Swiftcurrent Creek My Weakness Is

Arric moved from the small cove hed been staying. Blue eyes clear and wide. There wasn't a glassy tint to them anymore. His body didn't hurt. He shook out the broad shoulders and sighed.

He had lost more weight than he had wanted, but he'd always been a bit lean. He shook out the fur and alowly began to pull the bedding and freshen it up. The stale smell of sickness made his stomach churn.

When Arric wasn’t at the cove, Eshe quickly followed after him. She was still concerned about him—despite the leaps and bounds he’s made in his recovery—and didn’t want him to wander too far.

”Hey!” she barked once she spotted him in the distance. ”What do you think you’re doing?” Although there was a playfulness to her voice, she was mostly serious. She rushed to his side and looked up at him. ”The only place I want you to go is to get some food—we need to fatten you up.”

Aww shit the warden as he had affectionately thought of Eshe had followed him. He turned with a small smile.

Uh cleaning out my bed of death. I mean it kinda reeks you know. All that sick nasty.

His stomach churned a little at the thought of food, but he'd done his best to listen to her because she knew more than him about healing. Honestly he was a dumbass when it came to that stuff.

He had a good point—his bed did reek.

”Yeah, sorry about that,” she apologized, frowning. Between healing him and @Mae, keeping an eye and spending time with @Nicodem, and collecting herbs, there were quite a few things that had fallen through the cracks. She was exhausted, but knew that she could rest when everything calmed down.

”Let me help you with that,” it was the least she could do. ”I’ll bring you some more mint, too. I haven’t been able to smell it for a few days and keep forgetting to bring it.” She sighed and flashed him an apologetic look.

”I also want to start you on some juniper berries—for your stomach. The watermint I’ve been giving you doesn’t seem to be working as well as I want it to. I need to help you get more food on your stomach.”

He laughed. Don't apologize Eshe. These things happen. You been busy.

He shook his head. I got it,  that is some next level nastiness you don't need to touch it.

It wont come with time? I mean i can take the juniper. That'd be a cute name for one of you and dickheads kids you know. he mumbled as an afterthought.

Tag for reference!

”Phew!” she exhaled dramatically, wiping her brow for comedic affect. ”Thank for letting me off the hook. I can go and get you new bedding while you do that.”

She hesitated when he asked about his hunger returning, and he lips drew a straight line. ”It should, but I’m concerned that you’re losing too much weight. You need to eat to build up your strength.” But, ultimately, this was his decision to make. ”We can hold off, too—I’m just worried about you.” She grew quiet and she looked up to him tired, rounded eyes.

Regarding the question about @Akavir, she snorted. ”Yeah, we’ll see about that.” With no time to herself, she hadn’t been able to see him much. She had no idea where they stood, and, frankly, she was not in the right headspace to think about any of that.

He chuckled. Yea yea. Have to help the damsel in distress.

He anorted and shook his head taking the nasty b3dding away. He appreciated that she was willing to help him with new bedding.

He tilted an ear forward. Youre the doc. You say i need it. I need it. Plain and simple. And i would like to eat without feeling like imma hurl.

He gave a soft titter of laughter, but dipped his head. Knowing the subject was closed. That was fine. It had been an offhand comment anyway.

”You’re too kind,” she said, dropping into a curtesy. ”I could’ve broken a nail sifting through it!”

She reclined as she watched him clear out the bedding, keeping a close eye on his movements. He was stronger, that was obvious, but he still had a ways to go.

When he remarked on her subscription, she breathed a sigh of relief. ”Its worth a shot, but I’ll take you off it immediately if you don’t like how it makes you feel. You’ll take it right before bed, and my thought is that you’ll digest it overnight and wake up hungry.”

She felt the weight of her of her exhaustion crash upon her as she began to overthink what she’d said about @Akavir . ”I mean, I want that more than anything,” she said as tears began to wet her eyes. ”I just … don’t want to get my hopes up. We’ve been so busy, and I’ve been impossible to be around. I try and explain that I’m exhausted, and that I’m not usually this … crazy … but I’m starting to wonder if he thinks I’m not worth the stress—

—and that I’m too much for him.”

He snorted again. That would be a shame. Such pretty nails too.

Arric knew his mind and body weren't completely up to par. But he was better today than he'd been yesterday.

He nodded. He'd take the herb hopefully she was right though he did blink. I'm not gonna overeat am i? Be like a giant thing with legs because that would not be cool, Eshe. I want to be healthy.

Arric stopped moving and dipped his head too look her in the eye.

You give him too much credit. You realize, i love him. He's my very best dickhead friend in the world. But the man is stupid with relationships. I can guarandamntee you he isn't thinking you're impossible or crazy. If anything he is confused on what he did and how to fix it. Or he doesn't even realize. He's impossible not you.

Arric shrugged. and besides my mans got some pretty big paws and shoulders. You're not to much.

She shook her head. ”You shouldn’t. The herb is used to take off the edge of nausea so you can feel your hunger cues.” She smirked then, mirth dancing in her gaze. ”We can’t have you being as big as Frank the giant—I don’t think our caches could support that.”

She laughed and wiped the tears from her eyes as he explained his relationship with @Akavir, and what possibly could be going through the alpha’s mind.

”You’re right,” as always, ”I’ve just … never been the most sure of myself, and I feel like everything I do wrong—even the tiniest slip up—scares everybody away from me.” That she always trying to achieve the unattainable goal of being perfect.

He listened and nodded. Though he did cough a laugh as he choked at her words about Frank.

Yea no one wants to look like that ugly thing.

Arric snorted again. Didn't scare any of us away. Perfection is overated. Every smart man or woman wants a significant other thats real not perfect and besides i think you're probably pretty perfect for that asshole.

He validated her feelings in a way that made her feel like he was being sincere—that meant the world to her.



She smiled, expression brimming with emotion as she self consciously tucked a tuft of fur behind her ear.

”You know, you should be charging me at this point for all this therapy,” she joked. ”I’m pretty deep in debt, right?”

Arric wasn't always sure of he handled Eshe well. He enjoyed her as a wolf and a friend, but sometimes he was afraid of hurting her. Or saying something that was mean spirited.

He laughed. I don't know. I think we're even. I mean you keep Akavir happy and you kept me from death so theres that. We all good.

He titled hia head in her direction with a grin.

Eshe resisted acting on her impulsive thought—she had to allow herself believe that she did make Akavir happy. Instead, she shrugged her shoulders and grinned. ”Seems fair.”

Now, with that distraction out of the way, they could focus on the bedding.

”Do you want to stick with the grass or mix it up? I can get some moss or fur to make it softer, if you stick with the usual.”

He didn't know how to help her. But he'd do his best to build her confidence. Akavir needed to verbalize too.

He made a soft hmm noise. Lets mix it up. Different things.

He pushed an ear forward with a small amile
She'd made the day a little more bearable.

Eshe considered the neighboring territories and their resources. Eventually, she decided: I can go upstream and see if any beavers have left any wood chips behind. I can mix that with some moss and sand and that should be nice and soft.” If it worked as well as she thought it would, she’d have to run the idea by @Akavir to see if he’d want to try it.

”I could use your help,” she added, watching him close to gauge his reaction. ”But only as long as you promise not to overwork yourself.”

He'd have to put the sand beneath, not a fan of getting sand in those hard to reach crevices.

He nodded. Scouts honor. I won't overtax myself.

He motioned for her to lead the way. Lets go was his only thought. A wag of his tail. Adventure.

You were never too old for adventures with friends.

She trusted him. ”Alright,” she agreed, sending his excitement, ”Lets go!”

She motioned for him to follow as she set off, steering them north. ”You know that beaver dam north of here? That’s where we’re going to look. We can look and see if there’s any moss growing around there, too. If not, I know somewhere else we can find it.” she walked slowly, not wanting to push him right out the gate.

Arric would do his best to honor her request. He didn't want to cause any issue with her or hurt himself. And she was someone he probably wouldn't want to cross.

I know it. he didn't know it well, but he knew the general area. He was excited to find somw. Moss he wasn't to sure about. Didn't it need water to stay fresh?

I think I’ve seen some moss around there before, she elaborated. But, if I misremembered for whatever reason, there’s a cluster of rocks in the southern part of the river that are very mossy. There were other places outside the territory that she preferred to collect it from, but this was an exception. Hopefully, there'd be enough of it to make enough of a difference in his bedding.

When they arrived, Eshe searched the tree line for any signs of the beaver’s work. It didn’t seem like they’d cut anything down recently, so she looked for any bite marks.

It didn’t look promising.

Slowly, she lifted her head and frowned. Any luck? She asked.

Moss was always readily available. Sometimes it was different kinds, but it all served a purpose and it was usually comfy.

There was no recent evidence. Which meant the beavers had probably moved on. Which that wasn't her fault they moved onto greener pastures often.

He sniffed at old scour marks and shook hia head. Naw must of decided to go elsewhere.

“Shoot,” she said, her lips straight as she looked around. “Maybe we’ll get lucky another time.” She turned her attention to the stream next, and was relieved to see some moss among a cluster of rocks towards on the other side of the stream.

She looked at her packmate with a smirk. “Alright, time to test your strength,” she said cheekily and pointed at his objective with her nose. The current wasn’t strong here and the exercise was low impact, so she wasn’t putting him at risk with this request. “Lets see if you can swim and gather some of that moss.”

Truthfully, she didn’t want to get in the water and have to deal with drying off—but he didn’t need to know that.

A small glint of a smile. She was low key ticked off if her thin lined mouth was anything to go by. And he was amused at her lack of potty mouth. Sometimes you just needed to say shit.

Blue eyes followed her gaze to the moss and back again. Oh he saw that smirk. This had nothing to do with testing his strength. No she just didn't want to do it though why he wasn't sure. But he decided to humor her anyway.

Long sthletic body was in and it didn't take more than a couple trips. As he pulled himself from the water his gur dripped. Amd the scars he had earned with his father showed up white and stark.

A shake of ahoulders water arcing from him. He spoke with a tease. that enough princess?

She supervised as he collected the moss and gathered it on shore. He’d gotten enough of it to make his bed, and she nodded approvingly as she examined the pile.

He shook himself dry, and some of the droplets hit her. Her head shot up, and she frowned. Hey! she exclaimed with a laugh, wiping the water from her face with her forearm. Watch it! It's going to take me hours to fix my fur if it gets wet! A pause. And I'm not a princess!

He chuckled at her supervisory expression. Goah she was a trip wasn't she. He briefly wondered if alphaship would go to her head if she married Akavir, but then he discarded such a thought.

He snorted. So prissy. You are indeed a princess, freckles. he teased and shifted.