Wolf RPG

She had collapsed the moment she arrived at @Akavir’s den, and slept deeply. When she woke up, it took her a minute to remember where she was, why she was cuddling with @Nicodem and @Jakub, what’d happened, and the loose ends that remained from the fallout.

Arric had taken Mae and the baby to Kvarsheim; a wave of anxiety and embarrassment overcame her. She knew she owed him an explanation and apology—for the stress she’d caused and letting her personal desires to get the better of her. He didn’t deserve to be on the receiving end of it all, especially with everything he was dealing with.

She wasn’t sure if he had gotten home yet, but if he hadn’t, she’d wait for him.

“Let me know if you need anything,” she told the children as she got up to leave. “I’ll be back to check up on you later—I’ll bring dinner, too. How does rabbit sound?” She would help with them where she could while their father was busy dealing with the fallout.

She stopped along the way to collect a quail and mouse for him, as she figured he needed something a little extra, and then walked to the borders. Any trace of him she came across wasn’t very recent, so she figured he wasn’t there yet.

As she neared the outskirts, she spotted him crumpled on the ground. She sprinted, and once she was at his side, she placed the meal at her paws and began to search for the cause of this. She didn’t see any wounds, and, wuivkly, she wondered if exhaustion had caused this.

“Arric?” She asked, remaining calm despite the circumstances, “Can you hear me?”

He was incoherent, which was troubling. She picked up the food and took a few steps back to give him some space, frowning as she looked over him. His current condition, coupled with knowing how busy he’d been, made her think a good night’s sleep would solve most of his physical ailments.

“You’re exhausted,” she observed, her voice quiet as she worried her bottom lip. “Can you walk ? I can go find an empty den, and then help you get there.”

Thankfully, the willows weren’t too far away.

She took to his side and braced herself in case he needed support; the food was left behind, and she hoped somebody could take advantage of it.

There was a noticeable absence of strength to him. She was so used to him being one of the strong pillars that supported the pack. But, now, the pack needed to support him.

When he belitted his body’s abilities, Eshe shook her head in disagreement. “Your body has been doing so much for so long—this is what happens when you don’t take care of yourself.” She was firm in her defense.

“When we get to the willows, I’m going to give you a poppy seed to help you sleep, and then I’ll stand watch while you sleep. I don’t want anybody bothering you.”

“You might get a headache when you, so I’ll get you something for that.” The subsequent headache wasn’t guaranteed, but she wanted to be prepared.

“I’ll also get something to help aching—in case you’re sore from all the running around.”

”Don’t worry about all of that,” she said. ”The pack can pick up the slack while you rest.”

He continued to ramble as they ambled towards his sleeping place, and she listened as the corner of her lips curled coyly. She assumed “numb nuts” and “dick head” were Akavir, which made this all the funnier and endearing to her. She’d keep what he said close to her chest; there was no need to repeat his delirious thoughts.

Furthermore, she nodded at his request to not have poppies. “Sounds good—I’ll leave them behind. But, I’ll get everything you need for your aches and pain.”

He was quick to collapse when they made it to the willows, and the smell of mint swirled about as he settled. She made a mental note to grab him some more.

“Alright,” she said, lingering for a beat to see if he needed anything before she went. “I’ll be right back. Sleep tight.”

She hurried through the forest and collected some celandine, mint, daisy leaves, and moss from her supplies and wrapped them all in a fox pelt that she used as a pouch. On the way back, she stopped to soak the moss in the water, assuming he’d be thirsty and she wanted to prevent dehydration.

When she returned, she sat at a distance and went to work on organizing everything in neat piles. She would wait until he woke up, regardless of how long that took.

She stood when he began to stir, and watched as he got his bearings. “Morning,” she said, keeping herself at a distance incase he was still sensitive to noise. “Did you get enough sleep? You can get more, if you’d like.”

He looked like a child when he expressed that she hadn’t needed to stay. “My job for now is to make sure you’re well rested and feeling better,” she said, her expression soft.

“How’re you feeling? I have some things here to help.”

She could vividly imagine the feeling he described. “Yuck,” her face skewed, “I know exactly what you mean.”

His body responded with cracks and groans as he stood, and she frowned as she watched. “That’s oddly specific,” she mused at his explanation before turning her attention to her supplies, hoping she’d brought the right things.

“I have some water here,” she said, motioning to the sponge. “And then some celandine for pain, and daisy leaves for aching joints” She looked at the last pile. “Oh, yeah—and some more mint to replenish what you have.”

”Are you able to eat anything? It’d be easier to take these with something on your stomach.”

She lifted her eyebrows and smirked. ”Interesting,” she mused. ”We’ll have to keep an eye out for him, then.”

Eshe was pleased to hear that Arric was willing to eat. ”It’ll only be a bite or two,” she promised. ”I just need to make sure you don’t throw up all the medicine.” She took a step back then, and glanced over her shoulder, towards the borders. ”I had a mouse when I found you—let me go and get that for you.” She trusted he wouldn’t go anywhere. ]b]”Be right back.”[/b]

She rushed off to retrieve the morsel, and, thankfully, it was still there. She left the quail behind, figuring that that’d be too much for him.

”Here you go,” she panted, dropping the mouse in front of him once she returned. ”Eat up.”

”Well thank goodness for that,” she said. ”Thats one less thing to worry about.” Especially when there was so much to be concerned about.

He took a bite of the mouse, and she watched with bated breath. When it didn’t seem like he was going to regurgitate it, she motioned to the piles at her deets ”Now, eat these and drink some water.”

”Good,” she praised, watching as he took his medicine.

”How do you feel,” she asked after a pause. ”The celandine might make you sleepy, but that’s the only immediate side effect I’d anticipate.”

His laughter was infectious, and she also chuckled. She’d been so used to taking care of her younger siblings, that she’d almost forgotten that adults didn’t need the same positive reinforcement. ”Yeah, sorry, I’m usually trying to convince children to take herbs,” she pressed her paw to her temple and shook her head.

It was understandable that he was tired and sore, and she stayed silent as he hobbled to his bed. ”I’ll be here to make sure nobody wakes you up,” she promised.