Blacktail Deer Plateau Put me in coach, i succeed

Ash Paw sat with the girl until she had fallen asleep. She had refilled her water with chamomile and had laid it in the dark corner, to steep. This would do well to keep on hand, for the girls throat. She couldn't tell if it was not used or if it was damaged, she would need to watch and wait for that.

For now though she went in search of @Ingram, she had things to tell him of the girl. Of the knowledge she had gleaned. To think that little girl was capable of killing another. Though Ash Paw shouldn't be surprised, but now she was worried. She had unknowingly brought a potential danger to them here. Not that the girl would attack them, but what if they came searching to kill one who took one of their own.

She also wanted to touch base about all she had done for the girl. This way Ingram could decide what life debt she would owe. It was a disturbing concept a life debt, but he was a leader so.

Gonna use this for another healer trade if that's okay, but it also makes way for her to allow ingram to make a more informed decision on the life debt the girl owes if she tells him all the things and medicinals she used on the girl.

ingram trudges through the snow that has layered upon the plateau, covering it in a cool embrace of white. there was something that he finds therapeutic about the snowfall: the soft sound it makes, the slow dissolve of each snowflake upon his nose, his muzzle, his fur where they land.

it does not offer much in the way of stealth though: clear tracks mark where he's been like history painted across the borders and it crunches beneath him as he walks, each step melding the snow together into a cast of his large paws.

focusing on these simple things quiets the chaos of his mind.

stills it so he can breathe.

his path crosses with ash paw's soon enough and his steps cease, seaglass gaze settling upon her: wondering if this crossing of paths was intentional or otherwise.

Ash Paw lifted her chin, the snow falling around her and painting the fur around her eyes crystal. She then nodded. 

I'm glad i found you. I haven't much time. Before she wakes up again. Two things... She pauses and shakes her head. No three.

Ash Paw shifts her weight. Bad news first I guess.

Ash wiggled a little. The girl killed another wolf. And a pack set upon her. All i could gather was that it was accidentally and the leader of this pack was red.

Ash blew out a breath and sighed, continuing. She is from a pack called Hildibrandr in the Hinterlands. But of who she is, she didn't tell me her name. I decided the prudent thing would be to get why she was here and where she belonged.

Ash paw sighed. As for the life debt. Thus far, i have used my stores of Bergamot for her wounds to stave off infection, cobwebs to keep the bleeding and check and aloe to soothe. I also made her some water with chamomile leaves to soothe her throat. I figured you may want to know of that stuff.

She figured she'd tell him the girls injuries next, but let him get in a word in edgewise.

the news that ash paw brings to him stirs something primal within ingram: a twisted sort of excitement and fury. that the girl was a murderer — but then so was he. still, praimfaya's death had not brought mahler's wrath upon anyone but ingram himself. but his believed to be father, ingram considered, likely wouldn't punish anyone but him for her death.

harboring a fugitive? was a very different situation.

he'd assumed she'd gotten into an altercation with a bear or wildcat. either of which was dangerous to basilica but could be dealt with. an entire pack? was more danger than he'd anticipated.

grave news indeed. murmurs the dreadfather. if they are dedicated enough, there is a chance they might end up on our doorstep. and basilica did not have the numbers to go to war... nor did he particularly want to. not for a stranger. in which, ingram had his answer.

i know not of the pack she comes from, there was nothing about it that sounded remotely familiar to him ...his mission as keeper cut short with the dispelling of blackwater. if they come here for her, i will give her to them. he says plainly. accident or not, she is not one of us and the lifedebt ...the blooddebt is theirs to claim by right.

he would not interfere with the magick that he believes had begun to weave it's web when the death had occurred.

for now, he offers little in the way of consolation in regards to the medicines she used, though he makes mental note of it. you have not had much time to build up your stores before the first frostbreath, ingram drawls in a frigid breath and lets it out in a slow exhale. what will remain for basilica when you are done? ...providing she got to finish nursing the girl back to health — though this goes unspoken, instead lingering in the space between the words.

Though Ash Paw found murder a not so good concept. She imagined that ingram, was not as stunted as she. After all, to hear him tell it, he was the god of such things as it were anyway. So this actually was in the girls favor. However, distasteful.

Ash Paw made a pinched face. That is what I surmised. Hopefully, her trail meandered enough that they don't find her right away. IF we can find her family and have them get her, then we can send them to their doorstep, however distasteful. Though it's the girls own fault, accident or not. Everything has a consequence.

Ash Paw nodded. I know. Granted there was some old stores, and i found gardens where more will bloom in spring. I used what I had before Basilica was founded, that I had taken on my own. She has many lacerations and wounds, but.

She frowned. Though they are not pretty and some are deep, they should heal relatively quickly with just the one dose of all. The only one i worry for is the foreleg, but I can make it work. The herbs that Meadow brought to us helps as well, and there is a pack that way.

She motioned Akah....shingo? Perhaps they have a healer I could make an arrangement with if the situation is dire and as a last ditch effort, for now we will be alright. I have many extras for colds and winter time sickness such as chamomile, so that can be easily traded. Mint, and a few other things.

it is not our duty to find her family nor return her to them. we have done enough. ingram tells ash paw, attempting to squash those thoughts before they can take root. the last thing he wants is to argue with her ( again ) thus why he says the words; clipped and with a resolve that leaves no room for negotiation. we are not ready to be beholden a packdebt, yet. though a part of him craves that sort of power: too many variables remained unknown for him to so brazenly venture in that direction.

at least, not yet.

we will make do with what we have. i do not wish to be indebted to any of our neighbors. to any, in truth. he tells her, quickly wanting to shut that down, too. this means we will have to plan hunts wisely, to attempt to minimize injuries. avoiding them all together was impossible, ingram knows. do not be generous with your medicines, ash paw. i know it is your duty as mage to heal but basilica must come first.

not a wounded cub, a stranger, that wound up on their doorstep.

the coming icedusk will be the true test of basilica's strength. he can only hope that they survive the winter ( icedusk as he's come to call it now ) to see spring and with any luck, foster new lives into basilica's ranks and culture.

She heard his words, and though she wished to argue, she could understand. And now was not the time to be making trips that they may  not survive. In the dead of winter. 

Pack debt it would make for an interest life, were they to do so, but she could understand. They were still young, fledgling to attempt something so ambitious was foolish.

Ash paw let out a breath. Me either, really.

She laid her ears to her head, but she nodded. Okay I will take stock of what I have and get a better idea of it all.

Ice dusk, what a name, but she found she liked it. It rolled off the tongue better than winter time, or other such things, however, it also added an air of foreboding to the winter too with such words. Sounded dark.

it was opportunity, came to us too early. without the force, or even perhaps the show of it, they could not make the attempt to bend a pack to their will. ...and there was no telling this hildibrandr would ever care about their wayward cub. to say that they would meet ingram's demand with grovelling at his paws was presumptious. arrogant. not something the dreadfather would dare assume.

so, that opportunity was best left slipped by.

is there anything else? ingram asks her quietly, not dismissive but with the intention that they both had things to return to: her's undoutedly more pressing than his own.

She nodded at his words. It was true she supposed. She still wasn't sure of pack relations and politics, but she would accept his words as fact unless shown otherwise.

She shook her head. No that was all. I should return, see if she woke up and i need to start categorizing my herbs.

with no further news and nothing more for him to speak, ingram lingers for a few moments longer before he takes his leave, heading towards the alters where his threadbones are kept.