Bitterroot Valley one night only

@Seff! Set for tomorrow night!

It was nearly nighttime the next day that Freyja and Seff found themselves at the edge of the Bitterroot Valley. In their travels, the pair have been given ample time to really get to know each other and Freyja had found herself quite smitten in her time with the Apprentice from Blackfeather Woods. She had learned of his parents, his history, and everything inbetween. Always happy to oblige, Freyja in turn disclosed all that she knew about Drageda and her family of warriors.

A gentle twilight graced the night sky as they left the muddied shores of the Qeya River and entered the valley. Sleeping Dragon loomed in the distance and Freyja paused at the familiar sight as a smile spread across her lips.

“It’s getting late,” stated captain obvious as she turned to her comrade. “Do you think we should stop for the night? Or keep going?” Though he moutain side home was in sight, Freyja honestly did not know how long it would take them to get there.

Ether had walked, just the two of them, though for how long Seff could hardly say, had it been not for the sun marking the kph ours as they sped by. Too interested had he been in Freyja, as she told him of Drageda and her home, and he of his travels, and the culture of Larksong, and briefly of Blackfeather, though did not delve into the horrors he suspected. He did tell of their religion however, of the Deardic Princes and of those they worshipped.

When she spoke next, he grinned. He was quite frankly starving, having not eaten for perhaps a day, now. "Maybe dinner? You could show me your awesome hunting skills." He suggested with a grin, recalling that she was rather proficient in that trade from their previous meeting. His mind wandered to his family back home, but he'd hardly take long, and was fairly certain his mother would not mind. Fairly certain.

She paused at his suggestion, a smile spreading across her dark lips as she looked up to him. “I can and I will,” she agreed, her tail swaying as she looked to him fondly. She then drew in a breath, closing her eyes as the scents of the valley. The smell of rabbit was prominent, but, that wasn’t their only selection

“Okay, so, we have a few choices. Seems like there's some rabbits nearby, and mice.” she informed after a moment, opening her eyes to seek her traveling companion’s face. “What would you prefer?”

She smiled back, and he grinned, watching her as she closed her eyes. she was rather beautiful, wasn't she? suddenly feeling mortified for seemingly no releasing at all, he looked the part, too- but wiped the expression off his face as soon as she opened her eyes.

smiling to hide the burning in his cheeks, he listened as her eyes opened and she spoke. the choice was an easy one, and still feeling a little unsteady, he said, "erm...rabbits sound great. amazing, actually " he said, looking to her curiously. "Should we split up? see who can catch dinner the fastest? " he suggested with a grin, posing a challenge he was fairly confident he would lose at.

She smiled to his answer and nodded. “Rabbit it is!” There was a competitive stirring that she felt as she spoke and to this, she decided to make their hunt a little more interesting. “How about we make things interesting? The first one to catch a rabbit first wins!” What would they win? She hesitated at this, biting her lower lip momentarily as she thought. “Prize to be determined! We’ll meet back here soon.” This was the best that she could come up with in that moment. Without another word, she grinned, gathered herself for a moment, and lept off.

All too naive of the dangers out there, the child had missed commenting on the scent of a fellow predator-- one that she would soon find herself facing.

Slinking away from her companion and into the night, Freyja did her best to follow the scent-- all while attempting to keep her baring of how far she wandered from where they had been. She found herself winding through the untampered scenery as she tracked her prey, but, soon enough she had come across her prize. It was a few yards away, and, thankfully, it didn’t seem to have noticed Freyja. Acting quickly, the Flemia crouched into position and crept forward. Keeping herself against the earth, Freyja slid like a serpentine until she was in range to strike. Acting on this, Freyja leapt on the unsuspecting creature, latched her jaws around it, and bit down hard. A satisfying snap sounded from her jaws and the rabbit fell limp. She was surprise that the hunt had gone that quickly, but she didn’t question it. Instead, she dropped the meal momentarily to call to Seff in way of a howl, alerting him that she had caught the meal and that she was heading back.

It she recollected the rabbit in her jaws that she heard the pawsteps of another and quickly she turned towards the noise and cocked her head. Though she couldn’t see anything, she assumed that it was Seff creeping up on her. She rolled her eyes at this playfully, smiling on that moment. Oh yeah, sure, he was doing a really good job at being stealthy.

Two large eyes and an even larger set of ears appeared before her in the midst of her internal chiding and she froze at this, her heart suddenly throbbing in her chest. It didn’t look like Seff, that much she knew, but her lack of exposure to other prey-seeking animals was limited and she did not truly know what a coyote was. She growled at the sight, her ears flattening and her tail lashing as if to appear intimidating, but the coyote saw right through her facade.

It lunged suddenly in hopes of an easy dinner, bringing Freyja down to the ground easily as it attacked. In their impact upon the ground, the rabbit was dislodged from Freyja’s grip. Not caring that much for it in the flurry of fangs and fury, Freyja did her best to fight back with her limited fighting repatria. She could think of nothing else but getting the creature off of her, feel nothing but the thudding of her chest and the blows that the other creature made, and as such she zone into the other animal in an attempt to get it off of her and kill it, hopefully, before it killed her.

His paws thudded to the earth were, a moment ago, a rabbit had been. he'd moved to fast,  he'd determined, and with a scowl Seff watched his dinner slip away, darting through a obstacle course of dead shrubs and rock with ease, and disappearing into a burrow a moment later. with a huff, he scanned the clearing fir perhaps another chance, scenting the air, but nothing seemed to be near-likely due to his disaster of a hunt. 

a howl broke the silence, and recognizing it easily as Freyja, the boy huffed halfheartedly his defeat, much more interested by the thought of a meal. with a final scan of the area he was in-he ought to bring something back, too- and finding it empty, he moved at a trot toward the source.

he drew near, scenting soon the rank scent of coyote. he had not noticed it earlier, but thought little of it, focused instead on finding where, exactly, Freyja was.

when suddenly the smell of coyote loomed, and the sound of snapping fangs and a feral snarling caught his attention and he launched into movement, straight toward the source and the suddenly, the scene which played out before him. Freyja, and above her a coyote, and bristling fur and flashing fangs.

hardly had he the time to feel.any emotion before he was thudding into the coyote in a desperate attempt to get it off the petite girl, jaws snapping. the coyote yelped at the sudden surprise that came with a force ramming into its side and falling to the earth beside Freyja, but was back on its feet within  momemts,  snarling at the new threat and not hesitating to attack.

the next few moments were a confusing mess of fangs and fur and blood for the boy who could hardly be called a warrior of any kind, yet a feirce anger and desperation had him hold his ground.

his luck hardly lasted, and finally he felt the oppressive grip of jaws around his neck, bring back a sudden memory of a cave and a red eye demon. fur tore and red soaked his fur, but with a yowl and a feirce backwards tug, he evade the killing grip and launched a final, desperate attack. his jaws snapped on the coyotes muzzle, and as if deciding it ought to find an easier meal, it turned tail and fled, leaving the boy numb and soaked with crimson as he simply watched numbly. 

then he was turning back toward Freyja, panting and bloodsoaked and quite simply a mess, fear in his gaze. adrenaline was a barrier between him and feeling the full extent of his wounds, and now he worried for the girl he had glimpsed underneath the slavery jaws of the coyote. she had to be alright. had to.

All too focused on the task at hand, Freyja had not noticed Seff’s approach. Somehow the coyote, despite it’s smaller size, had managed to pin Freyja down and had every intention of laying a blow to her neck. Despite the madness, Freyja somehow managed to keep her neck safe. This couldn’t be said for the rest of her face, though. Scars littered her cheeks and her forelimbs, scarlet staining her once pristine coat.

At a time that felt like eons after the attack had happened, the weight of the opposing force was lifted. She scrambled to find her footing as this happen, as adrenaline urged her to rejoin the fray, and soon enough she found herself upon her paws once more. She looked on in shock, as Seff caught the other’s muzzle, and sent the creature running in the opposite direction.

Despite her inherent relief, a wave of different emotions crashed upon her as she watched it run off and soon her body shook as she struggled to think one coherent thought. She was still in battle mode, and as such, she stood rigid until Seff turned towards him. In this moment, she turned towards him, taking his lead once more.

Concern climbed to her foregrounds of the chaos within her mind and upon looking at him, she realized how lucky she had been that he had been here. The sight of him bloodied brought tears to her eyes, and she pressed towards him weakly as she cleared the distance between them. She did a quick once-over to assess the damage that had been done and whinned.

“S-Seff,” she whispered unsteadily, weakened by the fight. “Are you okay?!” She pressed further at once to begin to gently lick at his the blood that coated his throat, feeling an inherent need to clean him up and make sure he was all right.

Yes. She was fine, speaking and in one piece, and then there came crash relief. And yet with this emotion came sudden dizziness, and he blinked, struggling to orient himself in silence. His neck and chest were painted crimson by the blood which flowed from the wounds encircling his throat, made all the worst by the manner by which he had torn away from the coyote's grip. He did not respond for a beat, adrenaline fading and the pain of his injuries becoming apparent. 

He was suddenly aware of her actions, and nudged her shoulder in relief and gladness that she was alright. "I'm okay" he murmured, though that was obviously not guide the case. He turned his attention to her, fighting to ignore the dizziness and pain. "Are-are you alright? I thought- are you okay?" He asked, concern written all over his face. He leaned against her in the slightest, relief a crushing force. Suddenly he blanched as a sudden wave of dizziness became unbearable, but he said nothing, not willing to divulge just how poorly he was faring yet.

She did not keep away from tending to his wounds and only broke away to respond to him. “Seff, you’re not okay,” she corrected him gently, looking from his face and to his blood covered chest. There was nothing “okay” about this and Freyja feared that it would get worse, especially given the fact that she knew very little about medicine. Her heart raced and she grew more concerned for his well being.

“Don’t worry about me right now, I need you to focus on me and tell me if you can get up and walk. I need to get you to a wolf who knows more about medicine.” Her voice was a mix of frustration and concern, the concern acting dominant in that moment. Getting back to work, despite the pain she felt, she lapped at the gash in attempt to cease the bloodflow, not really knowing what else she could do.

Her words affirmed what he already knew, and became all to apparent as adrenaline faded and pain and the effects of blood loss took its place. he felt a twinge of fear, for him to injury himself so badly so far from home was at the least...bad. he could hardly stay here, had to move somewhere, and though he knew what herbs would help him he had no idea where he would require them, and wandering around aimlessly looking for plants was a very poor option at the moment.

focus on her. he did that, watching her carefully, listening raptly as he ignores his rather poor state. "I can do that. I'll-I'll be fine, Freyja. " he told her, noticing the concern and frustration in her voice and hoping to abate it. he squinted his eyes shut at a wave of naseau, then lurched to his feet, numerous wounds and scrapes burning. "Lead the way" he said with forced optimism, smiling tightly, pain battling with relief that she was okay. they were both okay. sort of.

He was quickly withering, despite the brave face he was putting on. She frowned at this and nodded, though, she did not take the lead. Instead, she pulled to his side. “Here,” she commanded softly, looking from him to her shoulder. “Lean.” She waited until her obliged and when he did, after some hesitation and reassuring, they started off slowly.

They traveled a few meters and in this short time Freyja noticed just how frail he seemed. Her frown deepened at this and soon enough she stopped them and turned towards the blonde-haired boy. “Y-You’re really not okay, are you?” Worry laid heavily in her tones as she realized just how much he had been covering up. After all, it wasn’t like he wasn’t bleeding from his neck or anything.

“Sit.” she said, bringing her nose to his cheek, her frown lingering. Not realizing the bold move she made, she broke away after a beat and looked from Seff and towards her mountain. She knew that he needed help as soon as possible and knew that Portia would be able to fix him up. “I’m going to call for the medic at Sleeping Dragon, stay with me, Seff,” She pleaded, looking to him with wide eyes.

After telling the Apprentice of what she was doing, she called to the mountainside pack, informing them that she was with a badly injured individual who was bleeding from his neck and that they both needed help. Her call rang through the twilight even after she fell silent turning back to Seff to tend to his wounds once more.

By this point, the adrenaline from it all still covered her injuries, she hadn’t realized how beat up she had been and, in addition to the blood on her cheeks, Seff’s blood was upon her lips from her cleaning efforts.

She enjoyed a few days of relative calm, her emotions keeping an even keel. But there arose within her a wild itch. Although the den she shared with Thuringwethil served them perfectly well, she found herself scoping out other possibilities around the territory. She was just looking, she told herself. In any case, she couldn't find one that suited her tastes. She wasn't even sure what she was looking for or even why she was looking for it. Wildfire figured she would know when she saw it.

A sharp cry cut into her latest search. The young Bandrona backed out of the small burrow she had been investigating just half a mile north of the meeting grounds. It was cozy, warm and dark, yet Wildfire already knew to cross it off the list. But all thoughts of shopping for dens fell out of her head when she recognized that voice. She pivoted and began running immediately, bits of earth scattering behind her as it came unstuck from between her little red toes. In her haste, she didn't even comprehend the nature of the call. She just knew she needed to get to Freyja now.

When she reached the borders, Wildfire meant to stop and assess the situation. Instead, her mommy mode suddenly engaged and she barreled forward unthinkingly, operating on pure (and perhaps misplaced) maternal instinct. Perceiving the bloodied young boy as a threat to Freyja—the sight and smell of blood indicated some sort of violent altercation—the Bandrona rushed him, intending to drive him away from her young pack mate and hopefully roll him right off his feet.

the call was loud and clear, especially in the silence of the cold, winter night. Portia was not sleeping, instead she laid beside Dio and groomed through his fur quietly, thinking about God knows what. it caught her off guard, pausing and raising her head and perking her ears to get a better listen. it was Freyja's voice, and though it didn't seem panicked, there was urgency, and neck and bleeding were clear. she left Dio, who remained sleeping, and moved quickly to her cache shoving her jaws filled with cobwebs and moss and marigold (for infection), rolled into a ball the size of a softball (damn girl what dat mouth do). 

she ran as fast as her little legs could take her, panting hard as she carried the ball. she sprinted down the mountain, a bit more ungracefully than usual since it was so damn dark and she was in a bit of a hurry. when she arrived she could only pray that the wounded had not bled out-- and was thankful to see it wasn't Freyja who had been wounded (as badly, at least to her knowledge). 

she moved to go help, but from the corner of her eye saw an orange blur rush forward. she let out a loud bark, dropping her herbs and beginning at a full sprint towards their Bandrona. Portia hit the woman, aiming to at least knock her to the side, trying to block her from going. "the boy is injured-- it is not Freyja," she willed her to listen, though the Skayona was less than a semi-challenging obstacle. 

When she demended that he lean on her, he did so reluctantly and with some trepidation, though he soon found himself glad for the support as they walked. He followed numbly, and when she spoke once again, concern evidant in her voice, he said softly, "I'll be fine." It was said to convincr not only her but him, fear beginning to settle in his stomach as he realized just how not-fine he was, and so far from his family.

He was acting only half-aware, following Freyja but bloodloss making it harder to function just as greatly as he would have hoped. when finally he sat, panting and looking slightly glazed, all he wanted to do was lay down and rest, for tiredness consumed him, adrenaline having flown out the window a while ago. she spoke again, and he registered her words but said nothing, merely nodding.

but suddenly there was and orange blur of a wolf; he back pedaled wildly, and just as the firey woman had hoped, stumbled on paws made unsteady by exhaustion and injury, crumpling to the ground with much resistance. he yelped as the sudden action brought burning pain to his wounds, yet did not move, fearing retribution should he attempt to rise. he registered another,  peering toward one with a pelt of white and grey, reminding him off handedly of Vuk. He was silent, fairly certain it would not be the best idea, and the dizziness and exhaustion made it rather hard to concentrate.

She was tempted to pace as she waited, unsure of if anybody even heard her call. She shifted her attention from the mountainside and back to Seff, often reaching over to lick at his wounds as they waited. And, soon enough, help arrived. Her heart leapt as the forms of Wildfire and Portia came into view and she wagged her tail. Wildfire AND Portia-- they sure were in luck with the company that had arrived.

The closer that they go, the more antsy Freyja felt. Soon enough, they were both near. She rose to her paws, smiling widely, as she called to them eagerly. “Wildfire! Portia! I’m so glad--” But it was as she spoke the Wildfire zoomed onwards towards them. As Seff lurched back, horror spread across her face in this moment, her hackles raising as she back peddled as she looked at the scene with bewilderment. She rushed to Seff’s side to make sure that he was all right. Crouching besides him, she looked up to him with imploring eyes, wondering what was going to happen. 

“This is Seff! He saved my life from a coyote!!” she explained to the pair, looking to them bot with imploring eyes.

Before she could even reach him, two things happened: the youth stumbled and lost his footing, hitting the ground while something simultaneously struck Wildfire so hard that it caused her to spin off course, lose her own footing and fly forward so that her chin hit the dirt. She sprawled there, dazed, even as voices continued to shout at her. With a grunt, the yearling pushed herself upright, moving her jaw to check that it wasn't broken, then glancing down at the scab on her thigh which had torn open on impact.

She glanced upward, disbelieving gaze falling on Portia. Wildfire glanced sideways quickly to make sure the young boy was still on the ground, then launched onto her feet and snapped her jaws in the Skayona's direction. Her tail arched up over her hips and her ears thrust forward, a flagrant display of dominance. She did not make contact and didn't even wait for a reaction from Portia, instead turning sideways to leer over Freyja and the boy, who turned out to be the Fleima's friend, Seff.

For a long moment, Wildfire stood there, feet planted, red fur prickling, breathing heavily. Then, slowly, she began to calm down, her severely arched tail making a downward swing and her ears pricking atop her head. Her wrinkled lips fell back over her fangs, sheathing them as she squinted from the two youths to Portia. Wildfire connected the dots in her head: the Skayona had only been trying to stop her from attacking Seff and hadn't intended to assault the Bandrona herself.

But even if she hadn't intended any harm, Wildfire was bleeding heavily from her thigh. With a muted whine, she backpedaled several yards and sat to begin cleaning her own wound. Portia could help Freyja and her friend while the yearling took a moment to collect herself and stem the bleeding.

oh no. Wildfire was a bit smaller than most of the other wolves in the pack-- and Portia had forgotten about that until it was too late. for once in her life she was evenly matched, maybe even unfairly matched, because as soon as Wildfire hit the ground, her wound opened. the Skayona stared for a moment, unsure what had come over her-- she knew that Wildfire was still injured, she knew that. "I.." she muttered quickly, not positive what to do. it was stupid anyway, because the kid still fell over. she backpedaled quickly, grabbing her ball and running straight to Wildfire. she should be focused on the boy bleeding from his damn neck, but she felt so terrible for harming Wildfire in the process she needed to do this first. she tore off a long strip of cobweb from her ball and gave it to her, her ears flat and her head low. "just, press those on there," she told her, and moved away quickly, back towards Freyja and the boy. 

she took moss from the ball and pressed it to his neck. he'd stumbled backwards, but still seemed okay aside from that. she pressed the marigold and cobwebs to his neck, working hard to stop the bleeding.

Freyja was beside them then, and ears plastered against his skull, still lowered submissively, he looked at her in worry. From the shouts and words the trio had exchanged, he gleaned two names; Wildfire and Portia. He was willing to bet the the fiery woman was Wildfire, the other name stirring memories of a conversation weeks ago. 

he shifted a little nearer to Freyja, for she was the only one he knew and trusted, tail curled toward him as he tried to appear the smallest threat possible. Soon Portia approached, bearing moss and cobwebs and a herb his mind knew but could not name immediately in its frenzied state. Marigold. He held still as he pushed the moss, and then the poultice and cobwebs to his neck, relaxing in the slightest, though his heart still beat a frenzied tango in his chest.

The Flemia watched everything happen before them. Wildfire caught her attention first. She caught the red-haired leader limping off and to this, she perked and sat taller in an attempt to get a better view of what was going on. “Wildfire?” she called, her ears lowering as Portia approached the leader. “You okay?” her voice was a whimper. She hesitated to say anything else and then quickly turned to Portia as she approached.

She didn’t say anything and instead watched on, pressing herself closer to Seff. Once the gauze was held to his throat, Freyja turned her attention to Portia again. “He’s going to be okay, right?” she asked, her voice was heavily laced with concern.

As she tended her wound, Wildfire noticed that her forelegs were shaking from the adrenaline rush. Gingerly, she lowered herself to the ground, curling slightly to give herself access to her thigh. When Portia approached, her lips wrinkled back from her teeth and she growled a warning. She had come back to her senses in the past two minutes, yet she was still awash in defensive hormones. It didn't help that she was in a lot of pain, her broken skin stinging something awful and her jaw aching from the impact with the ground.

When Freyja called out to her, the Bandrona only shook her head and went back to licking the blood away. It not only soothed the angry flesh, it also helped calm her more. Eventually, she reached out and plucked the strip of cobweb off the ground and began to press it against her wound. It quickly became soaked in blood and fell to a red clump beside her. But the flow seemed to have slowed significantly, so there was that.

Leaning onto her elbow with a sigh, Wildfire glanced over to the party of three, watching as the medic tended to Seff. Belatedly, she registered Freyja's earlier cries. "This is Seff! He saved my life from a coyote!" She snorted quietly through her nose, then Wildfire took a deep, steadying and cleansing breath, trapping the air in her lungs before releasing it.

At long last, she found her voice and asked, "Are you okay?" She couldn't tell from here whether or not Freyja had also been injured by the aforementioned coyote. Her tone dripped with concern. The entire reason for this confusing mess was because she'd felt instinctively defensive over Freyja. Even with her own injury to consider, the Fleima's well-being was her highest priority.

Portia moved away from Wildfire as soon as she growled, but she hadn't planned to stay regardless-- no need to cause more damage. Self was fine, she pressed everything to his wounds and it soaked up quickly, but not all the way through. a few questions trailed through, none that were too important to answer right now. she let out a heavy breath, trying to shove down her thoughts and focus on the wounds. her gaze trailed back to Wildfire, studying her from afar. she had put the cobwebs on, which hopefully would stop the bleeding. "are you okay?" she asked Freyja, and Portia turned to study the girl and see her answer.

"Seff is fine, just stay still. Freyja show me your injuries," she then commanded, staring with a narrowed gaze. yes

Concluding this for us! If anyone has issues with this post, just shoot me a message and I'll make revisions. :)

Although Freyja hadn't escaped unscathed, her injuries were much less pressing than Seff's. In the background, Wildfire watched in pensive silence as both she (Freyja) and Portia loomed over the boy. After a time, she slowly climbed to her feet, keeping weight off her bad thigh. She then limped closer to the trio, a frown creasing her smudged face. She wondered what Thuringwethil would make of this entire scenario. Would she tolerate Seff's presence? Would she permit Portia to use their resources on him?

Deciding that Seff's apparent sacrifice made a lot of difference, the Bandrona spoke up only after the Skayona had stopped the bleeding. "Maybe we should move him away from the borders," she said, wondering if the scent of blood might attract company, "find him someplace to rest and and summon the commander." It was her inner diplomat showing and Wildfire knew Thuringwethil might not agree with her decisions. It was her right to overrule them when she was brought into the matter, of course. For now, Wildfire motioned for the group to follow her a bit deeper into the safety of the territory.