Bitterroot Valley Never Close to Heaven

non family? WBS? if not any Déorwine is welcome! apparently bitter root is poisonous to dogs so im rollin with that in mind

Rather his uncle traveled near or not did not matter, nor did he care as long as the old man kept his distance. In the end, they would all end up in the same place, but for now, he'd rather not deal with Uncle Brewster's lack of respect. A healer. They needed a healer. As much as he hated the thought of pandering to some nearby pack perhaps one laid near that could treat them. Traveling with these annoying burns was growing more tiresome and there was no telling how far they might need to travel. If only he had studied medicine...

Red gaze scanned the surroundings for anything that might look familiar, but all he saw was the cracked earth and rock. Something told the man that this ground was cursed, abandoned by any light of the High Elk, yet life still grew here. strange colorful flowers bloomed within the faults of the earth, Calhoun would go as far as to say that the pink blooms are pretty, though he'd never admit it out loud. Perhaps they had a purpose. If they caught his eye there was a chance they offered a remedy of sorts, why else would they catch his attention focus during such a trying time? Surely it was a sign from the High Elk.

Once again, Cal would check his surroundings. Asking would be better than trusting a mystery plant, but no figures caught his eye. He leaned down, careful as he sniffed the flowers. At first the scent was sweet, but another odor lingered that made his stomach roll. It was unsettling, perhaps a trap. The Déorwine couldn't help but go back to his original thought, this land was cursed and dark forces played tricks with weary travelers.

sometime after joining wbs, finding whitney, etc.
timelines suck.

fréobearn didn’t need @Germanicus to assist her. sometime after their joining, she told him that the trip to her cache could be made alone. of course, she couldn’t know if he would mind her words, or if he would be dismissive enough to ignore them. 

either way, she decided to make the journey under the assumption that she was alone. protect me, fréo whispered while she walked, guide me toward your bounty. the high elk was with her, even when he could not be seen.

a vaguely familiar shape in the near-distance caught her attention. fréobearn stood silent for a moment, examining the creature, but could not gather any scent aside from smoke and ash. hello? she called stepping slowly forward, then, calhoun?

A voice in the distance caused the man's ears to twitch...until—

"Calhoun?"

Red eyes shot up in search of his name, a figure nearing from the west. At first glance, she appeared to be a deer, though it quickly became apparent she was one of his cousins, Fréobearn— A healer as well, Oh thank the High Elk, something good. Cal was quick to trot over ignoring the burning of his muscles from exhaustion and flame, though upon closer inspection it seems as if he was dealt the better hand. 

Fréobearn had worse burns coating her body, patches of fur that had been singed away, and the stump of what once a tail. A frown pierced his lips as he caught himself staring and quickly redirected his gaze to the girl's, I am relieved to know you escaped the flame. Do you know of your siblings or others?

exhale. someone she knew, someone not of these lands — their family had survived beyond the small sibling group, even if in only one cousin, and fréobearn was eternally grateful. she smiled wide to hear his spoken prayer, then responded with one of her own. you are with us, fréo whispered to the high elk, you have followed us this whole way.

only then did she move to close the distance between them, eager to embrace familiarity again. she would reach to hold her shoulder against his, while being watchful of the pressure applied, so as to avoid furthering injury. it isn’t as bad as it looks, fréobearn explained as she caught his stare. her wounds were more obvious, yes, but they’d nearly finished healing. it wouldn’t be long before she was (mostly) back to full health.

célnes and cenric are both here, but we’re still looking for kendrick. mentioning her littermate hit a nerve that fréo was unwilling to acknowledge. it won’t be long before he’s back home. have you found anyone? were there more of the déorwine wolves here?

The rusted brown male missed the whisper that slipped from Fréobearn, not that it particularly mattered, it wasn't relevant to him. She closed the distance, Cal wasn't expecting the embrace, but he didn't reject it. It was a slice of something familiar in strange and new lands.

Unfortunately, his staring did not go unnoticed as Fréo was quick to defend her injuries. You lost your tail. Even if it didn't hurt, that seemed pretty serious to the hunter. At least she had her family, her siblings, it was more than he could say. Was Corliss even alive? He prayed time would tell, for better or for worse, it was better than the unknown.

Uncle Brewster lags behind me. His paw was burned so I ventured off in search of anyone else who survived and a healer.

aye, she replied, but i still have my life. fréobearn thought that it was cruel to complain about lesser injuries, an insult to those who could no longer do the same — like her parents. it would hurt them now, to hear her complain about something as trivial as a tail, when they’d been so unlucky as to lose everything on this plane.

calhoun might not have known of her parents’ death, but he still received a heavy glare all the same. where is brewster? fréo asked with a slight change of attitude. it must have been the high elk’s guidance which brought these two together, so that another déorwine might be helped.

And thank the High Elk for that. He mused, unsure why she seemed to be bitter, but it did little to phase him. It's fine if it does hurt you know. There is strength in admitting your pain. Who was he to judge her, she had lost more than he, or so he assumed. Maybe her parents had survived while his did not, either way he must admit his own pain as well.

His gaze searched behind him. Brewster said he would lag behind, but it's been sometime now and he still hadn't caught up. I'm not sure now. He told me to go ahead, I figured he'd catch up eventually. Perhaps he shouldn't have gone so far ahead but it did lead him to more members of their family, so it wasn't like he had done a horrible thing. He did as he said he would.