Bramblepoint red-hawk for dinner

Aureli managed to take offense at being called some sort of healer, being that he was of the finest sort, and not sort of at all. He was a healer first and foremost and he was of the first and foremost of healers! If he was nothing else, he was a healer, and truthfully, he was very little else.

But he was good at being offended, and good at carrying on anyway. His expression, perhaps, turned a little sour, but he was still polite in his address:

"Are you ill?."

... mostly polite. It was just that even sick wolves were not usually excited to see him, and he thought a single mother might have other uses for him on the road. A free babysitter, mainly — and he did so hate most children.