Stone Circle you've been a smile on my face for about the two past days

Set for the 2nd of January!

Three days had passed since the meeting at the Stones, and each one felt longer than the last. The distance he sought was different than the loneliness he had felt on the road. In a pack, there were always plenty of wolves to keep company with. Strangers, who would become friends, and friends, who would in turn become family. Kaito did not recluse himself from anyone, except for the one who was the only one who as of yet began to breach that bridge of stranger to friend.

He had known her and her family for so little a time, yet already, he feared loosing what he had begun to find here. He feared their friendship all the same, a thought which perplexed him, for he also cherished this... strange camaraderie they shared. And fear could not stifle his promise and obligation to teach @Arlette and shape her into a healer, as Tieru had shaped him.

Kaito did not seek his pale friend out. He rather howled for her, a measure of protection for himself. Greyback would understand his intent, and the pack would know of their whereabouts. Those who hid and skirted away only did so when they had something to hide, and in their friendship, Kaito had no shame to cover, he had nothing to hide. And neither did Arlette.

His voice would find his way to her. In the meanwhile, he waited on the hill of Stone Circle before a large stone he had found, unconnected from those the wolves of Easthollow revered as sacred. A collection of long grasses and water reeds lay upon the surface in piles most carefully arranged. He fiddled with them for a moment, before he settled his restless paws to the ground and turned his gaze outward, closed his eyes, and sought to calm himself in a quiet lapse of prayer while he waited for his friend to arrive.

Arlette's heart summersaulted when she heard Kaito's howl for her. The female had been utterly disappointed when Kaito had not wanted to spend time with her after the whole exile fiasco. She couldn't really blame him for not wanting to spend time with her after Greyback had been not very kind to him. Still, she couldn't help but feel a bit rejected. At this moment, that feeling had vanished now the male had called for her. Professional. That was what she would be. She could spend time with him just as mentor and student.

Still, Arlette was not going to show up covered in mud and other dirt. She had been making sure her coat looked pristine for when she would run into him. The female was quick to respond to his howl. As she approached him with a light trot she noticed that there where all different types of plants and reeds before her. How curious. "Hi Kaito," she greeted, trying not to blush and be very cool and professional. She sat down before him and looked down curiously.

Fear might have gripped his heart, but he would not let his worries rule him. His Creator had led him here, and had blessed him with this peculiar family at Easthollow. In his anxities, he reminded himself that he was not forgotten. He was remembered, as all were remembered, by the One who saw every flower that wilted, every sparrow who falls.

His apprentice's voice lifted him from his contemplation, and spooked him enough to warrant a small backward jerk. "Arlette," he said in instinctive response, and Kaito turned to meet her with a small smile. He quickly tracked her eyes to the piles of plant life on the stone. "We're gonna do something a little different today." He explained, rising then, and approaching the make-shift table. "A bit of an exercise in experimentation."

He beckoned Arlette to step closer to the stones, to take in the different plants he had arranged. They were all very long, some sturdier than others, but each one quite flexible, and able to bend. Grasses and reeds. The only sturdy material was a small pile of sticks, and a broken piece of bark which lay at the edge of the rock, coated in sap (some of which still clung to the fur around Kaito's face, which anyone would see even if they didn't look close enough). "I want you to feel each plant, study each plant, tell me the properties you observe in each plant, then guess what we'll try and use them for. One hint, we're not gonna eat them." His calm demeanour hid the string of nerves that boiled inside. No doubt if he tried to remember any of this lesson later, he wouldn't even know what he'd said. "I also only tried this once, so, uh... expect us to fail at least a couple times." His normal, unprofessional side slipped through - a small nervous laugh.

Arlette's heart jolted when her name came from his lips. She really had to focus but it was hard when the young male before her was so pretty. The girl let her curious eyes roam over the other and the plants before him with an eager curiosity. She came closer when he motioned her to do so. The female watched the reeds and angled her head. She listened attentively and then tried to feel and sniff them with her nose. The material was surprisingly hard, so she wondered how they were going to eat it. But then Kaito already told her that they would not do that.

The female let her ears fall back and even though they weren't going to eat them she still tried to bite a few of them. It was very strong, at least some of them. She sat down before the materials and tried to think hard of what to do with these... sticks basically. "Ummm," she let out, clearly a bit lost. "Well, you don't use it to cover your wounds," she stated, that would be silly. Then again, Arlette wasn't really aware of how her body worked.

Arlette felt stupid as she couldn't think of something. "I don't know," she admitted so quietly. She hoped Kaito wouldn't judge her. At least it was a reality check that she really needed to learn much more about this topic. She tried to think of what she knew of their prey. They had weak spots like wolves but she couldn't see how these materials would help with that.

He watched her think with a wordless smile. The way she studied with such intent, the way her ears splayed, the way she tried to taste the bark, even after he'd declared these materials wholly inedible for the use in which they would use them today. Kaito felt hard-pressed to stay professional with her. That had been much easier when she had remained unpresent, an abstract concept resigned to his thoughts. That Arlette was easy to dismiss, to forget and put aside... being with the real Arlette, seeing with those little gesture that made her the wolf he was beginning to know, made him wonder why he'd ever wanted to forget her at all.

Kaito wasn't surprised when she admitted her lack of understanding. He thought of giving her more time - prompting her with clues... another teacher might have, someone more trained to instruct. But he was simply Kaito, and at the end of all things, he still felt more a helpful friend than a teacher to her. "We're actually gonna try making splints today, for broken bones," he said, and stepped alongside her. The ends of his fur just brushed against hers, and he felt the familiar heat spread through his skin. A warning, a danger... he stiffened, but did not pull away. "Here," he crouched and sprung up, so that his front paws perched on the rock. "I collected a bunch of different materials for this - grasses, water reeds - you name it. The sticks'll be used as the splint itself. So our goal is to find a plant that's strong enough to keep the wood in place, or a couple of plants we can weave together and seal with sap to make something stronger to use. I think the trick'll be to find material that's sturdy, but flexible," with this, he turned his warm gaze upon her, "Why don't you choose first?"

Arlette's eyes widened when he revealed the answer. She looked at the materials again and then flushed. Of course!!! How could she be so stupid! She flushed deeply red, at least that is how it felt like. She was almost too embarrassed to look at him. She nodded softly but then almost jumped out of her skin when she felt her fur brush together. She could feel sparks going through her body. She couldn't help but batter her eyes at him.

She listened to his every word. She nodded when expected to. Arlette also wanted to make sure she would give a good answer. She tried to think of something strong and bendy. "Oh! Willow tree branches," she commented, more thinking out loud. But then she noticed her mistake, since it wasn't part of the options. "Oh the reeds then," she decided. She looked at Kaito and then faked a limp before falling down. "Oh no!! I've fallen and I broke my leg," she let out, feeling slightly silly. She looked bashfully at him, trying to hold one front leg ina weird angle. She wondered what would happen next.

Kaito's smile shifted with the answer she gave - it grew, no doubt, but more from the uncertainty of how to tell her she'd be right in any other situation but today's. He opened his mouth to correct her, his jaw tight, only to have his nerves fizzle out when Arlette noticed the mistake herself. Outwardly, he remained composed. Inwardly, he pretty much let go of the biggest breath in his life. "Yeah - that's right!" his smile brightened naturally, and he opened his mouth again --

Only this time, Arlette interrupted him with a display he didn't know what to do with.

She... must have expected him to play along, and geeze, did the teenager in him want to. But his fear of Greyback held him still, paused, with one paw raised in the air, and his face set with a nervous bite of his lip. Uncertain. And frustrated, with himself, and this situation, and these feelings, rather than with her.

He frowned. "Mmm..." and slowly, he set his paw down, and ease to the earth. Anxiety, adrenaline, both shivered through his body - did the air just get really, really cold? and he gave her a quizzical look. "I'm afraid you're alone in this forest, with all these nice pieces of bark and reeds and - " he glanced over to the supplies, paused. "Tree sap." When Kaito looked back at Arlette, he gave a sort of a shrug. "I'm just the stupid rock you tripped over, blessed with speech very momentarily to give you this message, and maybe some help if you really get stuck."

"So do what you think you should do, and tell me what you're doing while you do it. For though I am a hearing rock, alas, I am not much of a seeing rock. As is the way," and he closed his eyes, and turned his face in her general direction, "with my kind of rock."

Arlette's ears fell back when Kaito didn't respond the way she expected him to respond. She felt a silly girl to be honest. She looked over the reeds and other materials and felt that she gotten herself in quite the mess. She wished Kaito would tend to her and show her what she needed to do. Arlette's red eyes moved over the supplies. But her mind was just screaming how stupid she was. Kaito clearly didn't like her in the way she liked him. The female tried to shove that thought away because it probably gave her a sad expression.

She nodded silently and then limped to the materials. She went to lie down and grabbed the bark. She placed it on her paw and then reached for the reeds. She was confused where the tree sap would be for. She would find out later. She struggled to get the reeds around her paw on her own. But she made sure to let Kaito know in body language that she didn't need his help. She managed to get a start by using the reeds as a bandage. The female snuggled to keep it all tied and then dawned on her that she could use the sap. However, now she couldn't reach it. "Could the rock perhaps move to hand me the sap?," she asked then, quietly.

Once he closed his eyes, he somehow managed to keep them closed (even though the urge to peek surged strong in this one). And he waited. Ear turned toward Arlette, he waited... and waited... for her voice, to start dictating her steps. All he heard instead was the gentlest of scuffles, her paws against the ground, and the materials, as she handled them.

And he frowned. On the inside. On his face, he held his usual resting face, his lips curved in the slightest of smiles, though if anyone looked close enough, they would have noticed the subtle crease of his brow.

In the end, her utter silence tore through his resolve, and he peeked -- perhaps, for the worse -- he saw how she struggled, and felt, then, the deep waves of something heavy rolling off her body to pierce through his marrow and bone.

His heart turned for her and slowly, he rose, his soft smile ever on his lips. He chose to forget Greyback, for the moment... or maybe, more accurately, his concern had turned, and the sight of her so sad made his thoughts wait somewhere far from her father, and fully on Arlette.

"The rock grants your request," he grabbed the bark between his teeth, and turned to place the sap before his friend. He was quiet, then, "The rock would also like the injured to know that the rock just remembered he has good relatives who are very big, very clumsy turtles, and that he has inherited legs from them. He is slow, but," this wasn't part of the lesson, and a hindrance to what he was hoping to teach her -- but this was proper, to preserve this friendship, he thought -- in this moment -- for the ones to come -- "he is also more useful than a rock, and has big clumsy toes to help stick the splint together, if you'd like..."

Arlette couldn't look at Kaito for too long because she would feel embarrassed about her assumptions. She briefly battered her red eyes at him as he started speaking that the rock granted her request. She instantly felt silly, silly that she needed help. And utterly silly that her heart was swooping and skipping beats as he got close to her. He didn't stop with talking though. He continued about the rock, which was how he was referring to himself, to a turtle. She hadn't really seen one before but her mother had mentioned them. She looked a bit confused at him for a moment.

But then she realized that he was offering to help her. Arlette stayed silent for a moment. But then nodded in agreement before croaking out an "Alright'," to Kaito. Her ears were still flopped back submissively. She then turned her expectant red eyes on him briefly, shyly. She waited for instruction, or perhaps, he was just going to explain to her what he was doing.

Haha they are so cuteeeee

Indeed <3

He smiled at her - easy, as his smiles always were, yet the grin stopped short of touching his eyes. Some sort of sadness crawled through him, a melancholy, and he wondered if he was absorbing this from Arlette. He was not yet skilled in reading his own emotions to understand that this weight was his own.

Kaito grabbed a stray stick between his teeth and collected the sap on it's very tip. "I'm gonna pu'dhe schtick on 'dhe reed near yer leg," he said, around the mouthful of stick, "an'when I do, I wan'dyou to pu'dhe reed dhat yer holding ontop 'a my schtick an' press down really hard until I tell you to schtop. Yeh?"

Arlette felt her face heat up as the male came closer. She nodded feverishly when the male gave her instructions. She watched him carefully with the stick in his maw. The female then pressed down when she was expecting to, following the instructions of the male. The female kept the stick pressed down for as long as the male needed until she was allowed to let it go again. She was curious how good her leg was held to the stick and if it really worked even.

He positioned the stick upon the reed, and Arlette followed with the instructions he'd given her. Once the stick felt secure beneath her weight, Kaito carefully set about to wiggle the stick from out between the reeds. He hoped the sap would stay behind, and seal the reeds to each other, but as it was, the stick just seemed sort of...

"I think... hrrnph..." Kaito couldn't help it; he snorted a laugh at how ridiculous they must've looked -- Arlette, with her leg crudely wrapped, and he, gently yet fervently trying to get the stick out from between the binding. "I think i'sht schtuck." 

Arlette watched Kaito work on her in such close proximity. The female felt hot that she was glad her fur hid most of it. Then, when the male wanted to move the stick away it seemed to be stuck. "How stuck?," she asked, slightly worried. Now she would have to walk with a splint for awhile. Oh no. Perhaps that would be a good lesson: How to remove the splint. "What do we do?"

Kaito let go of the stick and pulled back. Like, stuck stuck. Hmm. A look of profound perplexity intermingled with the boyish smile on his face, and he drew his lips tight in a grand effort to hold back the snort of a laugh that surfaced in the most ridiculous of ways, anyway.

Hold on, it's an easy fix, and he leaned in again to grab hold of the stick. Kaito put on paw on her leg, and, with a quick shift of his jaw, snapped the stick between his teeth. The wood splintered, and he tasted blood on his tongue, but he paid little attention. He spat out the bark, and stepped away. Alright, that'll do. With the sap applicator no longer sticking out of the splint, and the bindings secured around the wooden apparatus, it really looked like this thing might actually hold up!

So how does it feel? Is it itchy? Comfortable? Can you bend your leg? he questioned, with eager ears upright, and without much pause, Can you walk?

Arlette watched as Kaito found a solution. She watched as he was smiling at her, she cast him a playful glare because she would be stuck with this and not him. She was relieved when he did find a solution. The female watched as the male bit through the branch. The female marveled at his strength. She did smell a little blood after he did that, however, she didn't see it. Arlette tried to push herself to her feet. She wobbled a bit before regaining her balance.

She tried to bend her leg and then shook it. "Can't bend it, but that is good, right?," she questioned. The female quirked up her lips into a smile. They did it. "It feels really strange. Not super comfortable but also not painful," she explained to him. She tried to walk but almost toppled over, she eventually found a way to to move but it was not as easy as she would expect. She looked expectantly at Kaito. "So we did it?"

It seemed they had done so successfully. Arlette was not sure if she ever would need this but it was nice to learn something new about healing injuries like broken bones. She wasn't sure if she was able to replicate it alone, but at least she grasped the concept of needing something firm to support the leg instead of the bone. She had to thank Kaito for that, one day.

Edit: Editing for ending :)