Broken Antler Fen We can't stay here!

MANDATORY!!! @Pearl @Odette @Andalusia @Benjamin @Nova @Ivy @Malice

Sebastian noticed that something was wrong. Burke had become sick first. It was almost symptoms of poisoning. It spread fast. Even he was having a stomach ache. He didn't eat anything wrong in particular. Sebastian had come to the conclusion that it might be their drinking water that was making them sick. Seeing that their territory was mostly based on water and their waterways it felt unnatural to stay here.

The alpha howled for his pack. They needed to do something, they needed to move. Redhawk might have some place for them. They would take him in, right? Even if it was only for a short while. He had helped his father to the meeting spot before he howled for the others. He looked weak. His old age wasn't helping. First, they needed to stop and have a drink at Lake Rodney that would make them all feel better.

Burke hadn't felt so weak in a long time. It was that damn sickness that made him weak. He hated it. He hated that Sebastian had to help him. He hated that he couldn't do anything but lie down at his son's feet. It was humiliating. At least there was some sense in the boy. They were moving. Burke was wondering how long he could keep up, perhaps this would be his last travels. It felt like it. The older panted lightly as he laid down waiting for the others. He was exhausted, and dehydrated as he refused to drink the water here.

I assumed some things, and may have mildly pp'd. Please let me know if I should change anything! <3

There was something wrong in the Fen. Andalusia had felt it. The subtle, but persistent ache of her stomach, unable to be quelled with water, food, or herbs. She had been one of the ones to come across Burke's crumbled heap, who had been the first to show signs of the illness. Vomiting. Lethargy. Abdominal pains. The signs alarmed her as they were, but even more their inability to be cured by remedies she and Sebastian offered the man. No matter what they did, he only got worse - and when she had felt the nudge of similar symptoms herself, Andalusia had subjected herself to voluntary isolation, disguised by her ever frequent search for herbs and hospitable territory to nurture gardens that couldn't be grown in the Fen. She spent long days away, and returned only to stash away plants she had collected, and to check on the states of her packmates. She took no part of the Fen's caches, unwilling to risk contaminating them with whatever illness plagued her, and hunted, drank, and slept away.

And the funny thing was, in her time away, the pain subsided and disappeared. The healing did not happen in a night, but her illness did not linger like Burke's. So, tentatively, she tested a break from her travels, and sought to integrate herself into the land again. Eating of its food, drinking of its streams, but still sleeping apart from her packmates.

But soon the illness returned, and the ache wormed its way back into her stomach, until she separated herself again and the illness subsided and health replaced her tired state.

And none of those who stayed in the Fen seemed to get better.

So when Sebastian's beckon came, she loped to meet him, keen to finally address the problems and her growing suspicion that something was wrong with the Fen. And if he didn't, she wouldn't let the meeting disperse until he had. Yet she had little worry Sebastian would fail them in this, for his passion for healing already showed he put the health of the pack at the top of his priorities.

Burke lay as a husk before the younger man, and her eyes passed over the elder's ragged shape with concern. He had taken the worst blow, and the weakness and his age showed in every line of his body. Though the Ostrega had tried to help Sebastian care for his ailing father, they could do nothing but offer remedies to numb the pain. But masking the symptoms was no cure, and if they didn't treat him soon, Andalusia predicted a bleak outcome she would do everything in her ability to avoid.

None of these thoughts surfaced, save for in the flicker of her eyes. She passed Burke a respectful nod, and turned to Sebastian with a deeper bow. Her gaze danced briefly over his own, before she averted to look just beyond his face. "I trust you are addressing the illness." A statement, given only because the others had not yet gathered. She expected little more than a yes or no, until the rest of the pack arrived.

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PPing Malice in this post with permission from... well, myself XD

Benjamin had a slight tummy ache - the one that didn't go away with simply eating some grass. The weird part was that he had greatly limited his share of the food they had gotten; he was thinning up and was looking a lot more healthy if he did say so himself. He had gone to Grammie Mal for advice, but the wise starrreader didn't know what was going on either. Or perhaps she just didn't want to tell him. He would've never suspected that it was the water that was making everyone feel bleggh and was glad that his father called them over. He went together with Grammie Mal, sticking close to her chocolaty legs until they got there. He spotted his Grandpop Butt and was kind of shocked with how out-of-it he looked. Was it time to go chew on some plants?

Daddy! He nearly shouted as he scooted closer to his father for a quick nuzzle. I don't feel so well... He said honestly, casting his eyes down upon the floor. Neither is Grammie Mallie... He turned his head to look at the scarred female as she gently came closer to Burke to comfort him. What we gonn' do?[/tr][/td][/table]

Pearl came to her mate's side swiftly, looking at the members who had assembled already. Everyone was being affected, and no one more than Burke. The pups, too, were being hit, and she had agreed with Sebastian about picking up shop and moving elsewhere to preserve the pack. 

As her stomach was in turmoil, she gazed at her in-law with concern. She had admittedly never been much of a fan of Burke, but seeing him like this worried her and made her all the more worried for her children. They couldn't keep living here. Especially not now.

Something was wrong... recently she'd noticed a dry cough that had started up in her and a painful, off and on, ache in her stomach.  She'd never really been one to get sick herself... and it made her uncomfortable when she'd begun to notice that it wasn't only her that was sick.

There had to be something wrong with the fen.

Instantly she began to make her way towards her Father at the sound of his howl, a bit of fear whirling in her gut.  She wondered if this was going to be something about the sickness.  After all, what else could it really even be about?

Life had been a strange, fog-filled affair lately.  Stomach aching at a near-constant rate, Ivy discovered as the days wore on that she'd been sleeping more than usual.  For her to come to this revelation on her own was itself a miracle - the girl enjoyed her sleep something fierce and had always been the longest and latest sleeper of the Alpha pair's children.  Now sleep was her only respite from the aches and pains of whatever illness had swept through the pack.  After she'd put two and two together.. well, that was when the real worry set in.

Normally sharp as a tack, the gray girl felt lethargy weigh her down as she stuck close to her mother's side.  She'd remained within close proximity to her parents over the last several days, especially after she saw her grandfather taken down hard.  It went against her independent nature, but she supposed she couldn't deny how comforting Pearl and Sebastian would always be to her.

The arrival of her younger and yet much larger brother Benjamin caught Ivy's attention, momentarily drawing her thoughts away from what ailed the Fen.  She took several hurried steps toward the lighter boy and with a whimper shoved her masked face into his always-fluffy shoulder.

@Nova Hopefully you can get in a reply <3 I am going to continue this so the muse/plot continues! I will make the joining post at RHC tomorrow/thursday!

Sebastian watched every member come in. He was most worried that Burke wouldn't be able to make the trip to RHC. Sebastian was worried. He nodded into Andalusia for confirmation. "Though I believe it isn't an illness?," he spoke but the male sounded hesitant. Sebastian looked over those that arrived. No one looked well. His worried glance went to Ben. "I know, buddy," he sighed. The male cleared his throat.

"Pearl and I have decided that we need to move. As you all noticed there is something strange in our territory that makes us all sick. I do not believe that it is a disease but something is defintely wrong," he spoke. "We will move out now. There is a pack close by called Redhawk Caldera. I lived with them when I was younger and still have good ties with them. I hope they have room to take us in. If not we will stick together and find a new home."

Sebastian felt weird to announce their departure from the fen. It was a beautiful territory and their home for more than a year. He nudged his father, hopefully he heard most of it. "We will move out slow and make sure everyone makes it. We stop for a drink and a rest at Lake Rodney. Perhaps there we can regain some strength." Sebastian looked over all of them. He couldn't help but feel like he failed. "I'm sorry," he added.

Burke zoned out from time to time. He caught the nod from the healer woman and the arrival of Malice. It did him well to have her close. He lifted his muzzle towards her, but then closed his eyes again. However, he was listening to what Sebastian was saying. He was going to move them out. Smart. There was something here that made them sick. Perhaps it was poison. His paranoid brain could only think of Black Feather. They might have poisoned them all. He kept silent though.

Burke wasn't entirely sure if these Caldera folk would even want him in his pack but he wasn't going to worry about it. He had to get there in the first place. Only when the weakling of his son muttered a 'sorry' his little engine fired up again. The male pushed himself on his shaky legs. "Don't apologize, you weak turd," his voice croaked. "Let's go then." His throat was dry from the lack of water. He only chose the word 'turd' because well, there were kids around. The male stepped forward but let out a grunt. It was his physical form that was degrading and was ill. Mentally he was still quite okay. Yet, each step he took he looked more and more like an old male.

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She was the last to come along, but then, she also didn't feel like moving. She'd already been weaker before, a more gentle disposition giving way to a body that wasn't that capable of supporting her ambitions. She had been sickly as a puppy and as a teenager she was proving to follow the course, the illness that had swept up her family catching her too. To hear that they would be moving made her already sour stomach knot, the cramping bringing a plaintive whine from her lips. "B-but, but Mato won't know!" It was the first horror that befell her mind, eyes shining with sorrow that her brother wouldn't know where to find them.

She was mad, she was heartbroken, she was disappointed. Mato had left them behind and now....now the chances that he would ever find them seemed so abysmally small. "I don't want to go." She whispered softly, head lowered - her entire body near crumpled. It was unfair. She was losing her home, all her trinkets and treasures, and her brother was gone too. 

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