The boy had been laying low for the past few days. He showed little interest in his new home, instead favoring long naps in the heart of the forest. The wound upon his neck still throbbed, but for the most part it had begun to heal - becoming a thick scab which itched tremendously, but Tiarnan knew better than to irritate it. He woke from a long sleep to the irritating urge to scratch, but resisted with all of his might. He was tired - very tired - and there was a heat to his skin that felt very strange. Beneath the looming figures of the trees he should have been cool. The shadows kept most of the summer sun at bay, yet Tiarnan felt a humidity within his very being that could only mean one thing: fever.

He slouched to one side against the earth, the forest debris beneath him being swept aside in the process. One errant pile of tinder remained, littering various patches of the ground beneath him and serving to make his attempt to sleep all the more impossible. Tiarnan lay with one cheek against the dirt for a few moments, but when he heard the sounds of someone crackling through the underbrush, he lifted his head. With his tongue hanging out and a heavy pant quickly assuming control in an effort to cool down, Tiarnan was quite the sight. Lethargic and far too warm in his own skin. The stranger's face came in to view, at which point the boy attempted to hoist himself up; sitting rather awkwardly while forest debris either fell away from his chocolate coat, or tangled within it.

"I am Thistle," said the woman, who made simple motioned between his position and a pile of dubious objects that she had touted along with her. Tiarnan blinked down at the tangle of plants and webbing, but then gave a small nod of understanding. Whoever this was, they did not mean him harm. "Tiarnan." He rasped, slid his dry tongue against his even dryer nose, and then let it hang once more.

He recognized the plants as she presented them (at least the Jopi, although the name was different in his homeland). Tiarnan knew some very basic herbology but in a moment like this, with fever flooding his system, he could only stare down at the assorted piles. His eyes watered, and the boy blinked past the blur; and then nodded when the woman motioned to his wound. She was a cleric - or something like it - and that was what he needed. In silence the boy lifted his chin and turned his head, giving her a better view of his neck wound. The skin puckered and grew taut with the motion, straining and causing a bare pain to ignite across the nerves of his skin. Tiarnan winced lightly, but did not protest when Thistle came closer.

He waited paitently - or rather, as patiently as he could. The woman's prodding at his tender skin made him squeeze his eyes shut, causing the fluid build up to spill over and course down his cheeks. It looked like he was crying, but as everyone knows, wolves don't have tear ducts. When she pulled back he breathed a soft sigh, unaware that in his distress Tiarnan had been holding his breath. He thought she was done, but then there was another pressure atop the cleaned wound as she applied the webbing. He blinked away the pain as she pulled back again, this time motioning at the Jopi - and he nodded carefully, trying not to damage her work as he reached for the plant. After chewing for a few minutes his mouth was flooded with an awful earthy flavor; he was urged then to spit it out, but fought against the desire and swallowed.

The boy's lips smacked and his face drew in to a scowl, shifting his tongue around as if the motion would destroy the strange taste. It would take a few hours for the pain in his neck to ebb away, and even longer for the wound to heal - but he was grateful for the attention. With a submissive dip of his head, Tiarnan reached for her chin and flicked her tongue across it as a means of thanks (and submitting to his superior in the process, surely earning him brownie points). A small smile crept across his face, curling the corners of his lips, but only for a moment. There was nothing Tiarnan knew how to say in order to thank her.