Haunted Wood shiny, shiny, shiny boots of leather

set just outside the border so he's not trespassing pls do not keel. one of his back legs is broken, broken ribs, swollen tongue from biting it, myriad scratches and contusions, skin rubbed raw in places down to the bone

a constant chant; names of those he'd left behind. an incessant humming in his head, but it kept him going.

satya. aphrodite. chief among the names was this pair. satyaphrodite.

a hum, a blur. but it kept him going.

he had dragged himself away from the rocks by his front elbows, leaving a trail of blood in his wake. every movement, every inch he traveled—it was agony of which he'd never felt before. he only went a little ways, but in his weakened state, he may have traveled the entire world by the time he came to a stop.

and stop he did, only because he smelled wolves. . .and no cougar. wolves! one of them must be a healer, must be able to help—

satya. aphrodite. satya aphrodite. satyaphrodite. . .

surya lifted his muzzle to howl, but only a whimper escaped his hoarse throat and swollen tongue. his head fell once more, upon his paws. nose several inches from a border he didn't know, though he took comfort in the evidence of some sort of civilization.

satya. aphrodite.

he must live!

santiago can’t keep me from the border, he muttered to himself, i’m big enough to patrol but not big enough to leave? guardian scoffed and shook his head, amused by the hypocrisy. why did everyone doubt him? he might have been young, but he could handle himself.. for the most part.

the gargoyle stopped a few steps from the territory’s edge to relieve himself (no one told him that the point of patrolling was marking one’s claim) when he noticed the strange shape of.. something beside their border. guardian called out — hey! — but must have been too far from earshot because no response came.

he finished his business and approached, body language as assertive as a child could seem, though his eyes were half-lidded with obvious apprehension. you.. okay? guardian asked. the smell of injury, of blood and sweat, became increasingly pungent as he closed in on the strange man. i, uh- what was he meant to do here?

this part of patrolling hadn’t come up before; guardian didn’t know what else he could do aside from howling for @Valour and waiting with the stranger for their warlord to appear.

There was a faint voice.

Ears lifting Valour focused on the possibly imagined sound, slowly rising to his paws and walking in that direction. Then another, a howl rising into the air and his breath caught in his throat. The nightmare popped into his mind and he rushed toward the borders grateful that there was no slowness to his limbs that time. All he could think about was seeing some monster hurting Guardian....but when he arrived fur bristling and silver eyes narrowed to slits ready to fight all he was some guy. The guy was bleeding everywhere from a variety of nasty looking wounds, Valour quickly placed himself beside Guardian looking down with a smile to show he did the right thing before turning back to the stranger "You're looking for help?" he asked bluntly seeing no other reason for someone who looked nearly dead to show up at their borders. He sniffed at the man checking him over, there were many scents but to his relief ursus was not one of them. 

She's skippable, tag her if you want a post from her

She shadowed Guardian, from a large distance but close enough to know which way he went.
She knew he went to the borders and wanted him to learn. It's what she'd do to her own kids. At least back at the mountain.​
The least she could do for the headstrong boy was just make sure he didn't try to catch a fish and get swallowed by a shark.

Then, some bedraggled delinquent thinking they'd find salvation on their borders.
She was about to approach and finish whatever had started the job, but Valour came in.
Valour. So kind-hearted and good-natured.
Wanting to offer help when really, it wouldn't be appropriate.

They should be going to war.

a small form approached; cloaked in shadow as he was, he could have been black as night. like— alsek, surya mouthed, tears coming to his eyes. why was he so far? but then the boy spoke, and the illusion was shattered. this was not alsek, and surya was far from home, slumped across the threshold of death's door.

and then another, an older wolf, and then a silent woman; he found it near impossible to answer their inquiries. he felt as if his tongue was a thousand pounds.

i—need—healer, he managed, each word separated by a dreadfully long pause as he gathered strength. there was a healer here, right? he didn't know what to do if not. the only healer he knew by name was aphrodite—and surya could barely drag himself a stone's throw, let alone across the mountains and back to whitebark stream.

help, he croaked, and desperately held the flood of anguished tears at bay.

guardian’s ears flanked either side of his head, his eyes wide and staring. the stranger needed something — help — but was that something they could give? and if they could, would valour be willing? the nightwalkers weren’t the kindest group, nor were they particularly well-versed in medicine (to his knowledge). he began to wonder: what would happen if they left him here?

he’ll- guardian stopped himself, unsure of how he might finish the sentence. he’ll die!, the child wanted to shout. this wanderer would become like the food they ate, the small animals killed for sport. he wouldn’t be anymore, and that wasn’t something guard wished to see. 

he walked beneath valour’s belly and snaked to his chest, staring up into his mentor’s eyes. can we help him? guardian asked, hoping that the answer would be ‘yes’.

If it were only Guardian he wouldn't hesitate. The boy's presence was enough to make him think twice about a cold decision. It was Vanity's presence that had him standing silently in the face of the stranger's plea for help. They had war planned...they needed their herbs. Opening his maw to tell the man no, to assist him back to his home as a guard and nurse, he was cut off by Guardian snuggling in close and lifting a god awfully cute gaze to ask that they help. Blinking down at the child he sighed slowly lifting silver eyes less cold than before "I'm not the best but I can make sure you don't die. Serem...i'll try to get her help. You can stay until you're healthy and then I ask you return the favor by hunting for us. We have children younger than him to feed and a lot going on right now" he motioned to Guardian who was the man's true savior of the day. Looking to Vanity with a tense expression he said nothing to her but waited to see if she'd say anything about the decision. Hydra's warning about the name they'd earned for themself played on repeat as it had for weeks since their meeting.....helping a stranger out every so often couldn't be the worst thing in the world to fix that. 

Couldn't help myself lol

Guardian.
They boy had chosen an apt name for himself, and Vanity had no doubts he'd outgrow the boots of meaning for it.
She had little doubts about how Valour would've reacted, and would no doubt try and keep it a secret from her.
Like the other boy; Clay had left some traces of his being here. 

But even Vanity wouldn't resist the pleads of her ward, and had no problem with Valour giving in. 
And he had made a good enough deal.
Vanity disappeared for a moment to scrape together moss from a tree within the damp woodland clutches and returned swiftly.
She approached the helpless soul and pressed the moss against several of the larger grazes where the cool moss may help and stop the small amount of blood welling and perhaps soothe the pain. But er knowledge was limited.
She didn't care if he wriggled or cried out, she was used to it.

His leg, clearly broken. She'd seen it many times in the mountains. 

his heart swelled nearly to bursting as the boy vouched for him. his eyes then strayed to the older wolf, where the wheels in his mind were clearly spinning. finally, the man spoke, and surya felt both relief and angst at the verdict. relief because, well, he would be allowed to stay, at least for a little while.

but it came at a cost. he would have to remain, to hunt, to provide for this pack. of course, it made sense. but it pushed back even further the soonest he could get back to his brother and aphrodite and all of whitebark stream. his home.

there was no refusing, though. refusal meant death.

thank—you— surya punched the words out, barely a whisper. he turned a face of gratitude toward the boy, not even noticing the woman's departure until she slapped the poultice onto his wounds. he let out a reedy cry, a broken sound that shivered high into the air. he shuddered all over, from pain and fear and exhaustion alike.

but they were helping. they did not have to, but they were helping. he ought to be grateful for that.

thank you, guardian said. he looked at both brother and mother, his wide eyes filled with gratitude. if santiago was right about the war, then taking in a refugee wasn’t the obvious choice, but they’d chosen to do it anyway because he’d been brave enough to ask. that thought filled the young advocate with pride which would not soon run out.

he watched vanity begin treatments and wondered how he could help. guardian hadn’t seen anyone be treated before, especially not for injuries this extensive; would he be in the way if he decided to lend a hand? do you need help? he finally asked, hoping that his instructions might be as non-invasive as possible.

At first seeing Vanity slip away silently he was worried she'd disagreed with his choice. It was understandable, they could barely afford the herbs they had leftover as it was. He'd need to start pushing Serem to teach him more about herbs, healing was needed in the woods and she had never seemed to give much care to using her knowledge. She returned fast carrying moss which she was not gentle with placing upon his wounds, causing Valour to flinch as the man cried out his voice sounding as broken as his body. Slowly silver eyes roamed over the injuries and he noticed the leg, flashes of Orochi and of Cordelia in his mind. Taking out a wolf's legs must be a common fighting move with all the times he's seen it done and had it done to himself...cringing he shifted and made to press himself gently against the stranger's side giviing him something to lean on. Looking to Guardian he nodded "Serem's den. There should be a pile of plants with little purple hollow flowers and roots attached to the bottom. There should also be a pile of little black seeds, place three on a leaf with the flowers and bring them to my den. I can treat him a little better" he only knew what was in the den because the old General had told him how to treat himself. It was called... Connery Root or something like that. Poppy seeds for pain and to put the man to sleep while he tended to all the wounds upon his bruised and battered body, the pain would be unpleasant to stand awake if he couldn't handle Vanity placing moss upon him. "You'll be put in a den close to mine. Don't take it the wrong way, you're in bad shape and i'd like to be able to keep an eye on that" while his words and tone weren't the nicest as usual his body pushed gently up against the man's showing wariness for the other's pain. "One step at a time..you'll be resting soon. What's your name?" he asked the man hoping for at least a name before he'd ask about what happened to him.

"Get up."
Her words cold and quiet. They needed to get his off the borders.
He looked like he'd been in a river, skidded across harsh stones. Valour would help him, she wasn't ready to be too involved with this.
But she'd do a few things here and there, and check on him some nights.

She waited for him to give his name, providing he could croak it out.
He'd need poppies, and she could scrounge up some of those white and yellow flowers to calm him down. Giving him poppies now would make him frantic.
"I'll have to set the bone, I've done it before." Leg injuries in the mountains were common. Common enough to warrant all pack members to learn how to set them, and then either wait for it to heal, or get a packmate to send for help. Their old medic used stones to keep the leg in place.
She'd have to find some heavy stones too then.

"What's your pack?" She asked, turning to look at him directly from her pacing. She wanted to know where he came from if it wasn't Ursus or Moonspear.

surya knew he couldn't stay on the borders forever, but to move. . .agh. to move seemed more than he could muster. still, he gave it his best, accepting the man's weight, leaning on it. his paws scrabbled against the dirt, dizziness nearly sending him down face-first—but he held his ground. 

thanks, he rasped. surya—whitebark stream, he added, noting the woman's query. across—mountains. if they had enemies in this valley, he wanted to make absolute sure to them he was not among those ranks. they were generous now, but any misgivings. . .

he did not blame them in the least. the ordeal with aphrodite had shaken his trust in strangers. 

they made their way deeper into the forest, slowly but surely. surya fretted over the healer's words: set the bone. he imagined it would be painful. everything now was painful.

Valour's thoughts echoed Surya's. The bone setting sounded like pain he prayed he never got to experience. "When that's done I can get you something for the pain. I can also help with infection. That is..about all I know" he wasn't really sure what else needed to be known. Stop the bleeding, clean the wound, treat infections, cover it up and rest. It always did the trick. The only place across the mountains that he'd been was Easthollow which the thought of sent his ears perking "Do you know of Easthollow?" he asked curiously trying not to appear too eager for someone to pester about the pack Clay was born into. As the dens came into sight Valour breathed out with relief for while he was strong the man was leaning a majority of his weight upon him "i'll be back shortly. Vanity...could you set the bone and let me know when it's done?"  

Sure, give it to him after.
In surgery, you knock out your patient after removing the tumour right?
"Give him poppies now, or he'll wake the ghosts."
She slipped a sly smirk back to them.
Why not give him an incentive to be quiet.

She'd let them talk, because it would only cause her strife if not. Valour wanted to know of his boyfriend.
Why doesn't he just go find him?

She shook her head to herself, a small smile graced her features. Not that they'd see.​
"I'll prepare, but hurry," she warned.
She'd do it when she was ready, not him or Surya.
Perhaps that made her a bit of a bitch.

"If he's feverish they could put him out permanently but I'll leave you with that decision. Poppies will be brought in a few minutes"  He'd give Serem the credit that she'd taught him what to do and not to do with the herbs and drugs he knew of. Before Vanity could potentially try to take a bite out of him for the snarky words he turned and made a quick beeline for Serem's den not bothering to announce himself before grabbing the herbs and excusing himself again. Finding where their guest was staying he dropped the herbs and thanked Vanity for helping the man, thanked Guardian for calling him to the borders, Wished Surya well and promptly left to probably pee on the borders.

I know this was out of turn so let me know if it's not Okay, I'm trying to close up whatever I can. Last post from Valour

Closing up

So Surya was dumped by the rendezvous.
Valour's warning didn't go unheard, but she wasn't a medic. All she knew that wolves with broken bones were out of it for weeks.
Poppies or other.

She'd decide what to give him when the time came, but for now she set about collecting stones to put his leg straight and keep it in the right position.
They were harder to find here than in the mountains, but with a few improvised materials - namely bones - she managed to jack his leg up.
Places bones either side to keep him from kicking it about.

Placed a paw on his thigh, and with a last, merciless, smirk​, she pushed his lower leg into position.