Dragoncrest Cliffs we begin in the dark and birth is the death of us

The day is exceptionally warm, heating Thuringwethil’s dark coat and driving her to the water. She drives herself through the cavern and all the way to the other side, opening up to the ocean at low tide. Slipping through the wet corridor and pathway, out to the left and into the open were tide pools are filled with from withdraw of the tide. For a while, she filters through the pools and eating her fill of findings. Occasionally, she sets some aside to save for the puppies later, tucking them away in a cache up against the stony cliffs for later, where she lays to rest and dozes off.

She wakes to a loud clap of thunder, bolting upright and flinging sand and dirt in all directions. Blinking away the last little bit of sleep she picks herself up and straightens out. The sky is dark in the distance, a haze over the water proves rain is coming, and a bolt of lightning cuts the sky. Her nose lifts and she howls, letting the others know where she was with the oncoming storm, but she makes an effort to get back into the cavern. High tide has started to come in, splashing against the walls she needs to reach in order to come inside. The water comes up to her elbows and she braces herself, using the side of the cliffs as leverage but! The cache!

Thuringwethil makes a sudden turn to go back, front paws slipping on the stone beneath her feet and wiping out from beneath her. Instantly, the dark woman hits the rocky bottom and a wave washes over her, pulling the large, limp form. Another wave sends her back into the wall, and pulled back just a little farther, and each hungry pull of the ocean eventually takes her back and devours her.

The ocean pulls her into a lullaby, visions of wolves she doesn’t recognize by anything but their voices. Commanders of their past, having long since abandoned her in her lead and scarcely there in her dreams anymore. Heda can’t do anything to reach out to them for help, the sea cradling her in its grasp and taking her further into the depths. Her mouth opens to cry out, a muffled sound doesn’t break the barrier. They turn and only their backs are visible now and a few seconds later, nothing.

It’s not until a few hours later, and the storm has past, the she is spit out on sandy shores, unconscious.

her recent ventures outside of drageda have awoken something in her she doesn't know how to reconcile. blixen has no sense of direction and no real desire to travel, but she keeps thinking about furi, and the girl she met on the cliffs, and the idea of ... something out there, maybe, something she's supposed to do. (little does she know this new restless spirit is about to be firmly squashed.)

the shilkru is absent for the waters and nomi's initial danger, oblivious as she rests in hougeda. she does not know what's happened at all except by accident -- she's wandering along the shores, half keeping an eye out for mother (who she thinks will understand the restlessness better than nomi, maybe) when she spots her nomi's dark form crumpled on the sands. 

at first she thinks the worst has happened, an alarmed cry tearing out of her as she surges forward, saying no no no no no -- but there is the shallow rise and fall of her ribs and she finds her senses enough to call out, @Portia first on her mind but anyone, anyone who will show up and help her.

It was not unusual for the aspiring medic to respond to calls intended for Drageda's Fisa, especially not when they were filled with such desperation and worry. So with a quick few steps Rose gathered a handful of common herbs and grasped them between her jaws, heart threatening to beat out of her chest as she began to sprint towards the area Blixen had howled from. Only upon arriving at the scene did the russet Kru realize just how serious the situation was, for it was not just anyone laying there. It was Heda herself.

To make matters worse Rose was inexperienced with handling what appeared to be drowning and Portia, who she hoped would have arrived before her, still wasn't here. However, on the bright side the unconscious commander was still breathing which meant at the very least they still had time to save her. "What happened" the russet Kru let out after tossing the bundle of herbs onto the sand, trying to sound as calm and collected as she could given the current circumstance. If she could figure out what happened then maybe, just maybe she could bide enough time for Portia.

it is not portia that gets here first but rose -- blixen gives her a grateful look even as she struggles to put to words her chaotic thoughts. "i don't know," she blurts, voice high and anxious, "i just found her like this, but she's all wet so she must've been in the water, right? she's breathing but what do -- how do we fix her?" as she speaks the spaces between her words shorten until the sentence is nearly a blur, ears pressed flat against her firey skull. beneath her nomi's breathing remains shallow, fragile, as if in stasis until the redheads can solve the scene.

portia, with her handicap, is slower than she used to be. she moves as quickly as she can, panic gripping at her poor heart. she limps up a short time after rose does, breathing heavily and doing her best to ignore the shooting pain in her leg. she brings her emergency bundle, as she always does to calls like this. but as she arrives she fears it's not enough. heda is unconscious, a gash in her head. rose already has herbs, thrown to the side, and portia assesses the situation anxiously from a distance. 

"cobwebs," she says, almost in a mutter but audible at least. she quickly moves forward, opening her own bundle and pulling out the small ball of cobwebs she included in it. she carefully pressed them to the open wound on their heda's head, but they would need more than this. "we need to move her-- she needs to be dried off-- she's breathing-- she'll be okay if we move fast--" portia was saying things quickly and as the thoughts appeared in her mind, and of course she had no idea if their commander would be okay-- but it was the best she could offer right now. 

as she spoke, artaax appeared, looking shocked and frightened-- but ready to help. portia commanded the present party to move her-- carefully-- anxiety plaguing her.

Blixen's answer doesn't due much to help and Rose, who mind you still has no idea what to do, starts to feel anxiety weigh her down. This was Heda after all and whether it was outrageous or not, Rose would feel responsible if the commander was unable to pull through. Luckily her thoughts wouldn't cloud her mind for too long thanks to the arrival of Portia who thankfully took the lead in the situation.

Rose observes what she can until instructions are given, watching carefully as she comes to the same conclusion as the Fisa. They needed more materials. The russet Kru gives a single nod to the others that aim to help before approaching the unconscious commander, lifting when instructed and hoping that somehow she'd be able to redeem herself from earlier.

rose's lack of an answer only makes blixen grow more tense until she is nearly vibrating out of her skin and about to yell at the kru (because of course what they need is more conflict). the scene is saved by portia's timely arrival, making blix scramble out of the way to let the medic do her work -- her eyes find artaax's as portia quickly issues commands, glad he looks as scared as she feels. 

she stays quiet, moving to nomi's side to help lift her with the rest of the group -- there'll be time for anxious questions later but right now she just wants to focus on getting nomi safely moved and hearing portia say she'll be okay.

-scoots everyone to the den-

the available party all worked to move heda to portia's den. dalia ushered the trio of babies out and kept their attention elsewhere, moving them deeper into hougeda and away from the scene unfolding. portia gave a soft, thankful nod to her daughter and watched her go, the greyscale girl looking mortified. it was a problem for later. 

 "down carefully," she said, taking a heaving breath and she and artaax put down their half of the commander. when heda was resting on the ground, portia moved to drag the hide that she used for the puppies, draping it over thuringwethil's shoulders. "she's cold and wet-- she might develop pneumonia, we need to monitor her," she informed the crowd of wolves that had been helping. "rose-- will you check for any major wounds? besides the head-- i will finish patching that." 

She hardly noticed the scurrying children just as she remained completely oblivious of her decent into Hougeda. Her mind was far too concerned on the state of Heda for her to take notice of her surroundings, and when she did find herself focused elsewhere, it was usually on Blixen or Artaax and how they were taking the whole situation. Being without parents herself Rose couldn't understand whatever was running through their heads, but she could in some way or another imagine this was a terrifying scenario for them to be in.

Once they arrived at Portia's den and Heda was placed on the floor, Rose immediately took to following the instructions given to her and began to carefully inspect the commander for any other injuries. From what she could see there weren't any physical wounds, but that didn't necessarily mean there weren't any injuries at all. "There are no other wounds that I can see, but there may be water in her lungs" she concluded after accessing what she could and turned to the Fisa for further instructions.

rose and portia are in control of the situation -- the shilkru follows what she's told to do, retreating into silence uselessly. nomi isn't about to die, that much she's gathered -- for now she's stuck in a ball of shock that'll turn into exhaustion once nomi is finally stable and she retreats to panic quietly in the confines of hougeda. 

after all she isn't a medic -- there's no real need for her here.