Redsand Canyon i wanna stay with you for a long time,

a few assumptions made for cohesion -- if any are not ok please PM me and i'll happily edit! <33

qiao called for @Belladonna with another strip of aged meat to barter. this time it was to relay a message back to @Ramesses -- that she had been received kindly, and would soon return to akashingo.

with that business settled, qiao set to wandering the halls in search of the lady @Ruenna. she had been in mereo long enough to understand the quiet pulse of their order. there was a rhythm here, heard but not seen -- and she knew soon the steady tick-tock of time would bid her close here.

one last missive, then; qiao's gaze trailed the ice-limned stonekeep, searching for the distinctive gait of mereo's matrona.

Ruenna was not a difficult woman to find; she had not traveled beyond the walls of the canyon since Aquene had arrived and taken over the task of herb-gathering. The medic and her trainee had built up their medical stores far more rapidly than Ruenna ever could have on her own, and the Matrona was thankful that medical care in Mereo was well in hand. 

It would not take Qiao long to locate the Matrona. 

"Hello, Qiao," Ruenna greeted her warmly. Aquene had mentioned to Ruenna the interest that Qiao had taken in her pain treatment, and Ruenna found that rather sweet. While most of Mereo was suspicious of and uncomfortable around the Akashingo woman, Ruenna was a soul who believed the best in people. She thought of Qiao as a fellow ambassador-- a kindred spirit-- rather than a spy. 

"I hope your stay has been comfortable so far?" 

Ruenna's tail waved amicably. Even if Qiao was spying for Ramesess, wasn't that all the more reason to treat her well and give her no reason to speak against them?

lady ruenna appeared, bearing the unpleasant gait qiao had become accustomed to. it was hard for the seer to not see such thing as a blemish - something to be fixed if she could help it.

there was a warmth to the matrona absent from other canyon-dwellers; they rightly did not trust her, and she rightly held no bitterness for it. "my lady." qiao bowed gracefully, showing deference for the woman different than the mannerly comportment she'd delivered to mereo's imperator. it was no secret qiao found women more tolerable. "mereo has been most kind. i wish to return the favor before i leave -- but first, i must ask you questions of a sensitive nature." true to her kind, qiao did not dance around intimacies. she was nearly unapologetic in her directness. "you bear a limp even a blind wolf would take note of. what is the nature of your injury?" while they spoke, qiao slowed to a stop and began to unbind the greenbrier torc from her neck.

Ruenna expected the question, aware that Qiao had already spoken with Aquene about her treatment. 

"The original injury occurred when I was caught in a landslide two or three years ago. I underwent physical therapy for many months to regain the movement you see now." Ruenna had worked very hard for this limp that "even a blind wolf would note." 

"The limp is fully attributable to pain. The medics who treated me said that there was no permanent paralysis damage as a result of the accident." Ruenna hesitated. "However, they did tell me that limping, over time, could stress my body and cause permanent damage." The Vitales had advised her to find a place to retire and keep off of her feet, but Ruenna was just not ready to give up living life yet.

the physician in qiao wished to have seen the injury the day it was sustained, the week after, and the month following. often, the prognosis of return to previous function was most obvious in the days following. where skin reknitted, tendons began their patchwork array, and ligaments began the long and slow weave of collagen regeneration.

throughout the lady's story, qiao was still unsure what facet had been injured. her spine? her pelvis? she suspected from the way the woman walked, a compression fracture was likely. and if that was the case, perhaps a bone spur sat like a bothersome tooth within her articular processes. "secondary injury from chronic compensation." qiao affirmed, agreeing with the medics of lady ruenna's past.

"you seem to me the type that would be insulted by the regular use of poppy." she was too sharp; she bore her wit ahead of her like a spear, and qiao believed the world would be robbed of ruenna's clever faculties if she turned to a life under the bloom of poppy petals and seeds. "i have stinging nettle, but what you need is devil's claw." qiao dropped her head and procured from her greenbriar torc the bounty of dried nettle she had harvested some months ago. "i pulled these the day i met your mercenary, arsenio."

qiao placed the dried stalks on the ground with a frown. "you can rub these fresh along your back for local pain -- but the true use of them is to steep and drink of them regularly. it helps with arthritis. once spring comes, i will return with a cocktail of devil's claw and yucca." qiao paused for a moment, considering. "the two together are like a strong marriage: pain control and inflammation reduction. there is but one drawback -- i do not advise them if you are with child."

Qiao offered a very complicated-sounding diagnosis, and Ruenna did not say anything. If she had ever been told her official diagnosis, she could not recall it. She did not have much of a mind for these technical, medical words; it was one of the reasons she was so grateful that Mereo had managed to attract a medic, and of course for any assistance that Qiao could provide. 

Poppy? "I've tried it. It wasn't for me," Ruenna confirmed, revealing that Qiao had pegged her correctly. Her injury might have devastated her body, but she would not allow it to also destroy her mind. 

"Devil's claw and Yucca," Ruenna repeated, committing the herbs to memory. "Oh, thank you," Ruenna accepted the herb with surprise. It must have been her lucky day, to find Qiao carrying the exact herb she required. "I'll get this to Aquene; she'll know how to.. um, steep it." Rue had no idea what that meant, but she was determined to learn. 

The simile involving marriage, the warning about pregnancy. Ruenna understood where this was going. "Perhaps I will start the medicines in the summer then," she said softly, her words accompanied by a demure smile. What harm could come of Qiao knowing her plans? Surely it would not surprise Ramesses if he learned that Mereo's mated leaders hoped to grow their family this spring.

devil's claw and yucca. qiao reaffirmed as she handed over the stinging nettle. it would not slake ruenna's pain the way devil's claw and yucca would, but it would be a start. do not eat the yucca raw. it will kill you.

she would confer with aquene when she returned in the late spring, for the best potency to brew. herbalism, like augury and divination, was its own dangerous game: it could be easy to misread the signs.

such a plan sounds advisable. qiao murmured, frowning over the condition of the stinging nettle she'd offered. if ruenna was planning to be with child this year, there were precious few herbs that could be ingested without detriment to child. do you plan to be with child, then?

Do not eat the yucca raw. It will kill you.

Ruenna filed away that bit of knowledge. It was a grim reminder of the dangers of experimenting with herbs on her own. If she wished to learn more, she would need to seek out a knowledgeable teacher. 

Qiao asked a clarifying question, and Ruenna dipped her muzzle affirmatively. "Germanicus and I plan for children this spring." A perceptive wolf would see that this was much more than just a plan for Ruenna. Desire brimmed behind her honey eyes, and her bearing shifted towards a rather apprehensive hopefulness.

content ruenna understood the dangers of yucca, qiao moved on. ruenna revealed she hoped to be with child this bring: such news brought light to qiao's unquiet olive eyes.

children are a boon to a pack. she remarked quietly, taking mental inventory of her stores back at home. none would be useful to ruenna at this time -- she trusted aquene would tend to the matrona faithfully. will they be your first born, then?

"Yes," Ruenna answered, tempering the longing in her heart with an outwardly casual shake of her head. "Perhaps we can speak more on the subject later, after my stirrings pass." Although she was not normally a superstitious wolf, Ruenna could not shake the feeling that it would be unlucky to speak to much about children that were not yet conceived. It almost felt to Ruenna like the sheer act of wanting them badly enough could jinx everything. 

"I'm glad we crossed paths, Qiao," Ruenna said with a smile. She prepared to part from the Akashingo woman, unless she had more business to discuss. 

Feel free to fade and/or archive!

qiao resolved to return before ruenna whelped. there were many hurdles for a first timer, and she had been present for more collective births than years she would live. ruenna was strong -- maybe not in a way that appeared outward -- but if her children inherited a sliver of her iron backbone, things would be alright.

she conducted a brief courtesy. lady ruenna, our paths are tied together. but she too was glad for this entwining -- there was something about this woman that endeared her to the old crone.

she would think often of ruenna in the weeks to come.