Mudminnow River Sometimes science is a lot more art than science

@Kavik @Illidan @Grezig some pp, let me know if I need to edit

Her own children had been easy to set aside, relatively. They'd been fresh blanks, not yet aware of their life; it had been the loss of something left unexplored that had crushed her so - not their individual lives. They'd had none of yet; they couldn't possibly have known what they were missing. The mother had grieved for them and then eventually she'd left them behind, to wait for her in the stars. It was the way of things. 

It is Illidan that is not so easy to keep her distance from. Maternally, her unfulfilled instincts draw her to the boy. The healer reminds herself, constantly, that he is not hers; to think of him as such is dangerous. She finds herself ignoring this, just as often as she tells herself to stay away, keeping the wild child at her side; he's quiet as the sylph is and the silence is comfortable between them as they travel. Occasionally the healer points something out to him, or to Kavik, but for the most part she goes about caring for Illidan silently. 

The sun will be setting in a few hours, if her judgement of the sun is correct. The sky is clear now, no sign of the torrent that drove them away from the Sanctuary, painfully cerulean and dotted with fluffy white clouds. The river they cross is choked with mud and silt, flashing with the silver of small fish, and she struggles only a bit with her balance. Kavik has to scoop up the sooty coywolf but they make it over with little trouble. 

Liri pauses on the other side, giving her pale coat a shake and stopping to tip her muzzle to the ground, sniffing for any identifying scents. Mouth open as she smells, the healer can detect a few small prey animals but only one nearby wolf. 

"We're not the only ones here," Liri says to the both of them, glancing at Kavik and Illidan in turn. She nudges the boy with her muzzle, licking some of the brackish water from his coat and motioning for him to stay close. "Maybe she's friendly."