Northstar Vale Through the Hurt

She threw a lot of questions at him, and rightfully so--she had missed a lot in her absence. Luckily, he had no terrible news to impart. "Only some superficial wounds," Shale assured her. "Cuts and bruises. As for the sickness, Sunny and Aditya--oh, Sorrel, too--got really bad, but they've recovered, now. Everyone else was more or less okay."

He was thankful it hadn't been worse. It could have been worse. And while Raid was an accomplished healer, she was scarcely to be seen in the territory, and Forrest was a midwife--she was capable, but sickness wasn't her area of expertise, he surmised. Had it gotten worse, they would have been sorely in need of Pema--and she would have been many miles away.

Not that Shale blamed her for her absence. It couldn't have been helped. But he was relieved that things had fallen into place the way they had--well, except for Burr's untimely death.

"It's going to be all right," Shale said, as much to himself as to her. "We're strong, and we have the numbers. We'll move to a different place; we'll survive."