Junior woke to a damp, rainy morning — and a terrible stomachache. Groaning, she crawled to the mouth of the den, leaning against the doorway with a sigh. She felt incredibly nauseated. Had she eaten something bad the day before? She wondered if she should call for Aunt Willow, yet the thought of moving again made her stomach roll. She just wanted to lay here and listen to the soothing rain. Junior felt certain that if she so much as moved an inch, last night's dinner would make a graphic reappearance.
While she rested, her eyelids drooped, though she did not sleep. Her eyes widened when the rain suddenly picked up, transforming from a drippy drizzle to a downpour. Junior could feel it misting over her face, which felt good. But then something other than water bounced off the ground and struck her, making her wince. She had the sense to withdraw deeper into the den — her mouth watered with the urge to vomit — even as a deluge of hail suddenly dropped from the sky, pinging audibly off every surface. Several pebble-sized blocks of ice skidded into the den to rest against the youth's paws.
I'll assume she was napping near Junior's den without knowing so
Amelie liked the rain.
It sounded strange, but there was something about the soft tickling of raindrops that made her fall into a trance. She wasn't sure if it was the refreshing touch of the drops falling onto her back or maybe the sound they made as they landed on the leaves and rocks,a little blup in the middle of the silence. Whatever it was, it made the young Zeta happy.
Usually, Amelie knew better than to go out in the middle of a rainy morning, but this particular one had forced her to crawl out from her little hodeout-- located next to an old tree trunk-- to investigate. Like Junior, Amelie had been trying to nap, waiting until the soft crash of the rain against the soil lulled her to sleep.
Her eyelids had begun to close over her eyes, until the first white rock crashed against the floor, brusquely interrupting the raincloud's ballad. She lifted her head quickly, her yellow eyes searching the empty floor around her. Again the same another doink, this time a whole chorus echoed into her ears.
The charcoal yearling poked her head out, recieving the first impact of the cold pellets in between her eyes. She jerked her head away and shook it in an exaggerate manner, just as a measure to rid herself of the tiny stone.
With a muted groan, she backed up against a nearby tree, mindless of its wet bark as she leaned against it. Her mouth tasted awful but at least her stomach felt a bit better. Junior wondered if the nausea would return or if she'd exorcised the demon, so to speak. In any event, the drops of water that fell off the leaves overhead felt cool on her suddenly warm brow and she closed her eyes with a sigh.
As the curious Naturalist retreated from the impact zone, the small white bullets stopped to pounnd against the ground. As if someone in the sky had called a cease-fire in order to allow the creatures below to stop fearing the falling bits of sky. With a last glance at the sky,Amelie walked into the open, trusting the treuce given by the rainclouds.
The ground was now covered with tiny pebbles that contrasted against the earthen hues of the autumn floow. As the girl continued to trot along, she stopped herself to get a closer look at one of the peculiar sky-rocks. The moment she lowered her head to sniff the tiny rock, Junior's retching caught her attention.
She pulled way from the rock brusquely, soon losong interest as the Healer-to-be inside of her dragged her to the sick juvenile. Though Amelie had not had many lessons (Blue was busy and the Plateu was hectic), she had trained herself on the basics: headaches, cuts, sore throats and nausea. Hopefully some of her newly acquired knowledge would be of some help.
"Are you alright, Junior?" she barked softly as she approached the teen. Though she could not see her face clearly, Amelie could smell the tangy scent of vomit lingering around the girl's head.
"I'm just feeling barfy. Do you know if Aunt Willow's around? Maybe she can give me something. My stomach doesn't actually hurt much anymore but I'm afraid the nausea will come back. And my mouth tastes like shit."
The days as a pupsitter were far behind, and though she had always known that the kids would someday move on like she had, she still worried for each of them. A gentle smile curved the yearling's lips as Junior caught her breath again. She craned her neck and gave her a small nugde before stepping back again, ready to assist in any way she could.
Naturally the girl asked for Blue, after all she was the pack's healer. For a moment however, Amelie wonderer if Junior even knew that she was training to follow on her steps. Perhaps she could help if she'd let her. Though she was no fledged healer she had learned the basics from her -- plus she had recieved a couple more tips from Sun Spark, her grandpa.
"Seems like you've eaten some bad meat. I'd be able to help, I'd just have to go to my den and get dandelion and wild yam -- my mother won't mind if I borrow some." she offered with a reassuring smile and a small dip of her nose.
"Are you apprenticing under Aunt Willow?" Junior wondered before motioning for her to go. "I'll wait right here," the juvenile promised because she honestly had no intentions of moving from this spot.
Amelie's eyes widened as plates as she heard the girl admit she had eaten poisonous berries. Why would you have done such a thing? she thought with astonisment, her mouth gaping as she tried to decide what would be best then: to give her basic herbs to alliviate the stomachache and nausea or if she should give her a laxative to rid the toxins from the teen's body.
She hummed silently before leaving, giving a small dip of her head as she answered her previous question. Blue had given her a couple of lessons, the one by the ocean being the most extensive one. "Sit tight" she called out before turning tail and rushing into the den.
Blue wasn't home --naturally. After the whole mess Peregrine had left behind, all sets of paws were busy picking up the broken glass. The yearling made a beeline for the stock at the very back, she sniffed over the different herbs and roots and finally picked a couple in her mouth.
She trotted back quickly and dropped the different leaves in front of her feet. Aloe, a powerful laxative ;and dandelion, a softer stomach remedy that would ease the nausea.
"If you ate poisonous berries, we need to get all of it about of your system.. " she barked while motioning to the former plant with her nose. It wouldn't be pleasant but it would clean her system right out.
"Um," she began, "what exactly does that mean? I already barfed; shouldn't it all be out already?" She eyed the plants warily now. "Are these gonna make me barf again? Or shit my brains out? 'Cause... I'm not sure... that's necessary..."
The yearling waited for the juvenile's reaction not expecting she would question her judgement right off the bat. Sure, she was no full-fledged medic like Blue, but she wasn't fooling around with random leaves just to make the girl sicker. Her ears fell flat to her head as she listened half-heartedly to Junior's hesitant voice.
"It's a preventive step we should take to avoid further intoxication" she explained with a smile that hopefully would make the teen trust her abilities as an aspiring healer. "I just want to help you Junior, but I can't if you don't let me" she barked in a hushed voice. The kids were growing and so were their personalities, just a couple of days ago Saena had almost lashed out on her as well.
"I just want to know what's going to happen if and when I ingest these," she replied a bit wearily, standing her ground.
A heavy sigh slipped from her lips as the dark coated teen glanced at the various herbs and then at her with a skeptical look spreading across her face. It was saddening for the aspiring-Healer to see how the very child she had protected not to long ago now questioned her so directly as if she were just another stranger. Maybe she shouldn't have been as surprised though, she only trusted her family after all -- and Amelie was not part of it, even if she had felt like it at some point or another.
Never had the female intended to shove the leaves and roots down Junior's throat, yet she felt like that was what the girl was fearing. With another tired sigh and she brought her eyes to look at the girl. "The Aloe will clean you out; dandelion has a softer effect but it will still be effective when soothing your stomach" she barked. If the female had really eaten poisonous berries she would have to clean out her sistem, but though Amelie thought it was urgent for her to get medicated right away, she wouldn't force Junior to anything -- despite what the teen might've thought she was not a monster.
"Thanks, Amelie. I'm going to try to go back to sleep now," the youth said, pushing herself wearily to her feet. She bumped her muzzle against the yearling's, then picked her way around the melting hail on the ground and slumped down in the whelping den with a muted groan.
With an indifferent glance she watched the girl gobble up the medicine, finally convinced to trust her. She dipped her head in relief as the female looked up at her, thanking her and trying to get to all fours.
Amelie took a step back as the teen did so, looking like a newborn fawn that would soon wobble away. Her skin recieved Junior's gesture with a neutral coldness that might've resembled the tiny stones scattered at their feet.
Once again Amelie's theory had been proven.
And science was not just anything for the young Naturalist, and aspiring Healer.
She was not needed at the Plateu. The Plateu already had a Healer the pack trusted and loved; she had just been the child she had found at the middle of nowhere.
"Bye Junior" she barked as the teen walked away, she would probably be the only member, aside from Blue, that would ever hear those words -- or not, in the midst of her pain, the words were probably lost on her .