Redhawk Caldera moonshell

as the morning brightened, chickadee allowed the pups out from the blackthorn den and shook her own ruff.
each day was vital with the growling bellies and exuberant exploration of the fledglings, but today chickadee hung back.
"daddy," she murmured to @Eljay, finding her father's face with a bright smile. "i'd like to learn medicine, as much as you can teach me. and i think it's time i knew all the blackthorn stories too, from you and mama."
the root of this decision was buried in things chickadee would rather not contemplate, though she meant it genuinely.

The sound of Chickadee's voice brought a smile to Eljay's face, as always; though today, it was already there as he had watched the pups run out from the den. He enjoyed watching each of them, and enjoyed how each of them had their own personality and way of doing things. As Chickadee's request came, Eljay smiled at first, but then as she mentioned stories, he could not help but wonder if it was because she dreaded his death — and could not help but have his smile half slip from his face, only a melancholic, bittersweet remnant left.

Then he forced it back on again, and said, Of course. I would love to teach you. Is there any particular direction that you would like to learn? He was specialised, after all, in taking care of young pups, of pregnancies, and of wounds, sores, and all else that could be wrong with the wolf body. I will have to think of some stories. It was my mother who was specialised in telling those. And, after a moment of thought, Your mother might be more suited to tell them — Err — Those she knows. I will give some thought to what I can tell. He realised that of course Maia had not always been there, and there were yet many stories of the Blackthorn family that she did not know because of that.

she studied his face, wondering why. but chickadee knew why, and forced past it without letting herself have a single thought. "pups, mostly. their care. and — midwifing." these were things she could have learned from kukutux, she supposed, but the woman had so much to do that chickadee had never tried to keep the leader's attention.
besides, she had her dad to mentor her now. "maybe general scrapes and pains too, you see how active they're getting!"

Pups, mostly. It seemed that his daughter's interests were very aligned with his own. He had started that way, wanting to take care of pups - though it was the pack's pups, and his siblings and cousins, rather than his own - and then wanting to learn midwifing because of his siblings' rocky birthing. He had only learned because of his mother's near-death when he was young. He would never forget that day, and how helpless he felt by her side, unable to help her other than to keep her comfortable.

Scrapes were an afterthought, just as it had been for him. The caretaker smiled at his daughter, proud to see so much of himself in her, and at the same time so much of her mother. Well, you're already looking into looking after pups well enough, he said with a chuckle. Lots of practical experience there. So which of the things do you want to start with? Do you want to learn more about looking after the pups, and what sort of things are you looking to learn about, or would you rather learn a thing or two about midwifing? Scrapes he left for now, because it seemed like an afterthought to her - and therefore it was to him, too. Of course he'd teach her if she preferred to start with it, however. Being a midwife might not be relevant until later either, but if she was interested to take it first, of course he would oblige.

chickadee grinned at the humor in her dad's voice. "honestly, i need to know the gross stuff first. like — constipation. how to stop vomiting. like, what a fever might look like. rashes. stuff like that, i think. the rest i think i'm learning right now," she sighed happily, leaning against her father for a moment.
"then maybe we can get into how — how i can help someone give birth. it hurt, dad. woo, it hurt. but when they were all out, i didn't feel so bad at all! what's that about," she joked, half asking.

It did seem like the scrapes and bruises - well, the medical stuff, anyway - was what she was most interested in learning first. It was a lot of stuff Chickadee mentioned and Eljay was a little lost in it all at first, trying to figure out what to address first. He suggested eventually, Maybe we can take those things as they come to the pups. He understood that it might feel like she needed to hurry to Chickadee, but he didn't quite feel that way. Yes, he could feel that he was getting old, and he did often think about how his parents were dead and buried a few years by this point in time, but he always expected that he'd feel it coming, when death did catch up on him. He wondered idly if his parents had felt it coming. A fever is the easiest to feel, because you can feel how warm they are. As an afterthought, as if he changed his own mind, too, and decided to start on the Lecture Of Everything, anyway.

It's weird how that works, isn't it? he said, in regards to birth. He didn't know from first hand experience, of course, but he had talked about it a lot and seen it a lot in his years as midwife. I don't know why it is that way. Maybe it's nature's gift to feel good once the work is all done. After a short pause, .. And perhaps it's nature's gift to feel pain when you need to keep working, too.

"a fever is warmth, but it can also be throwing up, right? weakness. dry eyes and nose?" she ticked these things off in her mind. contemplating what her dad had said about pain, chickadee tried to discover if there were things applicable about the lesson that she could apply other places.
"what about — kukutux called it the green cough. she said it made the very young and the very old sick. do you know what that is, daddy, or what to do about it?"
attentive, chickadee waited.

That's true, Eljay confirmed, And often pain in the muscles, too - with pups, if they're old enough to say so, of course. Against the pain there are various plants, uhm, we can look at them another time. Eljay did not keep many dried plants anymore because their effectiveness waned and he rather would spend what strength he had on more useful things for the pack. Instead he tried to keep memory of where the plants he used were planted so he had them handy when spring came around each year.

Chickadee then mentioned something called 'the green cough', which Eljay hadn't heard of before. Pups got sick at least a few times growing up, he knew, but most of it was just passing. Pups died more often from other tragic events than sickness as far as he knew. And old wolves — well, in all honesty, he was the oldest wolf he'd known in his life, so he didn't know much about that. It made him feel a little bit of a quack as it sounded like Kukutux was a lot more knowledgeable. Trying not to look a fool in front of his daughter, after about twenty seconds of thinking Eljay cleared his throat and said, Err, I haven't heard of that sickness. I haven't known a lot of old wolves, so I wouldn't know if they're particularly, uh, vulnerable for a certain sickness. Pups tend to get some sicknesses, but they usually turn out fine. His cheeks felt warm from the embarrassment, but Eljay tried hard not to let it show.