Bearclaw Valley mesmeric revelation

He wished he could remember anything at all about what baba would give him when he was sick.  She looked worse up close and it bothered him that he knew of no way to help.  There was a glimmer of an idea, but the boy wasn't sure how well in practice it would work.  When mama was feeling sick with birth, sometimes baba had gotten her different food, even with the plants.  He didn't know the plants but he did remember the food.

Okay.  He answered quietly.  His eyes were drawn to the wound and he winced, but didn't stare.  He was still a little hesitant, but she'd never spoken to him before, and he felt a little more sure now that he had a request to follow up on.  He was a friend enough to invite in and to ask for help.  That bolstered the earthen youth.  The fact that she'd faced a bear who was not a friend, not like the one he'd encountered, and survived... Ashlar could hardly believe it.  He certainly couldn't imagine it, and it turned him cold inside just thinking about facing one himself.  She seemed unfazed.

Before he left, he took the majority of the sick out of the den with him and buried it.  Then he made for the stream.  Fishing in the snow and ice would be cold business but Ashlar knew that fish could be kinder on the stomach from his father's quiet teachings.  Maybe Avicus would have an easier time keeping it down.

Some time stretched, but after a while he had managed to wrestle a middling catch from the icy stream.  Ashlar shook himself, then plowed his way back to the cave where she resided, laying the offering down and shivering while he waited to see if it was acceptable.  His ears were slung forward in anticipation, though his head was somewhat bowed.