Heron Lake Plateau [m] your hands can heal, your hands can bruise

Poe visibly sagged with relief when Raven arrived at long last. She gave the medic a grateful look, but kept her comments business-like as she and Phox filled her in on what had happened. The medic spoke of medicine (whaddya know!) and took off, presumably to fetch some, leaving Poe in charge of watching over the new parents and their little squeakers.

Her anxiety remained high as Raven left, but she kept her outward appearance and demeanor calm, collected, and optimistic. Camilla's state and the frailty of her pups worried her, but she didn't want Phox to see that. He was probably freaking out enough as it was without adding her own worries to the mix. So, she had nearly moved to settle in beside them when Phox looked suddenly alert and territorial and she turned to find a smaller version of Raven creeping up on them with a question on her lips.

Poe didn't need to hear the warning growl to know to keep the girl away. She too felt that instinctive protectiveness over the newborns, but she wasn't quite frazzled enough to show it. The yearling likely meant no threat, but simply didn't know any better. "Hey," Poe said, standing and moving towards the girl, intending to subtly crowd her and move her back and away from the scene.

"Our packmates here just had their puppies, so we need to give 'em a little space," Poe said, once she had placed herself comfortably between the girl and the parents, "We have a new little boy and a new little girl in ours ranks. Isn't that cool?" The Ostrega looked back at them, though was careful not to let Vasa slip from the corner of her eye. Her gaze moved a little to settle onto the two who hadn't survived - an ugliness she didn't necessarily want to introduce this young girl to, but one that did have to be dealt with and might be a way to distract her (the sweet summer child hadn't met Vasa yet to know there was only a 50/50 chance this would work).

"Do you want to do the new parents a favor? We're going to need a hole dug in a really nice, pretty spot. Somewhere peaceful. Do you think you could do that for us?" Poe requested, smiling her friendly, sweet smile.