Kintla Flatlands i wanna know what good love feels like

@Issun

Although she was nearly finished with the task at hand, Dulce’s heart still weighed as heavy as before. There was a part of her that felt used, as though Maegi had taken advantage of her desperation and Nikan, her inexperience. Neither of them had done right in directing her on this mission, though she herself was the one who was truly to blame. After all, it was her consent that had started this mess. 

Dulce had since returned from her search for Pixie. The last stop for her to make was at Blackfeather’s doorstep; they could wait. She’d taken a moment to rest beneath the foreboding corpse of a tall oak, both to collect her thoughts and to hide from the high sitting sun.

issun should’ve collapsed as soon as he walked out of that forest. it would’ve been the smarter thing to do anyway. the wounds he earned made traveling difficult, but adrenaline and rage kept him going.

the pain only set in once he realized how far he had walked. he sat down to examine himself. open wounds littered his torso. his foreleg was torn. and there was so much dried blood, burning him to a crisp in this weather. damnit. issun dragged himself away from the sun’s relentless heat.

he didn’t know a thing about herbs or healing but at least he had the sense to find water. the woman was barely noticed, he was too focused on the task.

The scent of blood came before the sight of the injured stranger fumbling down some yards away. Dulce wondered what might have happened and thought about how long it might take for her to convince him to tell. From the way that he came down, it didn’t seem that he knew of (or was interested in) her presence, but there was no way to be sure without asking.

Slowly did she stand, creeping toward him with her body sitting neutral should he suspect an attack. Once close enough, Dulce chuffed so as to not alarm him. Need help? she asked, now getting a small glimpse at the injured leg. Like Issun, she didn’t know the first thing about herbs, but there must’ve been something else that she could do, right?

need help?

the voice was slightly startling. he spun around to glare at whoever it was. part of him thought it was higoro or rather hoped it was. thanks to him, his life was left in even more ruin then it was before. issun would gladly rectify him for it.

this wasn’t higoro, just a stranger lending assistance. the simplicity of this interaction was so strange. life was so busy and cruel. things like this were few and far between.

sorry. issun tried to loosen up. it was forced and it showed. he still looked generally tense. yeah, help would be nice.

The stranger had every right to be tense ( Dulce knew that she would’ve been, too) so she didn’t think much of it. Her mind was preoccupied with the realization that she’d offered help that she didn’t know how to give and that offer had actually been accepted. Okay. Well.

What do you need me to do? she asked, hoping that he might not find her indirect admittance if IDon’tKnowWhatI’mDoing to be too off-putting.

he was very hesitant about this. she couldn’t be a healer, otherwise she would’ve sprung into action already. that’s what happened the last time anyways. maybe he was expecting too much from her.

is there any water around?

A moment of deep thought. There is, Dulce replied, I can help you walk over. It's not far. There wasn't really a way for her to bring the water to him aside from carrying it in her mouth, and that just seemed unsanitary. She waited for his reply, but by the looks of his mangled leg, it didn't seem likely that he'd be interested. In that momentary lapse, Dulce wondered if there were any other options that she might be missing. Carry it in a leaf? she thought to herself, No, that's too fairytale to be real.

no, no. i’m alright. clearly he wasn’t. broken, bloodied, and on the verge of collapsing wasn’t the spitting image of a healthy individual. to make matters worse his mind was gone. he was too busy worrying about other things to be completely present.

regardless of the troubles, issun tried his best to look decent. just lead the way.

Although unsure and somewhat untrusting of Issun's judgement, Dulce did as she was told. The young scout gave a shrug of her shoulders before turning to start walking toward the small pond. She looked back only once to make sure that her patient was following. If you start to feel pain, or weak, she said, assuming that he was near enough to hear, you can lean on me. It's no problem.

It only took a few minutes to reach the pond's edge. Dulce waited for Issun to situate himself before deciding what to do next.

issun was eager to soothe this scorching pain. when the pond was in view, issun limped ahead and dove into the water. it wasn’t as pleasant as one would think. there was a stinging sensation from head to toe, not unlike the time he let those badger attack wounds sit. issun winced. not good. not good at all.

if the pain persisted he probably wouldn’t be able to make the trip back to shadewood. but did he really want to go back? everything was broken beyond repair, there was no use wasting energy on trying. but he couldn’t just disappear. his son was waiting for him. he wouldn’t just abandon him like that.

issun kept his eye on the gentle ripples he created. he was lost in thought, thinking of what to do next.