Northstar Vale Right Beside You

He humored her—and then took a stolen moment to look after himself. Her gaze followed him only momentarily as he sampled the stream before pulling back, quietly noting where the marigolds remained. She would come back later, before the frosts fell and harvest what she could.

When he slid past her and mentioned returning to his task, she gave a nod, following after him. He seemed eager to return home—understandably, given the pain he must have been in. Along the way back to the cache, she stopped to pull at some herbal leaves, grabbing them swiftly and then doubled her pace to catch up to him, for his legs were twice as long as hers, it seemed. She nudged them to his feet then, when they returned. “To help with the pain. They would have been more effective if I had the time to steep them, but they should give you a bit of relief now.”

And then, her eyes fell upon the porcupine before quickly glancing away from the chaos of blood and flesh. There would be no purpose in feeling bad for the critter—it had certainly packed a punch. Instead, she moved to the cache, once more beginning to dig. Reyson had likely gotten more than he had bargained for during his visit.