Ankyra Sound VIII. Standing in the back door crying, now you're going to need a friend.

Although they had access to only rudimentary things, it was going well. The woman was not out of the woods yet as far as Stryx could tell, but the bleeding had lessened with the help of Surya's cleaning and her own attentiveness; when the pale wolf left a second time she watched him, and before long he returned with a mud-streaked undercarriage, and in his face he held more of the plants she had requested, this time with the roots attached. She fell upon these as soon as they were offered: pulling the stalks off, tossing everything she did not want in to a pile, then softening the root by submerging it in one of the small pools of trapped saltwater. Once they had most of the dirt removed Stryx took to chewing at them, breaking pieces off as best she could with her teeth (it came away messily, as strings) and then set about pulverizing the root with her molars. 

The darkly marked wolf began to assess the damage for themselves, remarking on Stryx's work as if they were an elder doing an appraisal. Stryx was too busy to be bothered by it; the shape of the grotto forced her to listen more than she'd have liked, but truthfully, she was happy to have another body to aid them all with this tremendous task.

Stryx could use a break. There was no telling how long they'd been working on the woman, but she knew her legs were tired and she was starting to feel dizzy from all the stress - not that she would stop even if her legs gave out. The panic following the poor mother's discovery had lessened somewhat as they'd worked on her, and now Stryx was sprawled alongside her - opposite where the babes lay at her breast - chewing at the ginger root while sharing what little warmth she held with those newborns. The stone beneath her was streaked with blood; she hadn't noticed how much of it had soaked in to the silver of her coat.

The white wolf loomed nearby, closer to the patient's head. It surprised Stryx just how many people had come to this woman's rescue; who was she? How beloved she must be to have so many caring for her survival. As Stryx worked on the root with her teeth, she looked around at the others. The giant who had expressed the futility of their efforts had vanished, but in his place stood the striped boy so eager to show off his medical prowess, and by the pools was Surya, also young but eager and attentive - they would do well, she thought, if they could handle disasters such as this. The chaos, the blood, and then to conquer death — that's what drove Stryx to this calling. She wondered about the youngsters briefly, about where they might have come from or why they would chose such a noble vocation, but stowed her introspection. The ginger was a paste, and it was time to continue treatment.

I think you've done everything you can for her. The girl assessed. As she asked her further questions, Stryx hurried to add a new compress of herbs to the mother's underside, and then began to allocate small amounts of the pre-chewed ginger in to her mouth, taking care not to overburden her tongue or her throat, and softly urging her to swallow with a few touches of her nose.

Who is she? How are the pups? The girl had asked. Stryx did not know the patient and so she only shrugged, but glanced quickly to the pale wolf, as he seemed to know her. She is a new mother, I suspect. Ask him. This pale man had come out of nowhere, but he had done his best to acquire what was asked of him in a prompt manner, and he seemed quite involved with both the mother and her children. Perhaps he was the father.