Sleeping Dragon the things i do for love

Seeking @Thuringwethil and @Gyda please! Short posts very welcome, def no need to match my essay~ <3

The grey wolf took a long shaky breath of crisp air. The wind was blowing through Snowforest Taiga from the east today, and with it brought the sweet taste of a deepening spring. Four nights had passed since the fever, and by now Lucani should be getting better. For the sickening heat of the fever itself had long passed, so by now she should be exhausted and stiff, yes, but getting back to her own strength. But she was not. Her joints felt like they had sand in them, making every step a great discomfort that grew to agony when she walked long distances. Something had damaged or restricted her lungs, making it difficult for her to take a truly deep and satisfying breath, like a sigh or a yawn, which meant if she got out of breath she was in considerable trouble. Lucani was an experienced healer and knew the effects of a passing fever, and this was not it. She had poison in her blood.

As to what had poisoned her, she had no clue. She knew it was not rotten meat or stagnant water, or she'd have been expelling her bodily contents for hours after the event. She supposed it was possible she'd picked up an unexpected poison while transporting herbs, but she was always very vigilant about not doing that. So what remained? She'd drank from the rainwater outside her den mere minutes before she'd fallen sick. It would not have been difficult to put something in the water on purpose. If she hadn't forced herself to vomit, Lucani would have been dead by now. But of course there was the question of motive. This was a pack of warrior wolves, and Lucani, a healer, was not one of them — and so perhaps did not deserve the high rank of Gamma she had earned. Most warriors could challenge her physically for her rank, but the more clever ones might realise that neither Alpha would be happy with one of their wolves injuring their medic. Harming Lucani was not likely to result in promotion. But anonymously killing her was.

As she roamed weakly along the stream, her demoted body low and tired, the faces of her packmates fluttered through her mind. Other than Thuringwethil and Gyda, both of whom she was fond and proud, Lucani pictured a string of strangers and fighters. She remembered a meeting, not long before her illness, of two packmates who didn't even speak, one of whom communicated solely in wild displays of dominance. Sometimes she felt as though there was no place for language or civilisation in the minds of some of the creatures at Sleeping Dragon. When she looked upon gleaming fangs and empty eyes that coveted her rank, she felt alienated. The Alphas respected her, this she knew, and of course others could see the merit of a healer to patch their wounds, but this had become the extent of her presence at Sleeping Dragon, and it had lessened considerably since she'd help found the pack. Now it was sad to remember the original song of howls that had claimed the territory, her own howl among them.

Presently Lucani was next to useless. Each minute Thuringwethil tended to her or brought her food was a minute wasted. She was their Heda, not a nursemaid. Each time she slept, hoping for recovery overnight, she awoke and felt the same, albeit with a renewed sense of dread. Previously, as Gamma of Sleeping Dragon, she'd stood tall among her peers, fighting alongside them and maintaining their wellbeing, moving swiftly to keep each medical cache flawless and fresh. Now her herbal collection was very slow-going, she was rightfully devalued, and couldn't fight off a fly. She didn't even know who half her peers were these days. She'd noted a strong scent on the borders that had almost as much potency as those of the Alphas, and had concluded that a girl she knew vaguely had been promoted to Beta Female, a rank Lucani had expected to receive herself one day. Now brushing the Lower Tier, she didn't know the Beta's name, let alone the purpose of the promotion. Lucani had misunderstood her own connection to the pack, and knew now that if she were to maintain her life of selflessness, there was only one decision she could make to contribute positively to Sleeping Dragon. One decision that she was still capable of making.

Too weak to howl properly, and wishing not to bring shame upon her Queens by summoning them with a pathetic call, Lucani tracked them by scent and sight alone. It was slow going, but as the sun rose she could sense them nearby. Perhaps her heart was leading her. Her conscience most certainly was.