Lost Creek Hollow but I know that wicked shape to your smile

she wakes in the den that has becomes her's and for a moment it's as if she's among her family again. this den is the first she'd called her own with the intent of it lasting more than a night since she'd left them, though she decides she can get used to having her own place again quickly. as she has been since chomping off what remained of her tail, she twitches the stub as best she can, despite the pain, the lightness of it new. without the weight of her tail, she feels a little like a girl who's gotten a haircut after a particularily bad breakup - glad to be rid of it, but a little horrified it's gone. 

she pushes out into the day, where already the sun is high enough on the horizon to provide ample light to most of the hollow. the first item on the agenda is to find @Baelfire, for he's the only wolf she knows besides Treason and certainly the less intimidating of the two. she's bound to be fussy about taking care of her tail this time around; quite simply, there isn't anything less to sever should infection set in again. she grabs the moss she'd left near the entrance of the den and begins her search, eager to show him she knows at least something.

nobody had really sought him out yet. he didn't know whether that was a good or a bad thing. most of the packs, he'd come to learn, consisted of large families. sometimes three generations. it was both amazing and annoying, for he had little to talk about with people who have known each other longer than he had been in the Teekons. Baelfire would rest his head on his front limbs, closing his eyes outside of his own den. he was waiting to... well, do something. 

he'd been out a few times already, collecting herbs and other such things that he found useful. the back of his den had been dug out, filled with what he had gotten, and had taken on an earthy scent. "hm" he heard footfalls close by. one green eye opened to view Vuk approaching. in her jaws was moss. moss... he had plenty of it, but could always use more, he supposed. he'd stretch his lanky limbs forward, a yawn wide on his lips. the man wasn't going to treat her differently just because she had three able-bodied legs. 

he'd look behind him after his yawn, to the back of his den. "put them there with the rest" no, it was not his way to enable people. three legs were better than two. and two was better than one. any less and he'd have to call her Stumpy. even he felt that was cruel. accurate, but cruel. at least Vuk's tail lost the scent of most sickness. Treason wouldn't have anything to complain about now.

she found him without much effort; her nose was still whole, after all, and her own den hadn't been far from his. nodding, for her maw was stuffed with moss and she was in no mood to talk around it, Vuk moved around him and deposited the pile beside the much-larger pile he already had, pausing to stare at the stores. he'd gathered a considerable amount, and his den was most definitely larger than hers. one plant caught her eye for it's odd smell and the fact that it didn't look familiar in the slightest, pausing, she carefully plucked a smaller bunch from the pile and manuevered her bulk around in a tight circle.

putting a meter's distance between herself and the den, she sat with a huff, depositing the plant and nosing it in his direction. "what's this?" she was significantly more at ease now that she didn't carry the stench of rotting flesh with her everywhere she went. perhaps she ought to have given her tail something of a burial, but by now it'd probably been picked apart by birds and rodents. it felt certainly odd to know part of her, alive as she was, was out htere getting eaten, but she tried her best to put it out of her mind.

she would do as she was asked, retreating to place the moss with the rest of the moss that had already been gathered. he would listen to her with half-lidded eyes as he stared across the camp. no one else had approached the pair. he took it as a sign they were at least alone for a bit. good. he didn't want to entertain the whole of Lost Creek Hollow. Vuk would return, depositing a plant before him. "catmint" he would say easily, for the smell was indeed odd.

to felines, he supposed it was tantalizing. to canines? less so. it was a minty-sage scent. some claimed it was spicy. the floral stock of blue-purple flowers was like a pussy willow but bushier. "treats coughs, anxiety... stomach problems" Baelfire uttered "a spring and summer plant. grows... nicely in the shade too" he listed the other aspects of it in one fell swoop. as if he was chatterer the more he talked about botany. "useless for treating your injury." he'd add with a lofty look to her stumpy tail.

catmint, yarrow, moss and whatever that root had been - her repitiore was growing. slowly. as was her basic knowledge, but it was a process better not rushed. he gaze wandered to her tail, to which she gave it a purposeful twitch. her breath left her in a hiss; somewhere between her den and here she'd forgotten how painful that was. when the stabbing pain had lowered to a simmering burn again, she broke the silence. "well," she began, "what is useful?" brisbane had suggested yarrow, and she knew that the pale woman had offered the root against infection. it seemed to have done well for the scabbed-over wounds on her chest, but less so (obviously) for her tail.

to the point. he liked that. "marigold. comfrey root. chewed. put on your tail. bind with cobwebs" he launched into it right away, eyes dropping from Vuk's face to her stump-tail. the pulp of the flowers would be bound with the web until it fell off. then re-apply. "you may have chewed off the infection" Baelfire mused quietly "but I still need to watch you." he was basically telling her it was not so simple. biting off the tail was one thing. it showed some balls. but the infection could have spread before he was treating her. before she had come to the hollow. recalling how frightened she had been at the river, he chose to keep it to himself that only time would tell.

"marigold; smelly, yellow flowers, right?" see, she did know something. she looked down at home, hoping for the affirmative. she could picture, still, her father telling her about the flowers after she'd wrinkled her nose at their scent. her chest ached a little at that thought, but the feeling passed quickly enough. she'd made the choice to leave, be here, after all. she assumed confrey was the same root that the woman had given her in the meadow. cobwebs seemed practical enough. 

he informed her that she still needed watching, and while she'd agree to whatever he told her, trusting in his knowledge, she huffed. "I'll let you know if I start dying." though his words were reasonable, she didn't like the idea of being watched - that seemed too close the exact kind of supervision she'd escaped when she'd left home.

he gave a nod. marigold was lovely foliage in his humble opinion, though if Vuk wanted to call it 'smelly'... the man grunted quietly. not everyone appreciated plants. though it was clear she didn't like the idea of being watched. "pride before the fall" his answer was direct and simple enough. don't wait too long to let him know. it could be too late. the infection could spread very easily, especially after she amputated herself like that.

and sometimes patients had a lackadaisical nature to their attitude about medicine. he would rise suddenly, eyes on her stump tail with an unreadable expression. "I need to apply that mixture before you go stomping around." it was like getting a child to take a spoonful of medicine. annoying, though she had done nothing but agree thus far. he half expected her to run off, say she was fine. if she protested, he would groan but not bitch.

his reply was simply yet effective, and she answered only with a "hmph." she come around to their situation fairly quickly, but in the moment her distaste for that part of the arrangement persisted. still, she'd bury their carrion if it meant staying here, her desire to do so made obvious initially by her self-made amputation. he offered instruction and she lowered herself to the ground, the sprig of catmint held between her forepaws at an angle. she was large enough to make applying much of anything impossible if she stood, and she was content to lay and draw in the scent of the catmint, odd and strange enough to require frequent sniffs. her hind leg still jutted out a little awkwardly; it pained her to hold it close the her body. "how do you know which plants are useful, and which aren't?" she'll squeeze all the information out of him that she can, and only hopes none of her questions come off as especially stupid.

Vuk didn't seem pleased still, and he didn't really blame her. he was content to be around plants forever, learning their meanings and their uses. but people liked different things. wherein he was content to stay in one spot and study, the girl before him didn't want to be watched after constantly. she probably wanted to go-go-go like that youthful optimism that seemed to have skipped him entirely. be her own woman. that sorta thing. though he couldn't really be his own woman. that would be very odd.

and it wasn't like he wanted people hovering near him all the time either. he had shit to do. he could understand that much. Baelfire grunted softly before whipping back to his den and cache. picking out the herbs needed, he'd return quickly enough. by the time he did come back, she had lowered herself and stretched out. and then a question. "trial and error" he would respond "and by word of mouth." his people lacked the subtle understanding of plants aside from toxins. when he came to the surface, he sought purpose.

various mentoring, trading knowledge with others... it was simple enough. "people have healed for centuries. wisdom spreads. knowledge is shared. a description is given" Baelfire replied, pausing to chew the plants into a poultice to spread over her tail. fixing the cobwebs now, he'd stand back to view his work critically. looking at her leg now, he'd bent down to sniff at it. Vuk had it set before she came to Lost Creek Hollow. there was little to do except stay off it and hope it healed correctly. "no infection so far. two days; come back for more mixture. if you start bleeding, come back sooner. wash it carefully and slowly if at all. mindful of the poultice"

trial and error. she wondered how bad the errors got; had anyone been killed by a misuse of plants? she couldn't imagine any such thing, rather, it seemed not using plants was more likely to kill you, indirecctly. still, it intruiged her, and she resolved to pay closer attention to the plants that were already beginning to spring up among the fading snows. he elaborated further, to her surprise and pleased her, seeing as she never quite knew if she would recieve a few curt words of something more elaborate from him. she offers a contemplative sound at this, and is still as he applies the poultice. Vuk watches him out of the corner of her eye, curious. 

she stands carefully and nods her agreement; her care is wasted for the poultice seems secure on her tail. "I will," she promises easily enough. she rolls the stiffness out of her shoulders, thinking that this signals an end to their interaction, for now. "thank you." with a pause and a nod goodbye, for now, she's on her way, eager now to explore the territory that she isn't dying of infection.

he didn't understand why people would thank him for something that was supposed to be done. Treason had told him that the girl would repay him by bolstering the pack's stock of herbs. he didn't need her thanks to go along with it. Baelfire was a grump at times, true, but he couldn't ignore someone when they were in pain. Vuk had been in pain. he had acted. she was recovering now, and he would see less and less of her until she recovered fully. that's the way of things. the way of a healer.

once people got better, they didn't need you. until they were sick again though. then it was a moan, bitching and 'why can't you fix me faster' sorta deal. luckily for him, Vuk hadn't been terrible. he was merely thankful for that. she wanted to learn more, which he could relate to. all in all, not a dreary conversation even if he kept his shit close to his heart. "mm. have fun" he would mutter as she went off to do gods knew what. he returned to the earth, gathering the remnants of herbs together to sort them by paw.