Firestone Hot Springs i'll check in tomorrow if i don't wake up dead

She dragged herself away from the river, gaining momentum as she ran, though legs felt as feeble as saplings. She felt empty, numb, though her body ached and her mind wheeled. She'd slowed as she approached the pools, the great columns of steam rising from them reminding her of his breath before he struck. 

Soon she was engulphed in the fog, picking her way through the pools vacantly, before her paw slipped in the icy-wet stones and she half-tumbled into one of the smaller ones. She did not even think to gasp, but the suddenness of the warmth was welcome. It soothed her, leeched through the numb and lulled her into something approaching calm. Slowly she regained her feet, sinking deeper into the water with a strangled whine, squeezing shut her gaze as she forced down the racing fear.

hope you don't mind if I jump in

Shale had heard talk of the hot springs that lie just south of the territory, but had not yet seen them for himself: they had skirted around the place on their way to the plateau. Still smarting from his spar with Troy, the gray male padded out of the territory and toward the springs with hopeful intent, looking to soak for a few blissful minutes.

He found immediately that he was not alone; a young woman, a yearling, perhaps, stood in one of the pools. His gaze was drawn to her; her ruddy brown pelage reminded him of Lucy's. Swallowing the sudden lump in his throat, he approached further--for this was not Lucy, Lucy was dead, Lucy didn't have these golden eyes that stared before him--

The eyes. They were wide, and filled with a haunted fear that sent a chill down his spine. He stopped dead in his tracks, blinking for a moment at her before speaking. "Are you all right, miss?"

His stomach churned as he inhaled her scent. Fright, adrenaline, a far-off pack--and the heady smell of sex, overlaying it all.

not at all! thanks for joining

She felt filthy, dirty, wrong. Slowly, painfully, she stretched back her neck and preened delicately the fur on her back, sifting through the red as she tried with growing desperation to remove his taint. Movement had her head whip around, golden umber gaze latching onto dull amber eyes before quickly falling away, backing up through the pool, spiky hackles standing on end and lips peeled back in desperate fear.  "go away." It was a breathy sound, hoarse, and a moment later she repeated the words, stronger, now. "go away." He was a male, a strange male, and her breathing turned ragged again, tail pressed against her rear as she backed out of the pool, ears tilted back against her skull.

He took several steps back, not wanting to ignore her command yet not following it through entirely. This girl was in trouble, he could sense it. Pema and Raid were only a short howl away. They could care for her in ways he could not.

"I'm not here to hurt you," Shale said, his voice so soft as to barely carry across the wind to her. "I won't hurt you. Do you need help?"

She was fierce, scared. Whatever troubles had befallen her had happened recently and still burned through her mind like wildfire. He kept his body language low, relaxed, calm. He mustered the will to stay as still as possible, lest the slightest movement set her off.

The cold whipped through her fur now, abrupt was the change from warmth to stunning chill. She shook, trembling in the mists. The sun-kissed girl was not made for winter, not made for this. The male spoke again, evidently ignoring her previous command, and she said nothing, though her stance did not falter. Her tail tucked closer still, and she remembered the feel of the man above her, and she found she could not believe the face of the man across her. 

And yet she could not flee, either. Where would she go? Not back to Tindome, certainly, for he had left her with the promise of a visit. She could sink back into solitude, but run the risk of the man finding her again. She whined, low and broken, swaying as she stared at the male without sound.

It was merly coincidence that Pema had been heading to the hot springs today when the encounter took place. She would visit from time to time to boil one thing or another or set up a spring for Morningsiders that she thought could use some good water therapy. But today, instead of simply seeing the pools and the billowing steam from them she saw Shale and a young female in a pool.

Simply looking at the situation she could tell something was off. The female stood with a tucked tail and she could smell her fear in the air. While Shale remained low and spoke to her rather calmly. Pema only caught what Shale had said last, nothing of what the girl had said prior. Shale wasn't being dominant or anything like the sort, so Pema was comfused as to why this female would be so scared. It must be for some other reason. 

Pema walked forward slowly and glanced at Shale with a questioning face. She took a step forward ahead of Shale before speaking calmly to the girl. "You're safe here. Shale's not going to hurt you, I'm not going to hurt you. We can stay right here if you want." she said trying to sooth the girl and relax her a bit. "My name is Pema and I'm a healer. So if you need help just let me know alright?" she asked. Wanting to see if the female would say anything.

As if summoned by his thoughts, Pema appeared on the scene with a questioning look upon her face. She began to talk to the girl in a low, soothing voice, and the tension in his shoulders relaxed somewhat. He hoped that her presence would soothe the girl more than his; she smelled of seed and sex and clearly had been violated quite recently. 

I came upon her just moments ago," he murmured to Pema, drawing closer to half-whisper in her ear. He didn't want to talk about the girl as if she weren't there. "I was going to call for you. She's frightened, maybe hurt. I think we should help."

Shale looked at the young woman, his face neutral. He didn't want to do anything that could possibly frighten her.

Another arrived, and she took another step back. This one, however, was female, crafted of caramel and sand. Her ears pressed forward once as she spoke, then fell back again, as she stopped her swaying and fell still. For a moment after the woman spoke, there was no sound but whispers and wind, until finally she simply said "yes."  She took a wary step forward again, gaze on the female, for she seemed kind and good, and did not induce the wariness that he had. Her gaze fell onto the male once, twice, flickering to him to make sure he had made no move, deciding then to trust in the woman.

Pema listened as Shale spoke softly about the female before them. About how he had found her here like this and was most likely hurt. From this distance Pema couldn't see much of any injuries. All of them were minor or beneath her fur, but those minor injuries wasn't what was frightening her so much. 

Pema was too young and inexperienced in the area of sex, so unlike Shale, she was unable to determine that scent on this female. Simply notice a strange scent and not know it's cause. 

She smiled faintly as the female agreed to allow Pema to come closer and look at her, but kept a stern eye on Shale letting him know that he was not welcome. Upon a closer look Pema could see little, but new scratches on her. None of them were bleeding, but they looked as though they stung. She could also see that at time the female would shake suggesting that she was either very weak of sore. 

"You had the right idea about comming to the springs. Why don't you lay down in the water for a bit." she suggested gesturing to the water. "Shale?" she said calling out to him. "Can you go to one of the nearby meadows and get me some poppies. They are small red flowers with black centers, they should be easy to spot in the snow?" she requested but also asked, not knowing if he felt confident enough in his ability to identity sush a flower. Lucky for him if he wasn't there weren't many flowers that survived the winter.

He stood back, watching silently as Pema examined the girl. She was so gentle, so calm and kind. He found that he enjoyed watching the healer with her newest patient, looking for various cuts and bruises. The young woman had relaxed, though kept a wary eye on Shale throughout.

"Yes, of course. Red flowers, black centers," he recited obediently, nodding at Pema. Red flowers, black centers. Red flowers, black centers. A sudden image popped into his mind. He had seen these flowers before, in a den. Red flowers, black centers. Where?

He spun slowly and took off at a lope, his long legs reaching out across the frozen ground for the nearest meadow. Red flowers, black centers. Into the maw. . . Red flowers, black centers.

"It hurts."

Lucy's voice, near to him as if her muzzle hovered just beside his ear, brought him nearly to a standstill. Despite his heaving chest, the tears that leapt suddenly to his eyes, he kept running, for Pema's sake.

And for the girl. The girl who could have been Lucy. . .or their daughter, for that matter. Shale swallowed a lump that rose suddenly to his throat.

The woman issued instructions, and the girl followed. It was so much easier to do than think, when thinking was a weary and heavy task. She slunk back into the water, gasping once as the warmth of the pool met the ice of her fur. This pool was burning, heat think and murky, and after the initial hurt and sting of cold meeting heat, the tension leeched out of her tightly wound body. The heat burned, burned away the filth all over her, the kind one couldn't see. The male had gone, searching for red flowers black centers, and her gaze shifted to the pool before her, breaths gradually becoming even.

She nodded to Shale one last time before he went off and turned her attention back to the female. She slowly lowered herself into the pool and Pema could see her wincing, but it quickly subsided. Now that Shale was gone and the female was a bit more relaxed she thought she might now be able to answer some questions. "The water and poppies should help with the cuts and any soreness. Let me know if there's anything else that hurts that I may have missed." she offered wanting to make sure that she was being cared for to the fullest extent. "My name is Pema by the way, and that was Shale. We are from the same pack. How did you end up here with all these wounds?" she asked.

Poppy. Poppy. Poppy.

Her name hammered like thunder in his ears, drowning out any other sounds that might have dared to permeate the cacophony. The plants held gently in his mouth, he held back sobs as he traveled swiftly back to the springs, stomach aching with the effort.

Poppy had been what had aided Lucy in her final, starving days. . .and the name of their lastborn, their daughter, who had been the first to succumb to the famine.

He felt as if he had failed them all. Felt it every day. Perhaps his drive to help this woman, or everyone else he had come across since then, came from his fear of failing them as well, not some sense of innate goodness or some bullshit like that. Maybe it was all for the sake of his dead.

"Here," Shale mumbled, setting the flowers down a few paces away from Pema, not wanting to get any closer to the scared girl. His amber eyes met hers for a painful instant before he snapped them away, looking down. "Let me know if you need anything else," he murmured, turning away.

He didn't go far but he kept his back to the women. He wanted to be as alone as he possibly could, right now, alone with his sudden and stabbing grief.

Pema began to speak, something both calming and grating, somehow. It was when she asked her last question that her gaze fell away, accidentally meeting the gaze of the male as silently he left the flowers by the woman's side. She held it a moment longer than she ought to, even in her shattered state noticing the grief there. When his own gaze snapped away, hers found the flowers, dying and wilted and yet still as red as dried blood. Blood against the snow, the trail she'd left for the first few miles when she'd fleed, barreling into whatever barred her way, gaze glassy as it had been when he'd pressed his paws against her throat. Her gaze held the poppies, their dying beauty, and she did not look up at the tan woman any more.

But Pema's wishes were not granted and the female remained silent both while they waited for Shale's return, but also once he did. The two caught eyes but Shale was quick to look away and step to the side. She didn't seem to aggressive about it now but Pema and Shale still knew that it was best if they stayed away for now. "Thank you." she said to him as he walked away. It almost seemed rushed, but she assumed it was to ease this females worries. 

"Here." she said, fiddling with the flowers with her paws until a small pile of thier seeds remained at the side of the pool. Luckily it was still early winter and the poppyies hadn't spread their seeds yet. "Have these, they should help with any soreness." she said gestering to the seeds.

She wasn't sure what to do now as the female at the seeds. She didn't just want to leave her here, but she wasn't talking and hadn't given them any information. Just some simple things and they could see if they needed to contact a member of her pack or maybe consider having her join the pack. But that was unlikely to happen if she disliked Shale so much already. "Is there a pack you need to get back to? If you give us your name and the name of the pack we can send out a scout to let them know where you are. Or we could have someone escort you back once you feel alittle better."

The woman set to work, until a small pile of the black seeds rested at the side of the pool. Carefully, she moved, glancing up to the woman once before warily lapping up the seeds all at once. Yes, something to help with the pain; that would do fine. When the woman mentioned her pack, she winced, drawing back. It was fine for strangers to see her now, in her wretched state. But to go back to Tindome, to see them now; and what had he said, about visiting. "no,"  she breathed, but her voice was firm. The haunted fear slowly leeched back into her gaze as she mumbled, half to herself,  "he'll come. he said." Drawing in a ragged breath, she stared at the woman, suddenly hungry for more instruction, so that she didn't have to think. She could act and move, but thinking hurt.

So she had a back, but she didn't want to go back there, because a male could go there as well? Pema wasn't following and despite the fact that she didn't think she was going to get an answer she had to ask. "Who is he? Where is he coming? To your pack... back here?" maybe someone was going to her pack, but it could have also been interpreted that she was waiting for someone to come here, a male.

Unsure if she would get an answer or not she threw out another propostion, one that she thought this female was likely to oppose. "We could leave you out here, but we don't want to. You can come back to our pack for a bit while you recover if you would like. It's just north of here on that plateau." she said gesturing to the plateau. Maybe she would be more willing to speak after a few days, then they could get answers.

She knew poppy, knew the effects more than a couple seeds could have. She'd seen loners stuff their maws, was disgusted by their numb and hollow state. But numb sounded good, now, and the poppy did not take long to take effect, having the wild fear fade from her and her body half-slump, the woman's question ignored. Her mind began to slow, desperation fading.

When she girl fade her offer, the sun-kissed girl merely nodded, slowly, a soft agreement slipping past her lips. Pulling herself from the pool, she swayed as she watched the woman, exhaustion settling quickly into her bones, and yet fear of the unknown, of solitude, had her desperate for the protection a pack would provide, if only temporarily.

It's times like these when we remember that wolf is semi-realistic, so Anatha won't die from poppy seeds. XD

---

The girl didn't say much, but it looked as though the poppy seeds were working to relax her soreness, and the rest of her along with it. She gave a faint nod and Pema took that as her bring willing to come back to their pack. She wasn't much good out her all drousy and 'relaxed'. Pema coaxed her out of the pool and helped her keep her blance when she was straying. "Shale are you comming back?" she asked before walking back towards Morningside with Anatha by her side. They would get more answers later.