and her own focus being tugged in so many other directions.

She approached slowly and moved to join in on a path alongside hers. "Heldi," she greeted lightly when she got closer and kept ears angled back somewhat until she knew she was not invading. Since she was not feeling aggressively sociable herself, she would need a bit to ease into this as well so her start was slow.

Heldi paused in her pacing as the sounds of another wolf grew closer, the scent of Amekaze reaching her nose. She had hoped to make the Alpha proud, to not regret taking the agouti in but those goals were unattainable in her mind with a limp. Heldi didn't feel sorry for herself, not a bit, but she was concerned what the other pack wolves would think of having a gimpy comrade. 

Turning to face Amekaze, Heldi nodded respectfully and took on a submissive stance. "Amekaze." She greeted as the other had to her, speaking her name. "How is everyone faring since the pack hunt?"

Seeing the wolves of the Spear injured was not what she wanted. It was with a heavy heart that she only wished she had been able to do better by them as well by stringing the dark Redhawk's innards across the mountainside after he had been the root cause of all their struggles now. She was still bitter, and nursing her own wounds. Several of them. She still believed they could have done far better had he not ruined it and maybe all that had happened after could have been avoided had he just not been there. They were mountain wolves, that hunt would not have been anything too impossible for them, rain or not. Even if they had still gained one sizable kill out of the entire fiasco, he'd still cost them, and her, dearly.

"Healing," she replied. It wasn't a lie but she wasn't exactly entirely happy about the progress so far. It was slow, tiresome, and she still felt.. off. "But it takes time.." she added with a soft sigh. Circumstance was far from ideal without certain plants available to them, not that they had experienced medics to use them anyway. She did, however, hope this mess may inspire someone into learning more, though. "How about you? Your wounds?" she quipped back with a pointed glance towards the limb in question.

Heldi nodded, glad to hear that everyone was recovering. The next question made her sigh slightly, ears pinning to her head in frustration. Her eyes flicked briefly to the gash on her shoulder, a grimace marring her features at its size.

"I was already injured when I joined Moonspear, the injury is in the same place as the first." Heldi scuffed a paw in the dirt nervously, afraid of being forced from the pack or just being seen as a burden now that she could no longer run as fast as before.

"I seem to have a limp now. I hope that it goes away in time but my hopes are not very high." Heldi shook her head, unable to meet Amekaze's gaze. "I'm sorry Amekaze. I wanted to prove myself to you, I didn't want you to regret recruiting me." 

She couldn't help angling back her ears. When the first response to the question was a disappointed-sounding sigh, she knew to be prepared for news that was not the best. Re-injuring old injuries was tricky and Heldi seemed to think it was not going to get much better. "I would still give it time. It may just need longer than normal," she frowned, knowing that it could also be a permanent limp. "Do not apologize. I know it is not ideal, for you or the pack but I cannot fault you for any of it, not when the injuries come from a hunt for the pack -- alongside so many of the rest of us," she said, hoping that some of her feelings on the matter were conveyed. "I am just glad it is not worse." In short, she did not want them to suffer unnecessarily thinking she was going to pass judgement on hurt wolves. It was a bad luck, and all thanks to the idiocy of the Redhawk alpha.

"I realize we have no.. formal medic here, and supplies are limited, but have you spoken to anyone about it yet? Judas and Pyx have been doing what they can with what they do know," she mentioned.

Heldi felt relief at the words, a tension in her relaxing. She was prepared to work just as hard, even if she was slower, and had hopes of it going away in time. It wasn't likely, something internal had been damaged by the goat's horn. If it had just been the rock she might have recovered with only a scar. 

"I haven't but I don't think there is much they can do. It isn't infected, it's already scabbed over. I will consider seeing them, as soon as I figure out who they are," she chuckled slightly. 

"Do you know how Dash is? I haven't seen him and I'm worried about him," Heldi spoke, hoping it wasn't too obvious her developing feelings for the ebony male.

She found herself with her eyes on the limb in question still. "You are probably right, since it is your own, but they may just know something to help ease the pain some, or potentially restore some mobility. I do not know exactly." It was worth a shot, more or less. Now that the pack potentially had the resource available. Nevertheless, Pyx and Judas were not usually too difficult to find -- and she was learning they were often a decent insight to have around.

On Dash, she shook her head softly. "I have not seen him personally in a few days," she prefaced with. The same could really be said for most wolves but she had her reasons. "No bad news, though. I suspect his issues are ones that are going to take time. At least he is seeing some healing in his eyes, after having lost sight like that.." she grumbled, and would always keep that in the back of her mind despite it being new knowledge for her at Dash's expense.

Heldi nodded, mentally noting that she should seek out Pyx and Judas for help with her leg. It hurt but was not the worst pain the bastard had ever endured, usually at the hands of her half sister. Outwardly one might not even think she was in pain unless you knew her well, if you could read the stiffness in the way she held herself.

"Hopefully he recovers fully as does everyone else," Heldi commented, voice tinged with worry. Dash was her closest friend and she was a naturally clingy person, she cared too much for those she got close to. "Were you hurt, Amekaze?" Heldi's anxiety turned to her Alpha, concerned that Amekaze may have been injured as well.

Amekaze could agree readily, for above all, she hoped Dash would recover without incident. They all needed their time to mend and get past this, though. That was all she really wanted and she believed they could. They wouldn't have made it this far if they couldn't.

When Heldi asked about her, Amekaze frowned. "I was near Dash when the lightning struck, so quite close to it, and fell sometime during or after that, I do not recall." Therefore, what troubled her was far more unclear. Aches and pains, from her head to her feet, but she was coping with them even though she felt distinctly different from before. The lightning could have easily been the end. She knew to be thankful it was not worse for her anyway.

we could archive after your post

Heldi wasn't sure what to make of Amekaze's answer, it wasn't really clear to her if the Alpha was hurt or not. The dark woman had said she didn't recall but Heldi was certain that if you were hurt, you could feel it. The agouti nodded awkwardly, unsure what else to say.

"Right. Well, I think I'll go try to find one of the healing wolves," Heldi dipped her head respectfully, moving to depart and find either Judas or Pyx.

Her own hurts were her own problem. She preferred to keep it that way, and even if she was iffy about opening up to the medic wolves at all, she'd already seen the worth of it. Regardless, she wouldn't stall Heldi any longer and certainly would not try to keep her here when she could be seeking out the others, if she wanted. She nodded and gave her simple farewell. With that, she moved on to elsewhere.