Blackwater Islands entropy

the listener emerged from the spiritglade alone, content in the knowledge that @Ingram watched over her children. she crossed dark waters to the whispering copse, then to the druids' grove. here, she expected she would find @Bridget.

bridget. the girl you were meant to teach is ill. i expected she would be well by now, but she is not, the prophet wasted no time on pleasantries when she found the sunwashed wolf. i will learn instead.

some powerplay so we can dive right into this, but message me if it isn't okay <3

Bridget had wondered, but she hadn't wanted to push. She'd managed to meet Cerulean but hadn't quite had the opportunity to discover which of her family members wanted training. Apparently things were changing.

Oh? Bridget was genuinely (and pleasantly) surprised. She had thought that the Listener was Morgana's pupil, but she also hadn't seen much of the other healer since the woman had given birth. Maybe she was too busy with her new family.

I'd be happy to show you some pointers. Is there anything in particular you wanted to know more about? If not she could find something to talk about. It didn't seem like the Listener was interested in taking too much time to catch up otherwise, which wasn't surprising. This pack wasn't big on the small talk.

bridget took the news in stride, acquiescing easily to the change in plans. their conversation turned to business, then.

i have learned to care for a wound, to treat the mildest of symptoms in ailing wolves, to diagnose common coughs and fevers. i have learned to remove limbs, the listener lingered a moment on those words, her pause almost imperceptible. and to tend broken bones. but there is much i still need to learn. i cannot save the dying. that is what i need.

The Listener listed off most of what Bridget would think to teach a novice healer, but the missing bit brought a sparkle of (somewhat dark) amusement to her eyes. The biggest secret we healers keep. It was probably the hardest lesson for any apprentice - that despite your hardest efforts, sometimes it wasn't enough. That saving a wolf's life is more luck than anything else. Timing, will to survive, and even then, sometimes you lose them. She'd lost a number, sometimes without even having a chance. Wraen and Tambourine came to mind, as well as Ibis.

You can't cheat the Dark one his due. She said, before recalling that they had different gods here. Didn't they? Or, whoever guards the gates. Did you have a particular time you were thinking of?

Staving off death was a big ask, but life threatening wounds could be treated and illness could be staved off.

bridget answered honestly; the listener had no reason to doubt it, for the answer she gave was easily believed. wolves were such fragile vessels; astara had taught her the truth of that. the raven queen had given every appearance of possessing untouchable power, yet in the end death had taken her all the same. it was not strength of spirit that decided such matters; it was the will of the unnamed god.

the dark one, bridget said. the listener pondered that, and her question. the druids serve the unnamed god foremost, but our god demands that we serve the needy as well. the weak and injured, the ill, the outcasts. many wolves have come to us already, each with a different ailment. some were battered by the sea, others injured by fellow wolves... some had simply lost the will to live. if i am to serve them, i need to know everything you can teach me.

They sure had a way of turning a phrase. Bridget digested it for a moment, then nodded and smiled knowingly. Alright. Sometimes there's nothing to be done, but there's plenty to try if you are determined. What were some of the common deaths she had learned, over the years? A few she'd have to go way back, all the way to her initial lessons.

If it's sickness, there's different herbs. Infection and fever I would usually use yarrow or elderflower, but I haven't seen much of it on the island. You would need to wait for the season and gather it. She drew a leaf in the dirt with her claw, and a rough sketch of the flowers for each.

For poison, you want to feed them something to get rid of it. I've heard of wolves using clay or earth to neutralize it, though I've never had to try it. There's berries that can cause a wolf to vomit, it might be better if you can find them. There were certain poisons that were actually helpful at times, but she didn't want to get into that without set examples to show. Hopefully the Listener would never need it.

Wounds are probably one of the most common. Stopping the bleeding is just the start. Clearly, infection is a problem. She smiled at the reference to her leg. But shock is the big thing to worry about initially. You want to keep them awake and talking, if you can, and keep them warm while you take care of what needs to be done. Even the best medic can't save them if their heart decides to stop too quickly.

All of that was general, but there were so many types of injury, it was a situational call. A lot of being a healer was knowing, in the moment, not to panic and to use intuition and prior experience to make the right call. The Listener seemed to have the desire and the nature for it. If she decided to learn, Bridget imagined she would make a pretty damn decent one.