Strand had gone looking for Padma a week ago, but it had taken her this long to find her. Partly because she was terrible at tracking and partly because, despite her worry over her friend, she loathed the thought of leaving her island behind. What if she returned and that pack that had been there before had returned? She didn’t want to think about such things. It just depressed her. Besides, as big of an asshole as she was, she still had a heart somewhere deep down. Padma had been her friend almost from the beginning and it wasn’t like the younger girl to just wander off without saying anything, especially not for so long.
It was with great trepidation and horror that Strand ran up to the shape lying on the ground. She immediately noticed the missing ear. The smell of blood was strong in the air. Strand whimpered and attempted to nudge her friend. “Padma,” she said, her voice a terrified moan. Her throat was constricted with emotion. “You’ll… you’ll be okay. I…” She would what? She didn’t know the first thing about healing wounds. What had… what had that male helped her with? He had… pressed something into her shoulder wound to keep it from bleeding. She looked around frantically and began to tear grass up with her teeth. “I can… stop the bleeding.” Maybe.
Padma’s voice was not normal and she seemed to be having trouble speaking. “Don’t talk,” Strand said, trying to sound gentle, but it came out as more of a command. She wasn’t doing very well stress-wise and didn’t need any distractions while she tried to think of what to do. She piled the grass up and then picked it up and chewed it, trying to get it to become pulpy. Unfortunately, this type of plant didn’t pulp easily and it didn’t really work like she wanted it to, but this was all she had. “Hol shtill,” she told Padma through her mouthful of grass, and then spit the wad of wet grass into the nearest wound she could find and pressed it down with her paw.