Sun Mote Copse times are changing

The past days had been a blur for Eljay. He contemplated what he should do: go and tell mommy, or wait until mommy and daddy ended up coming to the Firebirds pack themselves. Or maybe it would be better not to tell anyone yet, because it was still very unclear to Eljay where he and @Wildfire stood. They'd spent the last days together, and then when the heat ended, not quite all the time. Eljay still stole whatever time she could spare for him though, pretty smitten with Wiffle and he also enjoyed sleeping beside her. It was warmer than sleeping alone and that way he could keep an eye on her stomach to check whether she was pregnant or not. It was an exciting but excruciatingly long wait until she would start showing symptoms of the pregnancy (or not), though. He couldn't wait to have it confirmed.

After waking up in the morning Eljay nuzzled Wiffle's face and left the peace that their burrow provided to set out into the real world. He decided to try and look for @Kiwi. After all, he'd promised to teach her about some herbs and caretaking. It would be easier if they'd find someone who was actually wounded, but at least he could explain some basics. Eljay thought that it might be slightly awkward considering he'd boinked her mother, so he was a little nervous for that, but her initial reaction had not been angrily chasing him out so Eljay thought they were on an okay enough page to try and seek her out for a first lesson.

Here, have a dummy to practice on. <3

"Damnit."

Niamh had been clawing at the ice of a stream where a fish had been frozen, and had eventually broken through- but the block of ice holding the fish had also been pushed below the water and had been carried down stream, under the shelf of ice, well beyond Niamh's reach. What she hadn't expected was for the ice to break so suddenly beneath her front feet, nor had she expected it to be as deep in that part of the creek as it had been. So when the ice cracked and broke, she fell through- smacking her chin on the ice ledge, which caused her to nick her upper lip- where her upper left canine no longer existed. Her feet hit the bottom, but the water came up to her elbows, making it unpleasant and tricky for her to back up and pull her front legs out of the ice without dunking her face. She was able to do so, breath hitching in her throat from the sudden feeling of icy water against her legs and chest, and stepped back from the small hole she'd created, hissing out of spite. 

When she looked down, she saw the blood on the ice first, and licked her lips, assuming that that was where it was coming from- but the blood trailed up her left front limb where she'd managed to scrape the fur and skin on the outside of her foreleg badly enough to make it bleed. The icy water had numbed the pain instantly, but the realization made her grimace nonetheless. It was no more than a simple flesh wound- and would scab up without leaving too much of a mark when it healed- but the scrape trailed all the way from her ankle up to her elbow, making it look much worse than it actually was. Niamh didn't know that, though, and had a flair for being over-dramatic, so she set out to find someone who could tell her what she was supposed to do with it. Raven was back at the plateau- but she'd caught wind of Eljay, and knew that he knew enough about this kind of thing that he'd be a help. 

She was still quite surprised, frankly, that Eljay had gotten where he had. He wasn't a leader by any means- not by rank or, in her frank and short-sighted opinion, in character- but he was certainly comfortably placed at the top of the ranks. She wasn't sure how to process that- but then again, this pack was different than the Redhawks. All of her experience as a guardian, warrior and hunter were likely less valued here, where strangers were to be greeted with a welcoming nature. In that respect, Eljay deserved every bit of his rank; she'd just have to get used to the standards being different...But they weren't different in a way that made her feel anxious. No- this sort of life she could deal with. This was likely where she was meant to be, anyway. This would help her get rid of her triggers and her quick-to-act nature. This was where she could learn to be the best version of herself, she was sure of it. 

She tracked him down, knowing that he'd been spending a lot of time at the big, awesome-looking den with Wildfire. Again, she had to do her best to strangle her judgement. It was no secret, after all, that Wildfire had gone into heat; and from what Niamh could tell, as the busybody she was, Eljay had been there with her quite a bit. Niamh had passed by the area a few times, more nosey than anything- and had already leapt to the assumption that Eljay and Wildfire had something going on. It made her feel....Giggly. Of course, that was only after she'd realized that the two weren't actually related. The Redhawks and Blackthorns were all adopted in amongst each other- but weren't related by blood. At least, not yet. Regardless- she knew where he'd been stowing himself away, so she found a fresh set of tracks leading away from the area and followed after him. 

"Oi, Eljay!" She called out, when she saw his silvery shape in the distance, hoping to halt him so that she could catch up without pushing herself too hard. The fur of her legs, ruff and chest had frozen by now, but she'd shaken most of the water out before it'd done so, so that her skin was dry underneath. She sped up to reach him and was pleased when her leg didn't protest- the only pain that came from it was related to the cold and the little spinky hairs that were frozen together and pulling on each other.

Eljay tried to sort what sort of things he would tell Kiwi in his head. He wanted to tell her about herbs, but then again, there weren't many around now and those that were were covered in snow. Eljay wanted to avoid another let-down like last time when he'd searched for hours and found no herbs at all, especially in Kiwi's first lesson. A practical approach would be better, but Eljay didn't really hope for anyone to be wounded either. And if they were, he might have to act fast rather than take his time to call for Kiwi and let her have a go at it.

So lost in thought was he that when he heard his name Eljay visibly startled and wheeled around to face whoever'd called. He was surprised to find Niamh there, having thought her to stay back at the Plateau. What was she doing here? Eljay blinked in confusion but he had little time to get to his right mind before noticing the iciness on her fur. He didn't immediately notice the blood on the leg because of her generally frosty appearance.

Niamh! he called out in surprise. What happened to you? The caretaker moved towards Niamh, ears perked forward, and waited to hear what on earth had put her in this state before investigating the damage himself. Now, if only Kiwi would show up, maybe there was a lesson of sorts in here, even if it was just about warming up someone who'd clearly gotten into a bit of a scuffle with the cold weather.

Kiwi was still in a pretty weird spot about Eljay and her mom, weird being that she did not approve one bit.  She'd decided that she did not need any more siblings and even if she did, Eljay?  They were gonna come out like him?

Rudely, when she saw him, she thought about just avoiding and being done with it.  She probably couldn't avoid him forever but she could try - she had already left off sleeping with Wildfire since he'd started, and that too was a bit of a sore spot for her.

Unfortunately Niamh was there too, and as badly as she'd treated their lesson, she liked her.  So she sucked it up.

Hey Niamh, she greeted her with a wag of her tail, then glanced at him.  Eljay. It was friendly enough, if not quite as warm.  She came up in time to hear Eljay ask, and looking, could see the gash.  So she waited for an answer also, now curious.  Was he gonna treat it?

Niamh chuckled when Eljay whirled around to see her. Yeh, that was typical Eljay- he probably startled as easily as a partridge did. She lowered her head apologetically, though, as she had no hard feelings toward him, even though she did think that he was perhaps a bit too soft. She knew, though, that that was something she lacked- so she wasn't perfect either, and could learn a lot from his patience, humility and gentleness. To his question she paused to shake herself, ridding her coat of a few small droplets of ice, but the rest of her furtips remained frozen. 

"Had a bit of an argument with the creek over a frozen fish," She said with a chuckle. While she was aware that frozen creeks, lakes and rivers were dangerous, she'd been careful to make sure at least that she'd not been trying to break through ice that was above water too deep for her to handle. "Just scraped it." She said, lifting her leg for him to see, before glancing over her shoulder to see Kiwi making her way toward them. Her tail waved from side to side, happy to see the youngster again. She cracked a proud grin at the feisty girl. "Heya toughgirl," She said, giving her a rogueish wink. She was aware that Kiwi, like her mother and Sequoia, were still grieving the loss of Bat. Niamh didn't have the words to say that would make anything better, but in the very least she could attempt to provide a distraction. "Was hoping we could do more lessons soon. I think my ribs are back where they're meant to be by now," She said, before shrugging. "If you're into that." Because of course, she was a cool kid, and might not have wanted to look too excited about anything.

Eljay bobbed his head as Niamh explained what had happened. He only noticed the scrape when she mentioned it. Oh! he said, sounding a little shocked at the amount of blood. He did know that blood tended to flow a lot quicker when wounds were exposed to water and blood didn't always mean that everything was going down south, really. But the picture it painted was grizzly.

Just as he started to investigate the wound, Kiwi showed up. Eljay's tail wagged a few beats and he glanced at Kiwi as she greeted Niamh. He didn't put too much stock into Kiwi greeting him a little less enthusiastic than Niamh, even though he did notice it. After all, they'd only met a couple of times before and maybe Kiwi just knew Niamh better. Niamh scraped herself, he explained. You could help treat the wound, maybe for your first lesson..? He glanced up at Niamh, who seemed to like 'toughgirl' Kiwi anyway, so she was probably fine with it. Niamh mentioned something about lessons too, so Eljay guessed that Kiwi was busy learning other stuff, too. He wasn't sure he'd ever met a youth who was that into learning all sorts of stuff - it was admirable, really.

See, this was why Kiwi liked Niamh.  She spoke the girl's language.  She didn't react to the name, but was secretly extremely pleased with it, and it made her forget all the more her frustration from last time they'd met.  That tended to happen anytime anyone talked Kiwi up some.  Yeah, sounds good. she responded with a small smile, not showing too much excitement (accurate to Niamh's thoughts) but still very interested.  

Now though it was time for a different kind of lesson.  She had no idea if healing was something she'd ever want to pursue, but she was of the distinct opinion that she needed to try everything and learn everything she could so that she was never unprepared.  Okay.  What do we do first? She asked, slipping into learning mode and summarily forgetting any issues she might have had with Eljay moments before.

Niamh nodded, knowing better than to try and pin the girl to a date and a time. That would've been pretty uncouth- and she figured it'd be better to simply ambush Kiwi anyway. She did anger quickly so it might frustrate her- but life didn't tiptoe around hair-trigger tempers, so Kiwi would have to learn to control her emotions if she wanted to keep her head clear enough in a fight. Though Niamh had never seen Kiwi lose it, she'd seen the fierce look in her eyes; this girl could be savage if she wasn't handled properly. Niamh liked that about her. 

Eljay offered Niamh up as a crash test dummy for Kiwi to learn about treating wounds, and Niamh figured that she could do with a lesson as well, so she promptly sat her behind down onto the ground and lifted up her left fore. She smiled when Kiwi asked for the first step, and quickly answered for the cinnamon girl. "Amputate!" She said, and held her leg out to Kiwi first, then to Eljay- just to catch the look on his face.  "Do it quick!" She said, dramatically tossing her muzzle over her shoulder then and squinting her eyes shut.

Kiwi agreed to help, and Eljay smiled at his apprentice. He was about to begin explaining what Kiwi could do first -- clean the wound -- but then Niamh dramatically said 'amputate'. Eljay thought she was probably just joking, but considering the fact he was not entirely sure he was torn how to react. Should he just laugh because of the joke, or should he soothe Niamh in the off chance that she was serious? But what if she was? He couldn't laugh in the face of someone who was actually worried for keeping her limb!

And so he chose the boring and perhaps quirky-seeming way. Oh, no, don't worry, it's not that bad, he said a little awkwardly, feeling like he was being messed with but also not wanting to make Niamh feel like he wasn't taking any concerns she may have seriously.

Anyway, he turned to Kiwi and hastily, a little embarrassedly, continued on the subject of the lesson: First we have to clean the wound by licking it. Do you want to do that..? Now, normally I'd want to put some herbs on there, but I haven't found a lot of herbs yet here, so I don't have anything near.. Since it's just a scrape though, I think we'll do fine without.

Kiwi had to laugh a little at Niamh's dramatic statement, though Eljay didn't seem to catch on to the joke right away. That was fine - she could focus better if they were serious.  There was just no way someone as tough as she and Niamh were would get that upset over a gash like this.

Yeah, ok.  That part made sense at least.  Her first instinct was always to clean something whenever she got hurt, and she was proud that she'd at least known that much.  She started doing that meticulously while Eljay did more, though her attention was kinda on him, so it was unclear how gentle a job she was doing.

Eljay responded in seriousness, but at least she'd made Kiwi laugh. Unaware that it might have a polarizing effect, she intended to make this as interesting as possible for Kiwi. After all- kids learned best when they were actually being engaged, right? And Niamh was excellent when it came to commanding attention, even though that might not exactly be called an asset in some situations. Eljay instructed her to clean the wound and she did so- with relative care, but she wasn't exactly as gentle as Eljay himself might have been. Nevertheless, Niamh was tough, and it wasn't that bad of a wound. 

"What if I had a disease? Do you still clean a wound if you think the wolf is diseased?" She asked harmlessly, still holding her leg out for Kiwi though it was starting to get tired. "And what if it was bleeding a lot? Have you ever had to do an amputation?" She asked suddenly, ears perking. Niamh knew next to nothing about healing other wolves, but with her record, it wouldn't be a bad idea for her to learn how to treat injuries.

Kiwi started the cleaning, and Eljay smiled as he watched her clean the wound. It was good enough, and he contemplated what to do next. They could use moss or herbs, but truthfully, when it came to a scrape like this it wasn't necessary and there might be dirt on the moss that could have a bad effect. So cleaning was really the best thing to do.

Niamh asked a question, and though Eljay was not entirely sure whether the question was for him or Kiwi, he answered it anyway. Oh, no, I man, depending on what sort of disease. Not all diseases make your blood bad. But if you're not sure, it's always best not to risk it. Uhm, in that case the wound could be cleaned with fresh water. Not the best option in winter, for sure, but better than getting ill. As for Niamh's next question, Eljay shook his head. Oh, no! I'm not sure how to do that, I... I think it's very dangerous, too. Eljay was not sure if amputation was ever the right option. It always seemed a better thought to treat the wound. But he'd never been in a situation where such things were necessary, luckily.

She wasn't sure how long she should do this for, but after a few more rough licks, she figured it was probably good enough.  It seemed clean around, but she gave it a good eyeing just in case she'd missed something.

She was preoccupied but did half-listen to what the other two were talking about.  Imagine taking someone's leg off!  Kiwi was sure she could do it, if she needed to, but that would definitely be hard.  Couldn't be any harder than chewing a deer's leg off though.  How do you stop it if it's bleeding too much? she asked, picturing it and imagining that (and a lot of other injuries) would probably be bleeding way worse than Niamh's current one.  Licking could sometimes help stop bleeding she knew from experience, but not when there was a ton she'd bet.

All of the information coming from Eljay was helpful- and fortunately for Niamh, he answered her silly questions quite willingly. This was definitely one of his fortes- not killing coyotes. Though she did still think of him as a softie, at least he did seem to have a fairly good knowledge of how to heal someone, which was something Niamh needed to learn. While she did hope her life with the Firebirds would be more peaceful than anything else, she did still figure it was best to be prepared, rather than not knowing how to heal injuries whether they were hers or someone else's. 

It turned out that Kiwi had questions too. And like Niamh, they were more about how to treat wounds which were much more severe than the one that Niamh had. Apparently amputation was really risky- who would've guessed that? Niamh shrugged and nodded, and waited for him to answer Kiwi's question.

Eljay nodded approvingly as Kiwi finished cleaning the wound. She then asked about what if a wound was bleeding a lot. Eljay revisited the thought of amputation for a moment and wondered if it would even be possible to remove a limb without the wolf bleeding out entirely. He vaguely shared on that subject, I don't know if it's possible to amputate a leg without bleeding out, either.. I've never seen it happen, or heard from anyone who missed a leg. He vaguely felt like it might not be possible altogether, but Eljay decided not to share this.

Instead he continued by answering the question: Moss can help with stopping some of the bleeding, and pressure, so pushing the moss at the wound. But it's very important that the moss or other plants are clean if you do that. There were some herbs that might help too but Eljay mostly knew what they looked like and not their names, so he stayed vague on those.

Moss? Weird, but ok.  She filed that information away for later.  She also filed away the amputation question, because if she ever had the chance to learn something that someone else didn't know she tended to take it.

Do you have to clean it, or just find some with nothing on it? She asked, following up on that vein.  The second would be easier.  What if there was no water around?

Niamh's question has simply been out of a sort of morbid curiosity than anything- half because she was curious to see if he'd ever experienced such a thing, and half to see what his reaction would be to the question. As always, though, Eljay was as diplomatic as he could ever possibly be, and answered her without any joking tone to his voice. It made him a bit boring, in Niamh's eyes- not a tiny bit of sarcasm in his system at all, and he was just so honest and genuine...Perhaps Niamh found him unusual because the males she'd grown up with had all bee so terribly gung-ho to prove themselves as manly men, who would sooner drop dead before picking up a trade that meant caring for someone's wounds or worse yet, someone else's pups. Eljay had chosen both; and even Niamh didn't have the empathy to be a healer, or the patience to be an expert puppysitter. Still, they were lucky to have him. She was lucky they had him; someone who could heal other wolve and put up with her stupid questions. Bingo. 

Kiwi asked about the moss that should be used to help stop bleeding, and Niamh simply sat silent this time, knowing that this was more Kiwi's lesson than anything and she really ought to stop asking foolish questions so that the girl could actually learn something useful.

If it's dirty, you could wash it in water if you have any clean, fresh water around. Unfortunately that wasn't always the case. Worst case scenario: Dirty moss and no water nearby. Anyway, Eljay looked at Niamh's leg and said, Well, it looks like it won't need to be amputated. He smiled awkwardly and it was likely unclear to the audience whether he was joking or trying to joke or just very poorly executed a joke or whatever else was going on with him.

Just make sure to keep it clean until it closes up, Eljay said, And you should be good to go. He smiled softly, and looked at Niamh and Kiwi to see if either had any more questions for him.

let's wrap this up? :)

She watched Eljay finish dubiously, taking in all the steps but unsure of it all.  Why didn't Niamh just clean her own leg? And was that all there was to it, just plants? This was simpler and less fun than she'd imagined, and aside from that, she didn't get the feeling that Eljay was super confident in what he taught.  Teachers should know.

Still, he'd been nice enough to show her, so she supposed she could be nice back.  Thanks for showing me, she said as he finished, taking a final look at their work.  She had other things that needed doing, though, so once that was done she dismissed herself to go hunt.  That seemed like more fun about now.

”Dang.” Niamh replied, to Eljay’s conclusion. ”I was hoping I’d be told to stay off it for a few days so Colt would have to do all the hunting.” She said and laughed, giving Eljay a wink. Of course, she was joking- she liked hunting as much as she liked patrolling the borders- and she liked both of those a lot. Almost as much as she likes Colt. 

Kiwi seemed to have learned something even if Niamh hadn’t been much help. ”Later gator,” She said to Kiwi, before she too tipped her head to Eljay. ”And thanks for the lesson, Doc!”