Moonspear inca mummy girl

Tehama was not entirely bereft of first aid knowledge.  She knew of willow bark for pain and the importance of stopping a bleeding wound.  Beyond that and a few other rudiments, though, she wished fiercely that she'd paid attention to her father's skill in that gentle art.  It was his prowess that had led her teenaged hunting injury to heal so cleanly across her cheek, now a mostly-hidden scar, rather than leaving her disfigured.  He'd had a whole cavern with herbs and plants she didn't know by name, but could imagine their scents like it was yesterday.  So when the girl, who identified herself as Sialuk, declared her own intention to become a healer... Te's smile was both wistful and encouraging.

"You sound like you're very interested in learning her skills, Sialuk," Tehama said.  "The healing arts are a great gift.  My father knew so many things, I wish I'd been able to learn even a bit of it from him."  She filed away that this girl's mother was the pack's medic, wondering if Anaa was a proper name or a child's calling.  Quite intently, without a trace of patronizing tone, she asked, "What do you think of it?  I couldn't see for myself, really.  Just tried to clean the best I could.  I was on my way back to a creek I thought I'd passed, further east, to flush it out."  Te neared and leaned down slightly, to give the aspiring healer a better look.  It was true that no quills lingered in the wound, but Tehama's twisting away from the porcupine had created a shallow gash in the flesh that would fester if she wasn't careful, and was already oozing some pink-yellow fluid alongside the bit of dried blood.  "I thought the cold water might help keep the heat out of it."