Redhawk Caldera moonshell

as the morning brightened, chickadee allowed the pups out from the blackthorn den and shook her own ruff.
each day was vital with the growling bellies and exuberant exploration of the fledglings, but today chickadee hung back.
"daddy," she murmured to @Eljay, finding her father's face with a bright smile. "i'd like to learn medicine, as much as you can teach me. and i think it's time i knew all the blackthorn stories too, from you and mama."
the root of this decision was buried in things chickadee would rather not contemplate, though she meant it genuinely.

The sound of Chickadee's voice brought a smile to Eljay's face, as always; though today, it was already there as he had watched the pups run out from the den. He enjoyed watching each of them, and enjoyed how each of them had their own personality and way of doing things. As Chickadee's request came, Eljay smiled at first, but then as she mentioned stories, he could not help but wonder if it was because she dreaded his death — and could not help but have his smile half slip from his face, only a melancholic, bittersweet remnant left.

Then he forced it back on again, and said, Of course. I would love to teach you. Is there any particular direction that you would like to learn? He was specialised, after all, in taking care of young pups, of pregnancies, and of wounds, sores, and all else that could be wrong with the wolf body. I will have to think of some stories. It was my mother who was specialised in telling those. And, after a moment of thought, Your mother might be more suited to tell them — Err — Those she knows. I will give some thought to what I can tell. He realised that of course Maia had not always been there, and there were yet many stories of the Blackthorn family that she did not know because of that.

she studied his face, wondering why. but chickadee knew why, and forced past it without letting herself have a single thought. "pups, mostly. their care. and — midwifing." these were things she could have learned from kukutux, she supposed, but the woman had so much to do that chickadee had never tried to keep the leader's attention.
besides, she had her dad to mentor her now. "maybe general scrapes and pains too, you see how active they're getting!"

Pups, mostly. It seemed that his daughter's interests were very aligned with his own. He had started that way, wanting to take care of pups - though it was the pack's pups, and his siblings and cousins, rather than his own - and then wanting to learn midwifing because of his siblings' rocky birthing. He had only learned because of his mother's near-death when he was young. He would never forget that day, and how helpless he felt by her side, unable to help her other than to keep her comfortable.

Scrapes were an afterthought, just as it had been for him. The caretaker smiled at his daughter, proud to see so much of himself in her, and at the same time so much of her mother. Well, you're already looking into looking after pups well enough, he said with a chuckle. Lots of practical experience there. So which of the things do you want to start with? Do you want to learn more about looking after the pups, and what sort of things are you looking to learn about, or would you rather learn a thing or two about midwifing? Scrapes he left for now, because it seemed like an afterthought to her - and therefore it was to him, too. Of course he'd teach her if she preferred to start with it, however. Being a midwife might not be relevant until later either, but if she was interested to take it first, of course he would oblige.

chickadee grinned at the humor in her dad's voice. "honestly, i need to know the gross stuff first. like — constipation. how to stop vomiting. like, what a fever might look like. rashes. stuff like that, i think. the rest i think i'm learning right now," she sighed happily, leaning against her father for a moment.
"then maybe we can get into how — how i can help someone give birth. it hurt, dad. woo, it hurt. but when they were all out, i didn't feel so bad at all! what's that about," she joked, half asking.

It did seem like the scrapes and bruises - well, the medical stuff, anyway - was what she was most interested in learning first. It was a lot of stuff Chickadee mentioned and Eljay was a little lost in it all at first, trying to figure out what to address first. He suggested eventually, Maybe we can take those things as they come to the pups. He understood that it might feel like she needed to hurry to Chickadee, but he didn't quite feel that way. Yes, he could feel that he was getting old, and he did often think about how his parents were dead and buried a few years by this point in time, but he always expected that he'd feel it coming, when death did catch up on him. He wondered idly if his parents had felt it coming. A fever is the easiest to feel, because you can feel how warm they are. As an afterthought, as if he changed his own mind, too, and decided to start on the Lecture Of Everything, anyway.

It's weird how that works, isn't it? he said, in regards to birth. He didn't know from first hand experience, of course, but he had talked about it a lot and seen it a lot in his years as midwife. I don't know why it is that way. Maybe it's nature's gift to feel good once the work is all done. After a short pause, .. And perhaps it's nature's gift to feel pain when you need to keep working, too.

"a fever is warmth, but it can also be throwing up, right? weakness. dry eyes and nose?" she ticked these things off in her mind. contemplating what her dad had said about pain, chickadee tried to discover if there were things applicable about the lesson that she could apply other places.
"what about — kukutux called it the green cough. she said it made the very young and the very old sick. do you know what that is, daddy, or what to do about it?"
attentive, chickadee waited.

That's true, Eljay confirmed, And often pain in the muscles, too - with pups, if they're old enough to say so, of course. Against the pain there are various plants, uhm, we can look at them another time. Eljay did not keep many dried plants anymore because their effectiveness waned and he rather would spend what strength he had on more useful things for the pack. Instead he tried to keep memory of where the plants he used were planted so he had them handy when spring came around each year.

Chickadee then mentioned something called 'the green cough', which Eljay hadn't heard of before. Pups got sick at least a few times growing up, he knew, but most of it was just passing. Pups died more often from other tragic events than sickness as far as he knew. And old wolves — well, in all honesty, he was the oldest wolf he'd known in his life, so he didn't know much about that. It made him feel a little bit of a quack as it sounded like Kukutux was a lot more knowledgeable. Trying not to look a fool in front of his daughter, after about twenty seconds of thinking Eljay cleared his throat and said, Err, I haven't heard of that sickness. I haven't known a lot of old wolves, so I wouldn't know if they're particularly, uh, vulnerable for a certain sickness. Pups tend to get some sicknesses, but they usually turn out fine. His cheeks felt warm from the embarrassment, but Eljay tried hard not to let it show.

pain in the muscles, its expression limited by what the sufferer could say. her father offered a botany course; chickadee eagerly nodded, looking forward to the excursion. 
it seemed he didn't know what kukutux meant, and she lay a paw on his arm all the same. "she was talking about the past. maybe it was something that doesn't happen here. maybe she just wanted me to be safe."
chickadee hoped it was a decent segue; she cleared her throat and asked, "what about things like runny noses? they can get a little sniffly, but it goes away. what happens if it doesn't, daddy?" the young woman went on, glancing with a smile to where the children wrestled together not far away.

Maybe, said Eljay, a little hesitantly, because he just didn't know. Honestly, a lot of his practice was based on, well, practice; things he had actually experienced. It sounded as if perhaps Kukutux knew more theory. Either that, or she had faced more bad illnesses in her life. Eljay felt a twinge incompetent, or less competent, at the very least, and he understood better than ever what Maia must have felt when she spoke of Kukutux to him in the past. Chickadee and Kivaluk had chosen to come back here, rather than stay with Kukutux, he reminded himself in an attempt to stave off his feelings of incompetence.

Runny noses? he parroted, and he was about to say they went away on their own when Chickadee filled that in herself, and asked what if they didn't. Oh, uh — I haven't experienced that yet — Except wolves who died after falling ill, but that somehow seemed inappropriate to even mention, as they were talking about pups. — I guess you would give them some herbs to ease breathing, and deal with the pain, and such, if they struggle with those things, and, uh, hope it goes away with time after all.

she wanted to ask: what if they don't? but she noticed her father seemed a little rattled. jarred? was she projecting? maybe she shouldn't have mentioned moonglow at all. feeling a bit chagrined, chickadee resolved to soothe the situation — "can you tell me the coolest thing you ever did with medicine, daddy?"
some reminiscing might please eljay; it would certainly please chickadee to hear more about her dad's past as a doctor. had he always known everything he did now?
of course not; but she wanted lore, and waited now, eyes bright.

Chickadee didn't ask any further, which was a relief to Eljay. Instead, she asked him a different question. Eljay blinked and admitted, Medicine isn't that cool... He trailed off thoughtfully as he tried to recall if he had ever done anything that might qualify as 'cool' in Dee's eyes. I think mostly, the stories surrounding the medicine are... well, maybe not cool, but, uh, meaningful. He looked at Chickadee's face for a sign that she wanted to hear any of those, silently asking if it counted.

meaningful. she nodded gently and settled close, face upturned as if she were only a young child again, listening to a story. "lots of things can be cool in different ways," the caldera woman offered, eyes shining.
his eyes. she'd always known that, but to see her gaze matching his own face brought a nuance to the interaction not lost on her. not processed, but certainly not forgotten.