Bearclaw Valley maybe they’re right

@Merrick - I'm sorry for the phone post! //

It had been one day since the incident at the borders. Aventus' injuries were bad, but it could have been far worse. One wrong move and his neck or spine could have been snapped. And this needed to be addressed, directly to the leader of the Saints. Donovan, Evien thought his name was. Just as big as the woman that had attacked Aventus. It would be difficult to stand and talk to him, but Evien was willing to try.

The healer didn't stray too far from his den, but walked out a few meters before tipping his head back to call for Merrick.

it was a perfect post!

merrick had refused to leave aventus until hunger and thirst drove him off. after that he slept the tight fitful slumber of the very damned.
haggard, bedraggled, more compromised from the stacked physical conflicts than he had thus been, merrick licked his cracking lips and limped off to meet evien's call. "i don't —" he drew in the ragged inhale of a breath he could hardly bear. "i don't know what will happen if he dies."

"He won't die." Of that Evien was certain. It was bad, yes, but with time the boy would heal. "His breathing is clear and the wrap is keeping his chest stable. I'm watching him very carefully." Aventus was still sleeping, but that was to be expected. His remaining eye - and the blinded one, but that was useless - scanned the other male over, and his expression softened a bit. 

A sigh pulled from his chest and he closed his eyes for a moment. If he couldn't clear Merrick's mind of his son, perhaps he could help ease this burden. "If the Saints come here, I'll handle them," he told his companion evenly. "There's a chance she was acting independently and if they do the right thing and remove her," in whatever form that may be, "then maybe we won't have to fight." They couldn't handle that right now, warring with both packs on either side. Evien was sure Merrick could understand.

evien was swift to assure the bear that aventus would live. mortal wounds merrick had seen, had inflicted. had he not suffered through the puncture and bloodstain of losing his eye? but it was different now; he could not conceive that such injuries might lay the boy empty.
tongue touched his dry lips, thoughtful. thoughtful. "why would she do that? why would they," and his voice trailed away as he thought vividly of donovan standing again at their border.
"i will not be leaving him," and merrick gestured toward the den where aventus recovered. "you're the right one." muddled, hushed; a sigh expanded the bear's shoulders. "do you trust donovan to do the right thing?" the single eye riveted. speak your mind, evien.

Evien shook his head slowly in response. He couldn't conceive of why anyone would want to do something like that to a tiny pup, and with their allies, no less. "Because she's cruel, and stupid," he stated simply, ears pressing back to his skull. "I can't imagine someone that big thinking they have to be so brutal toward a child. He can't even defend himself." He hadn't been this angry in ages, it felt. In fact, he wasn't sure that he'd ever been this angry before. 

"I don't know Donovan," he admitted, looking off toward his den. "But he's not worth being allied to if he keeps her in his ranks. I wouldn't let this happen within our own pack." Ursus wolves were cruel, but even with Merrick's talk when Astara had been pregnant, he didn't think they'd actually hurt children. "I'll let him know what he has to do. If he won't do it, then... we were fine before we allied with them. We'll be fine after they're gone." He still felt... uncomfortable, talking like this. Having a say in things. But he knew the others would likely share in his sentiment here, and Merrick's trust warmed his chest. 

He cleared his throat and offered the coywolf a smile. "Do you want me to teach you what I'm using to treat him?" he questioned, tipping his head to the side.

evien spoke and merrick listened, hangdog and worn, tired and finding that he agreed, however grudgingly, with the bruin-leaf's assessment. it was pride that compelled him to stand against it, to deny that donovan would do anything but stand in good faith. pride melting into shame that he had surrendered himself with such abandon to the tiger, shame bleeding into a pillar of guilt that lodged uncomfortably in his gut.
"yes," merrick answered finally in a voice too small for the scarring of his face. he trudged the precipice between sanity and freer thought, but the physician was grounding, his offer an invitation for the octopian mind to latch.

A distraction, then. He could certainly provide a distraction. Evien brushed past the Bruin-witch, guiding him quietly into the back herb store. It was uncommon that he'd let anyone inside his personal den, but he trusted Merrick not to disturb his organization.

"For now, I've just made a comfrey poultice to rub over his ribs, and I've created a plaster of mud to keep it set into place," he explained, showing his co-lead the dried out purple flowers and roots of the comfrey plant. "When he wakes up, I'm going to give him a single poppy seed for the pain. It's dangerous for puppies his age to eat more than one or two at a time." He nudged the pile of tiny black seeds. 

He cleared his throat. "Treating broken bones is actually pretty simple. All we have to do is keep him immobile for a few weeks and manage the pain."

the coywolf came at once, pleased and reassured by evien's willingness to reveal the neat arrangements of his pharmacopeia. "immobile," he grunted, dimly amused at the proposition of keeping aventus still for any length of time. a muscle leapt in his jaw; he was still beside himself at the memory of nyra's teeth flared for the child.
to think, to think again of that moment and that her throat had not been rent, blood trampled into mud —
merrick glanced toward the poppyseeds, allowing himself a lecherous glint of intrigue. "they can kill?" he commented idly, single eye trained upon aventus again;
to force open her jaws and dawdle the seeds down her throat until she foamed and choked —
"what happens if he does not stay still?"