Prowling the borders of the mountain, Issorartuyok thought of the young ones in the village. He had not been able to spend time with them, not the way he had wanted to. There had been so much to do, moving their people to the new land and settling into a terrain they were unfamiliar with.
As he paused to mark the border, the northerner lifted his gaze and squinted sharply against the fading sun. There was one he wished to see, one of the children who had weighed heavily on his mind and in his heart. Issorartuyok lifted his snout to howl for
@Heda, hoping that the pale warrior girl would join him.
heda was settling into life at the summit rather quickly.
when she was not exploring with ensio or veteran, or trailing the aloof wayfarer, the girl was learning about the many types of birds which inhabited the giant mountain.
today heda had found a nest of finches. she had climbed high to find them, peering over the very rim of the little thicket to stare down at them. this time the young huntress did not seek to claim a life; she was merely curious.
the tiny parents swarmed her.
the howl of her leader jerked heda to attention, and sadly her feet lost their concentration.
she plummeted from her perch and landed with a thud, crying out as agony shot through her right ankle.
hope yall don't mind me!
antha had heard issorartuyok's howl and thought little of it. at least, until she heard heda's abrupt cry in the moments following the howl. the witch turned mid-stride, abandoning her task of sussing out early herb growth in favor of responding to the girl's distress. she followed the sound, and found heda in short order.
heda. tell me what happened,
already she was scanning the girl for injuries, evidence of what had befallen her.
Issorartuyok took a fair bit longer to arrive than Antha, but as he rushed into the scene, he looked worriedly to Heda. The man’s dark face was stricken with concern, but he did not wish to impede the work that Antha was doing to help. She would know more than he would. The northerner had only ever been good at protecting, the strong man’s work. If he were left alone with a wounded wolf and a store of herbs, they would not fare well.
Can you help her?
he asked Antha in a hushed voice.
Eyes shifted toward Heda, searching her face. He wanted to ask if she was alright, if she needed him to do anything. Back to Antha, then to Heda again. Issorartuyok knew that he was not going to make the situation easier by hovering. He stepped back, head low, and watched closely.
heda refused to pass out.
antha was beside her in a moment and then her alpha. the girl wailed and then shut her mouth, hard, narrowly missing her own tonguetip. "fell. up there." the ledge of stone along the tree.
she blew ragged breaths out her nose and clenched her eyes shut. the pain was immeasurable. tears leaked from beneath her taut eyelids.
but still she refused to succumb.
issorartuyok soon appeared, but antha's focus belonged solely to heda as the girl cried out between heavy, pained breaths. in time, she gritted out an answer. antha's gaze flicked up, following the mental map of her words, then back down. her eyes found the injured ankle, then issorartuyok.
she'll be alright. i need you to bring me some things. a vine or another climbing plant if you can find it, and a branch from a tree. straight, thick, and no longer than heda's leg up to here. break one if you must,
she indicated the lower joint of heda's injured leg. then she howled for
@Tessa, requesting poppy seeds and broad leaves to wrap a broken bone.
heda, this is not an urgent injury. you'll be okay, but the pain will be immense until tessa arrives. right now you need to focus on distracting yourself. don't look at your leg. don't think about it. think about something pleasant; tell me about it if it will help.
antha spoke in soft, soothing tones.
The northerner did not like how Heda was breathing, how she fought against the pain that was felt. He peered at her intently. The man’s pulse quickened.
Antha was there, and she seemed to delve into her healer knowledge. Issorartuyok was given a task – creeping plant and a firm branch. The northerner did not know how these might assist, unless she sought to give Heda something to bite down on. He did not wish to question it, though. The northerner offered a single touch of his nose to Antha’s cheek, then to Heda where he lingered for a moment. There were stirrings of fatherly concern that he did not know how to fight.
I will return.
Quick as he had arrived, Issorartuyok ventured away to seek the items his wife had requested. His worried thoughts remained with Heda.
the urgency in her sister's call drew her from the arlathan. quickly, she gathered the items requested — thankfully, she had prepared their herbal cache first. she wrapped the poppy seeds in the leaves, careful not to touch them to her tongue, and quickly headed to where she'd been summoned.
hello,
she said softly. she exchanged a glance with antha, then returned her gaze to the injured girl. may i?
breathe. breathe. breathe.
a woman vaguely recognized as tessa was there now.
heda shut her eyes. she had missed almost everything antha had said, but as the second she-wolf looked toward her, small bits filtered back through her strained consciousness.
a vine. a branch. issorartuyok turning away. agony. she inexplicably hissed a laugh at the irony that now she expected it to hurt more.
a delayed, eager nod was given to tessa. "uh ... uh ... once, once my sister —" involuntary, strangled pause as she thought of druid; druid! "— and i and her — our friend, we met with ... all these other wolves ... it was winter, anyway, we hunted .... there were so many caribou and so many of us —"
heda focused on breathing again.